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dlrosebyh's reviews
590 reviews
The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore
3.75
as an introverted bookworm, i just need friends i can talk about books with
Dead Girls Talking by Megan Cooley Peterson
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
First of all, I would like to thank Holiday House and NetGalley for providing me with a free e-ARC of Dead Girls Talking.
In all honesty, when I requested this book, I was in a Heathers: The Musical high (Dead Girl Walking…Get it?). By any means, I had no expectations for this book whatsoever. And one of my goals this year is to read more mysteries.
For someone who doesn’t read a lot of mysteries, it all comes down to one reason: I’m picky with them. A lot of mysteries have disappointed me because the twist isn’t good or it’s just not believable at all. Dead Girls Talking didn’t really disappoint me, but it did not wow me either. I’ve read better, and I’ve read worse. However, one thing I liked about this book was the pacing. Even though the mystery itself wasn’t that interesting for me, I could not put this book down because it was so easy to read.
Dead Girls Talking is about Bettina’s father who has been arrested for killing her mom. However, lately, there have been numerous killings in the town of Wolf Ridge similar to the killing of her mom. It all comes down to one question: Did her father really kill her mom?
In this novel, we follow two characters: Bett, the daughter of the serial killer, and Eugenia, the mortician’s daughter. Together, they try to solve the town’s mystery.
One issue I had with this book is that the characters are so undeveloped. They felt so one-dimensional. Even Bett herself was one-dimensioned. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves in mysteries because you’re trying to find out who the killer is. The ‘twist would be unbelievable’ if your characters are one-dimensional. Because if so, you just wrote the killer for the shock and not because of the plot.
The plot twists were poorly done. The theories were thrown around just as it is and weren’t dug into as deep as I wanted them to be. There were extreme guesses and there were no real backup sources for them. Like, I guess it’s good to expect the unknown, but it kind of went down to: there’s no source, just trust me, bro.
I hate comparing books to other books, but it felt like the book was trying to be somehow like ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’. It seems uncanny that some of the plot points are similar.
Now, onto the things that I liked, I really like plot, and it felt like the plot was really well thought of. Everything was there for a reason, which I really loved. As I mentioned earlier, I really liked the pacing of the novel. It’s what every mystery book should be. Quick, gritty, and unputdownable.
In short, if you love mysteries, I think that this is still worth a read. And if you really loved ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ and want something similar, then why not give it a shot?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Alcohol, and Domestic abuse