Review: Lost Girls

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

 

Oh dear. This was a bit of a train wreck of a book for me. It started off quite good, fairly intriguing mystery. Can’t say I cared much about the characters really, but there was enough of a what the hell happened mentality to keep me interested in the plot. Rachel wakes up with no memory and finds out she had been kidnapped and managed to escape. She only remembers up to about a year before this happened. Only to find when she gets home with her family she’s ditched her best friend, and the ballet she loves, got a new boyfriend and become a really mean bitchy goth.

 

The novel centres around Rachel trying to figure out what happened to her. She has flashes of memory and learns she can fight like a pro but has no idea how she learned. She has a whole set of new friends including some of the most popular kids in her school. A hot boyfriend she doesn’t remember getting together with. And learns she’s been sneaking out fighting and getting high.

 

As Rachel gets used to going back to school and being at home, she finds secrets about herself in her room connected to a load of other missing girls. The mystery deepens. The problem I had with the characters was they were all kind of flat. I didn’t really care about any of them, it was only curiosity on the mystery aspect that kept me interested. But as the plot progressed and secrets were unravelled, the more ridiculous the plot became.  

 

It was trying to be a dark gritty thriller and it did deal with some rather dark themes – dead girls, assault, underground fight clubs, drugs, criminal activity, all involving teens. At some point near the end there was a bizarre twist that could almost suggest human trafficking. The problem I had with it was the story line became so farfetched and ludicrous it was more eye rolling than shocking. It was certainly uncomfortable in parts. The writing was weird as well, it was trying to be deep and intense and at some points became almost waxing and poetic.

 

The main character was a ballerina and there was a lot of references to Swan Lake, which just got annoying.

 

At the start of the novel I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not, but by the end I definitely didn’t like it at all. Not for me.

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing LLC for approving my request to view the title.

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