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A review by mrsrjg
Girl A by Abigail Dean
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was just ok but it felt a bit like there was something missing and I'm not sure I can quite put my finger on what.
It was a quick enough read but the chapters focused on one child each so it made them a bit too long which felt it drag sometimes. I also felt the paragraph time changes were a bit jarring, like there were times when you would just be on the cusp of finding out what was going and it jumped to a different timeline; I just wanted her to get to the point.
It was written quite well (although really grim, so if you're squeamish maybe not the book for you) and at times I had to remind myself that it wasn't real (although possibly inspired by some real life cases) as it came across very much like a memoir.
I felt the big reveal fell a bit flat which led up to the ending feeling a bit empty for me; the whole book felt a bit like a case of the chase being better than the actual reveal.
It was a quick enough read but the chapters focused on one child each so it made them a bit too long which felt it drag sometimes. I also felt the paragraph time changes were a bit jarring, like there were times when you would just be on the cusp of finding out what was going and it jumped to a different timeline; I just wanted her to get to the point.
It was written quite well (although really grim, so if you're squeamish maybe not the book for you) and at times I had to remind myself that it wasn't real (although possibly inspired by some real life cases) as it came across very much like a memoir.
I felt the big reveal fell a bit flat which led up to the ending feeling a bit empty for me; the whole book felt a bit like a case of the chase being better than the actual reveal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse