Today I’m reviewing The Fallen Girls: (Detective Clara Jefferies Book 1) by Kathryn Casey.
Here’s the blurb
She didn’t notice the corn stalks shiver a few feet to her right. By the time she looked up, the man towered above her. In a single movement he wrapped one thick hand around her waist, the other he clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams.
Detective Clara Jefferies has spent years running from her childhood in Alber, Utah. But when she hears that her baby sister Delilah has disappeared, she knows that the peaceful community will be shattered, her family vulnerable, and that that she must face up to her past and go home.
Clara returns to find that her mother, Ardeth, has isolated her family by moving to the edge of town, in the shadow of the mountains. Ardeth refuses to talk to the police and won’t let Clara through the front door, believing she and her sister-wives can protect their own. But Clara knows better than anyone that her mother isn’t always capable of protecting her children.
When Clara finds out that two more girls have disappeared, all last seen around the cornfields near her family’s home, she realizes it’s not just Delilah who’s in danger. And then she gets a call that a body has been found…
Clara will have to dig deep into the town’s secrets if she’s going to find Delilah. But that will mean confronting the reason she left. And as she gets closer to Delilah, she might be putting her more at risk…
Review
Detective Clara Jefferies escaped her home town many years ago… and didn’t look back….but it’s time to head home when her sister Delilah goes missing.
Clara has to face her past.. and judgement from everyone including her own family.. she needs to break down the walls to discover what has happened to her sister but no one is willing to talk.. she’s now an outsider.. and I think some are just angry she escaped and they didn’t!
Things get more tense when it becomes clear Dalilah isn’t the first young girl to go missing..
The town is full of secrets and the residents continue to stonewall the investigation but Clara knows she has to pile on the pressure to get some answers and fast! Time is running out to find her sister.
The Fallen Girls has a very tense, creepy feeling from the onset.. Clara was raised in an isolated polygamist society so you quickly see why no one is willing to trust her.. but soon she starts to make a little headway..but the slow pace just adds to the building tension!
As the story progresses we see events play out from different perspectives at times and this just added to the creepiness and psychological edge to the tale as you tried to work out who the killer is.. and why…most importantly will Detective Jefferies put the clues together and get there in time?
Not only was the plot intriguing but Kathryn Casey managed to portray the people, the setting, the emotions brilliantly..there was a very natural feel to the tale and that made it even more creepy.
When it comes to endings.. WOW.. those last few chapters had me gripped as the pieces came together as the action heated up.
Overall The Fallen Girls is dark, gritty and disturbingly brilliant. It’s like one of those true crime programmes or podcasts.. it’s so gruesomely enthralling.
5/5 Stars
David's Book Blurg 