Saturday, 3 August 2019

Book Review: GIRLS LIKE US by Christina Alger

Title: GIRLS LIKE US
Author: Christina Alger
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Read: July 2019
Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2


Book Description:


FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn't been home in ten years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. And Suffolk County will always be awash in memories of her mother, Marisol, who was brutally murdered when Nell was just seven.

When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father's ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father's partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County.[...] But she may not like the answers she finds--not just about those she loves, but about herself.

My musings:


I always appreciate a good solid police procedural and was happy to find that GIRLS LIKE US delivered just that. Nell Flynn, an FBI agent, is forced to return home to a small seaside town after the sudden death of her father in a motorbike accident. But what should have been a short, straight-forward visit turns into something much more complicated when Nell is drawn into the investigation into the death of a young local woman, whose body was found in a wealthy suburb not far from where Nell is staying. Soon her suspicions are aroused that the death could be related to one of her father’s old murder cases. The more Nell digs, the more afraid she becomes that her father may have been involved in something much bigger and more terrible than she ever suspected ....

As far as main characters go, Nell Flynn was the perfect protagonist: an intelligent, brave and yet also emotionally vulnerable female who is not afraid to dig into the past to find out the truth, even if it puts everything she has ever believed into jeopardy. The difficult relationship between Nell and her late father added complexity and emotional depth to an otherwise straight forward police procedural, but with a suspicion that hits so close to home Nell was never going to escape unscathed from this investigation.

Readers who love some nail biting action and a constant sense of menace and danger in their crime novels will be pleased with the tension Alger has created in her latest novel, even though I found it was a bit slow to get there. But once Nell was up to her neck in danger and conspiracy, the story soon swept me along in its wake until its fast-paced finale.


It is always difficult to review a book that relies largely on its surprise elements to thrill and entertain, so I will keep this short and sweet. If you like a police procedural featuring a strong, independent, smart woman protagonist, then this one should be a good fit. I could easily see Nell coming back in future novels, though it was her personal emotional connection to the crimes that made this story stand out from hundreds of others in the genre. I have Alger’s first novel THE BANKER’S WIFE on my wishlist and look forward to reading more from this author in future.


Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

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