Title: Girl, Forgotten
Author: Karin Slaughter
Year published: 2022
Category: Adult fiction (thriller)
Pages: 400 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location: (my 2022 Google Reading map): USA (DE)
Summary: A small town hides a big secret…
Who killed Emily Vaughn?
A girl with a secret…
Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn gets ready for the prom. For an athlete, who is smart, pretty and well-liked, this night should be the highlight of her high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the evening, that secret will be silenced forever.
An unsolved murder…
Forty years later, Emily’s murder remains a mystery. Her tight-knit group of friends closed ranks; her respected, wealthy family retreated inwards; the small town moved on from her grisly attack. But all that’s about to change.
One final chance to uncover a killer…
US Marshal Andrea Oliver arrives in Longbill Beach on her first assignment: to protect a judge receiving death threats. But, in reality, Andrea is there to find justice for Emily. The killer is still out there—and Andrea must discover the truth before she gets silenced, too…
Review: This author was recommended to me by Esther at Bite Into Books and I am really grateful as this was a really good read.
I liked the going back and forth between 1982 (the dead girl would be my age if she were alive today) and today and how the story was slowly revealed to me as I read. My only issue is how characters responded to Emily's secret in 1982. This is difficult to write without giving away the plot, but I'll try. Maybe it's because I grew up in southern California, but the reactions seemed too extreme for me.
There were plenty of people to dislike in this novel, but they were so well done. Misogynists, abusers, and people who were just plain cruel. They all played a pivotal role in both time periods, creating a ton of characters who could be "the bad guy (or woman)" that I was left guessing until very near the end when the truth was revealed. I do like Andrea, the main US Marshal character (and, I believe there will be future books about her). She is smart, has an interesting background, and can hold her own in a physical fight. Her mentor is also a good character.
All in all, a really good read and I look forward to the next installment.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Literary Escapes--Deleware
- RIP--murder mystery
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