Good Girls Die First

By Author / Illustrator

Kathryn Foxfield

Genre

Horror

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Scholastic

ISBN

9780702302718

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

02-07-2020

Synopsis

Welcome to the most gripping thriller of the year: hugely entertaining, high-octane and read-in-a-single-sitting. Mind games. Murder. Mayhem. How far would you go to survive the night? Blackmail lures sixteen-year-old Ava to the derelict carnival on Portgrave Pier. She is one of ten teenagers, all with secrets they intend to protect whatever the cost.

When fog and magic swallow the pier, the group find themselves cut off from the real world and from their morals. As the teenagers turn on each other, Ava will have to face up to the secret that brought her to the pier and decide how far she's willing to go to survive. For fans of Karen McManus' One of Us is Lying, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and films like I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Reviews

Secrets, an abandoned carnival island and a group of teenagers, mixed with serious mind games and murder. I couldn't wait to delve into the pages of this supernatural suspense thriller/horror...

16-year-old Ava receives an anonymous invitation to Portgrave Pier along with nine other teenagers, with the question; Can you keep a secret? They all have a secret that they want to protect but who will be the first to confess? When they enter the Pier, a strange, heavy fog descends, cutting them off from the mainland. They are on their own, with a killer... is it one of them or is there another person on the Pier with them?

There is no messing about with this story, right from the first page the author sets the scene with phrases like; Allhallows Rock, dark-tar waters, shadowy beach and grubby neon lights... The plot is not really pacy, but slow and engaging as the teenagers' personalities are disclosed to the reader along with their secrets.
This author really knows how to build suspense, create an unsettling atmosphere by playing around with the passage of time that really disorients the reader. Who will you want to be the One, the only One, to survive?

Good Girls Die First does have similarities to some Stephen King and Agatha Christie novels (a few came into my mind as I was reading but will not mention them as I don't want to spoil the book for you), which is not surprising as the author readily admits she is an avid fan of both of their works. So if you are a fan yourself you will not be disappointed.

Expect 352 pages of pure creepy entertainment that is suitable for the 13+ reader due to some of the content of death, violence, sexual assault and suicide - but nothing lingered on or in depth. Oh, and of course some serious mind games. Good Girls Die First would also be a great book for intervention groups/book clubs as it's a quick read that will keep readers attention as they will want to find out what happens next.

352 pages / Ages 13+ / Reviewed by Linda Brown, school librarian