Do you ever almost NOT read a book, and then you are glad that you decided to pick it up? That was me with Catherine Dang's finely crafted debut, Nice Girls. Having read plenty of "girl-gone-missing" thrillers, I feel like I have explored the scope of what this genre has to offer. Fortunately, Dang gave me a little something more to enjoy with her novel about "Ivy League Mary," a girl who made it to Cornell and was subsequently kicked out during her senior year for one moment of seriously bad judgment. Back home and living with her father who is not happy about her mistakes, Mary tries to keep what happened at Cornell a secret while working at the local grocery store. But when she becomes involved in not one, but two missing girl mysteries from her hometown, she learns that she is not the only one with something to hide.
Catherine Dang is a voice that needs to be heard, and she is a welcome addition to the women's suspense genre. What I loved so much about her debut is that she takes time to really build her story, investing readers in the plot and characters before pulling out the twists and turns. This strategy is so effective because it allows readers to form their own opinions about the characters and their motives, and hence, when the rug is pulled out from underneath them, the pay-off is gratifying. Dang does a lot of showing, as opposed to telling, which is a characteristic I really appreciate in a writer - one who lets me come to my own conclusions instead of telling me what to think.
I was "all in" during my entire reading of Nice Girls, which I devoured in practically one sitting. Dang effectively layers a story about a girl moving back in with her parents after a failed attempt at college and the adjustments she has to make to go from being somebody back to nobody, with a small-town missing girls mystery. While the missing girls are always in the background, they aren't the constant focus of this multi-layered novel, and readers will find that Mary has secrets and intrigue all of her own.
Availability: eBook in cloudLibrary Rating: ***** Stars (I loved it) Reviewer: Brooke, Public Relations Librarian
ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! Nice Girls
GENRE: Thrillers & Suspense THEME: Home Again (Coming back to the place you left behind.) TONE: Moody; Suspenseful STORYLINE: Intricately Plotted WRITING STYLE: Compelling LOCATION: Minnesota SUBJECT: Anger in Women; Consequences; Expectation; Flashbacks; Former Friends; Homecomings; Interpersonal Relations; Missing Women; Race Relations; Secrets; Small Towns; Young Women
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