Title:- The 13th Girl
Author:- Sarah Goodwin
No. of pages:- 332 pages
Date published:- will be published on June 23rd 2022
Publisher:- Avon
Genre:- Psychological Thriller
Rating:-
Plot:- 3/5 stars
Writing;-:- 4/5 stars
Overall:- 3.5 / 5 stars
A little girl in a white nightdress stands out in the snow, watching the large brick house burn before her eyes…
My name is Lucy Townsend.
I was born on Friday the thirteenth, and I was the thirteenth girl living in the big house. Unlucky for some.
But I was the fortunate one. I escaped. The only one who made it out alive.
And now, twenty years after that fateful night, the secrets of the past and what happened in that house are pulling me back.
I might not be so lucky this time…
A totally gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller with twists and turns you just won’t see coming. Perfect for fans of Girl A and The Family Upstairs.
This is the second book written by Sarah Goodwin.
The story starts with Lucy Townsend who finds herself pregnant. She wasn’t ready to become a mother after when her own mother had been terrible towards her but her husband, Marshal seems to be happy. Lucy seems to be leading a happy life with Marshal. But then, her tormented childhood past soon came to light–her mother was involved in some sort of cult that involved kidnapping and killing little girls. As both Marshall and his father are MPs and needed to save their faces, Lucy was sent to a cottage. Then one day, she goes off to the house where she stayed and her past buried many years ago.
I have to say, the story did start out really good. After reading Stranded by this very same author, I actually had high expectations with this book. Unfortunately this book did not really live up to my high expectations. I am not saying this was bad–it was good. The writing was good and the first part was engaging. But then soon, when the middle of the story took hold what with describing about the cult, it got…let’s just say unbelieavable. Not boring but unrealistic and unbelievable in my opinion. Nonetheless I did enjoy the story although I have to say, unlike her first book, this was not as good as stranded.
Overall, if you like cult based thriller, you can try out the Thirteenth girl. Worth 3.5 stars.
Many thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.
Sarah Goodwin is a novelist who grew up in rural Hertfordshire. She was raised on ‘The Good Life’ ‘Anne of Green Gables’ and ‘Little House on the Prairie’ by her parents, who turned a blind eye to her dabbling in herbal medicine, feminism, eco-warrior ideals and witchcraft. They were understandably unsurprised when she developed the lifetime ambition of building a hut in the woods and living there like a soothsayer.
Her second preferred career, was author.
At Bath Spa University Sarah studied for a BA in Creative Writing and self-published many novels across various genres, including YA magical realism, contemporary women’s fiction, romance and horror.
Sarah graduated in 2014 with an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. After writing several historical novels, she decided to return to her roots and write instead about the wild, the darkness and survival, which led to her coming up with the idea for ‘Stranded’ which would become her first professionally published novel.
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