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A review by gcreed13
One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this book.
A hen party gone wrong is becoming a fairly established trope at this point, so I'm always curious to see if an author can put a new twist on it. As is typical with this trope, there's secrets, there's drama, and it all comes unravelled on a weekend getaway.
What made this novel stand out to me compared to others in this space was the depth of the characters, the pacing, and the evocative sense of place established.
The story is told through the perspectives of the 6 women at the hen party, interspersed with flowery retrospective passages that allude to the tragic end of the story. Lucy Clarke does an excellent job creating a unique voice for each if these characters, which is where I see a lot of authors struggle. 6 perspectives may be a lot for some readers to keep up with, but I didn't find it too difficult once they were all introduced. I wasn't much of a fan of the interluding passages and felt they were disjoint, taking me out of the current moment and killing momentum. I also felt they didn't add much to the story.
This book was a very quick read for me, largely because of the short (but numerous at 98) chapters. Both the pacing and the evocative island setting makes me think this will be a perfect beach or vacation read. Definitely a standout compared to other novels in the same trope.
A hen party gone wrong is becoming a fairly established trope at this point, so I'm always curious to see if an author can put a new twist on it. As is typical with this trope, there's secrets, there's drama, and it all comes unravelled on a weekend getaway.
What made this novel stand out to me compared to others in this space was the depth of the characters, the pacing, and the evocative sense of place established.
The story is told through the perspectives of the 6 women at the hen party, interspersed with flowery retrospective passages that allude to the tragic end of the story. Lucy Clarke does an excellent job creating a unique voice for each if these characters, which is where I see a lot of authors struggle. 6 perspectives may be a lot for some readers to keep up with, but I didn't find it too difficult once they were all introduced. I wasn't much of a fan of the interluding passages and felt they were disjoint, taking me out of the current moment and killing momentum. I also felt they didn't add much to the story.
This book was a very quick read for me, largely because of the short (but numerous at 98) chapters. Both the pacing and the evocative island setting makes me think this will be a perfect beach or vacation read. Definitely a standout compared to other novels in the same trope.