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mardzipan 's review for:
The Broken Girls
by Simone St. James
Simone St. James is certainly an author I'll look out for in the future. Her writing is right up my alley: introspective, pensive, and provoking.
The Broken Girls falls into many categories: a murder mystery spanning two time periods, a history-inspired fiction, a ghost story, and an atmospheric thriller. The intention behind her writing is clear: she explores the injustice done to girls in society because they are rarely treated humanely.
Personally, the twist and turns in this novel weren't my main interest (in general, never been a huge thriller fan so it's not why I got into this novel in the first place). Instead, I respected the parallel formed between the two plots: one taking place in the 1950s among a group of wayward girls in Idlewild Hall as they confront the hauntings and their own haunted pasts, and the second taking place in 2014 as journalist Fiona Sheridan delves deeper into the past murder of her older sister as well as the history of Idlewild Hall.
For me, the most compelling character had to be Sonia, one of the girls that resided at Idlewild Hall in the 1950s. But I could also do with less of Fiona and her boyfriend - but that's just a personal gripe.
I also can't help but draw similarities between this novel and Stephen King's [b:The Institute|43798285|The Institute|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549241208l/43798285._SY75_.jpg|68147322] but only because it is still a recent read and is fresh in my mind. Won't say for what reason in case it's mild spoilers but just putting it here for my own reference.
This book gets a solid 4 stars from me.
The Broken Girls falls into many categories: a murder mystery spanning two time periods, a history-inspired fiction, a ghost story, and an atmospheric thriller. The intention behind her writing is clear: she explores the injustice done to girls in society because they are rarely treated humanely.
Personally, the twist and turns in this novel weren't my main interest (in general, never been a huge thriller fan so it's not why I got into this novel in the first place). Instead, I respected the parallel formed between the two plots: one taking place in the 1950s among a group of wayward girls in Idlewild Hall as they confront the hauntings and their own haunted pasts, and the second taking place in 2014 as journalist Fiona Sheridan delves deeper into the past murder of her older sister as well as the history of Idlewild Hall.
For me, the most compelling character had to be Sonia, one of the girls that resided at Idlewild Hall in the 1950s. But I could also do with less of Fiona and her boyfriend - but that's just a personal gripe.
I also can't help but draw similarities between this novel and Stephen King's [b:The Institute|43798285|The Institute|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549241208l/43798285._SY75_.jpg|68147322] but only because it is still a recent read and is fresh in my mind. Won't say for what reason in case it's mild spoilers but just putting it here for my own reference.
This book gets a solid 4 stars from me.