In the seaside town of Hithechurch, England, eleven-year-old Charlotte meets Emily, a clever and secretive girl her own age with a dark family history. In an attempt to get rid of Emily’s abusive father, Charlie and Emily perform a ritual to try and summon the spirit of a Hithechurch girl of urban legend—named Stitch Face Sue by Charlie—who was killed by pirates and supposedly haunts the town in a quest for revenge. When it appears that the macabre game they've invented is working, Emily becomes obsessed with Stitch Face Sue, and ropes in another girl—but the game goes tragically wrong when the new girl is killed. Charlie and Emily are caught trying to hide the body, and both are carted away to institutions.
Past meets present when Charlie returns to Hithechurch as an adult to research a book on the folklore of the area, but is drawn into the cases of several girls who have mysteriously vanished. And she has other motives for coming back as well. Emily has published a bestselling memoir on the fateful incident from their childhoods, one that lays the blame squarely at Charlie’s feet. Outraged, Charlie scours the town for evidence to back up her side of the story—and in doing so exposes an older, even darker tale.
Charlie is set on discovering the truth about the girls’ disappearances, but someone is watching, and her own past is nipping at her heels. In a town haunted by tragic disappearances and unrelenting urban legends, Charlie's determination for truth is laced with secrets buried deep in Hithechurch's past. ~taken from Goodreads
The premise to her latest novel was perfect for a good read! Small town, creepy folklore, missing girls and dark secrets. The perfect setup for a good page turner. This book is told from 3 different perspectives and from 3 different timelines.
At first there is no possible way you would think they all fit together in present day. You keep reading and reading, trying to put the pieces together.
Charlie and her niece are on an off season holiday at a seaside town that Charlie once vacationed at with her family as a child. Charlie has an ulterior motive for visiting the town, clearly to investigate the missing teenage girls and how they somehow relate to her past, her niece is clueless to her agenda.
We do get to see into Charlie's past and her relationship with her childhood vacation friend as they investigate creepy folklore and start to do weird rituals to try and summon the spirit of Stitch Face Sue, a tale they become semi obsessed about.
The third storyline is about a doctor who cognitive abilities are compromised by an accident. He ends up with a beautiful woman who also has an accident, but hers effects her looks, which effects her self esteem.
A long way into the novel these stories interconnect. But I got bored long before that happened. So many times I wanted to quit this book. I actually started reading another book while still reading this one because I was so incredibly bored. There is so much potential here with this book and I am so disappointed the author wasted it on nonimportant side stories and ramblings. There were also so many storylines missed. There were characters I would have loved to know more about, but they were passed over as unimportant.
This was a gracious 3 star read for me. I really struggled to finish.
"Games For Dead Girls" is set to be released here in the U.S. on April 18. 2023 so you can pre-order it now!
Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me an advanced digital copy to read and give my honest review.
Happy Reading!
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