Paige Dawson: the mother of a murdered child and wife to a dead man.
She has nothing left to live for… until she finds her husband’s handgun hidden in their house.
Why did Ryan need a gun? What did he know about their daughter’s death?
Desperate for the truth, Paige begins to unearth her husband’s secrets.
But she has no idea who she is up against, or that her life isn’t hers to gamble – she belongs to me.
Source | Edition | Pages |
---|---|---|
Amazon | ebook | 226 |
I am so glad I don’t limit myself to single genres when it comes to reading. I am so glad I follow book bloggers who read titles that I normally wouldn’t consider picking up. I still read the reviews though, even if to ‘educate’ myself in wordmanship and learn about different ways on how to approach writing a review. My Girl was recommended to me by Inge, The Belgian Reviewer [Inge’s review of My Girl], after I very much enjoyed The One by John Marrs she had heartily recommended on her blog, and … I just have a question for myself…
Why have I, more often than not, looked past thrillers? I mean, I’ve read a few and they’ve been really good so how come I simply haven’t read more?
Anyway, I think the error is now fixed… Note to self: Yes, I don’t like cosy mysteries, but thrillers are not cosy mysteries. Stop being dosey! Thrillers don’t bore me to death with village life and cupcake killers. Thrillers deliver, girl. Read more thrillers!
A quick, non-spoilery overview, everyone? Follow me…
Paige Dawson, mother of a murdered child, wife of a dead husband is totally off the rails with grief. She fills her days with pills, booze and self pity. She’s especially good at giving herself more reasons for self pity by doing some pretty stupid things. Stupid is the wrong word… more like degrading! But how do you judge a person who has lost their child and seen her husband’s lifeless eyes? Without her daughter and husband, Paige doesn’t care that her carpet is covered in puke. She doesn’t care that her health is giving her bloodred warning signs…
Taking care of 40+y/o Paige, even though she just wants to be left alone in her messy stinking house, are her father, brother and her in-laws. She promises left-right-and-centre that she will be a new woman ‘tomorrow morning after a sleep‘. Except she doesn’t, in fact, keep any of those promises. Instead she goes and gets slapped by ASBO by the police after DUI and then ends up finds a gun in her husband’s belongings. The discovery of a gun of course opens up a new box of worms… what was her husband up to? As if this isn’t enough for her constantly drunken mind, other strange events start to happen. Smaller ones at first she dismisses, then bigger and more impactful changes she just can’t undo. But talking to a PI is pointless. After all, who would take seriously claims by a woman who is self destructing due to grief? Besides, going by the facts, it’s probably Paige herself, doing things and then forgetting about them- I’m super vague aren’t I? 😀
When all goes up in flames, Paige finds herself in fresh hell she could never have imagined.
My thoughts…
This book definitely took me by surprise. Delivered in 3 parts, no stone will be left unturned. Part 1 gets us all up and close comfy with Paige’s character and her status quo and ends with the reveal of the story’s Twisted Fuck (see below). Part 2 is an important filler to the story handling some past events up until present! And Part 3… well, it’s a part full of conclusions, more revelations and an ending fit to the story.
My Girl delivers dark and creepy from start to finish. Paige’s character is one dealing with tons of suffering and even though at times I wanted to just shake her and tell her to snap out of it, it’s not really how things work. I could say, she is a character that managed to make feel feel equally as much compassion for her as well as disgust at times. In the end though, when all was said and done… and explained… I have nothing but sympathy!
If there ever is a rock bottom that an author can write a character into, My Girl gives an example of the rockiest of rock bottoms. If there ever is a book that can mix together so much yuk and ‘oh come come, really?’, it’s My Girl. If you’re a squeamish reader and can’t stand violence- yeah, I’d pass on this one.
As for our Twisted Fuck of the story… well… Just before ‘the big revelation’ I figured it out. I had this creepy-crawly feeling of who’s behind it all… It was actually a small comment made by them that rubbed me the wrong way. Having said that… figuring out the culprit doesn’t always mean the story has nowhere else to progress and in the case of My Girl, when I thought it couldn’t get anymore worse, it went and got worse.
Reflecting back on the book, what gives me most enjoyment is the fact I am still having those “Ah!” moments… the clues and teasers peppered throughout the story from early on are now falling into place when during reading they seemed interesting and kind of relevant but irrelevant at the same time. Sign of good thought process behind writing, I think. (I’m just imagining this big board with newspaper clippings and photos and facts that have pins in them and then string drawn in between them to connect the puzzle together.) Perhaps a weathered and experienced crime/thriller reader would know to keep all kinds of small details in their mind, but I must say I rather enjoy aftereffects!
Overall: 4 stars. I felt there were some things that caused a lot of questions in my mind. A lot of why’s, but’s and why not’s. Then again… knowing the ‘situation’ the questions could be easily put to sleep. Not sure how a more analytical, questioning mind would receive the book, but for me? I was fully blown away by the level of suspense, the twists were balanced ranging from ‘holy shit’ to ‘oh my!” and even though this was a dark and twisted tale, it offered a satisfying ending with a silver lining!
Sounds like , This novel is what “The Girl on the Train” was intended to be , on my TBR it goes for now 🙂
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I’ve never actually raid The Girl on the Train… hmm… cool stuffs, I hope you do enjoy when the time comes to read My Girl 🙂 well.. enjoy is probably a weird word to use in this context but… you get it 🙂
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Yes I do understand what you mean , on the matter of “The Girl on the Train” I’m of the feeling that it’s one of the most over rated book , but people did like it , it won awards and they even made a movie with Emily Blunt on it . So make your own choice .But in my honest opinion , it’s a book i never recommend anyone to read
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Interesting… you know.. I never felt compelled enough to read The Girl on the Train, nor watch the movie… the premise of it yeah sounds interesting but the blurb hasn’t pulled me in enough and I actually have heard conflicting opinions of the book… What made the book totally unworthy of recommendation in your opinion?
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Many things , the characters were uninteresting , the mystery was predictable from the begining , many things didn’t feel right ,In the end it felt like a cheap melodramatic show rather than a exciting thriller.
I had written a review about it , although this was during my early days of blogging so if you can ignore some weak writing skills check it out here: https://ablogaboutbook.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/all-aboard-the-hype-express-choo-choo-the-girl-on-the-train-review/
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Cool, I’ll check out your review! 🙂 Thanks for the link!
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Fab review! I promised Inge I’d read this soon… then the book got buried again under other stories in the TBR! I am all for more thrillers! They are good for your brain as you keep wondering. Not so good for your heart as the twists can surprise you a little bit too much, haha, but they’re often exquisite stories. If exquisite is the word… xD
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Cheers! 🙂
You say it right.. again… good for the brain, not so good for the heart!
Yes, I know right? Isn’t it just difficult to describe how you feel about those dark and twisted books? But readers understand thankfully, and don’t immediately have the ‘weirdo alert’ going off in their heads 🙂
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Thank you SO much for your lovely mention! I was a little afraid to read this post but I’m very happy you liked it. Truth be told, when I read it I hadn’t seen any reviews of this novel, it seemed nobody had read it so I went into this one without any expectations. I didn’t expect a twist really so that made me all the more surprised and excited. I hope this novel doesn’t suffer from any hype and people know and expect too much already.. That being saud, you didn’t give anything away in your review and I know it must have been hard to not talk about it 😆. Excellent review! Ps mysteries don’t seem to be my thing either, I tried a few times but if you’re used to reading this… just no.
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You’re now officially my go to person for thriller recs 😀
I imagine som readers may find the book a bit too distressing but the ones that are cool with dark and twisted will manage just fine. It is a pretty engaging story, after all and the pages just kept turnng themselves… 🙂
Yes, gosh… I wanted to add a big blanked out spoiler at the end to vent everything out decided against it in the end.. the forbidden fruit is too tempting and I didn’t want to ruin the book for anyone interested in checking it out.
I hear ya on the mysteries… just yawn… but I guess, they’re the perfect genre for the lightweights! 😀 😛
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Oww thanks :-). It’s not too graphic so it might be okay for most I think. If you’re used to reading thrillers you must be able to stomach this :-).
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Aye! You make a really good point about being a thriller reader and having the stomach for it! This is so true…
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Ok this sounds like a read for my “twisted” reading self haha. At first I was reading this and had to reread because I thought yu were complaining.. partially blame this cold haha. Adding to GR! 😉
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Hahahahaha… I better reread my review- I may have come across a bit odd as I was actually multitasking writing this with work… shame, for shame @ me! 🙂
Aww… sorry to hear you have a cold… or did you mean you feel cold? hah… one way or another, I hope you’re nicely wrapped up, with a hot cuppa and enjoying a book 🙂
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Haha I am one hundred percent it was not your review 😉 It is definitely me and my meds ❤
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Aw… Take care, Danielle! ❤ *ps, for some reasons, for a long time, I always want to address you as Dani but I'm not sure if you'd hate it?* : D
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You certainly may ❤ I had a best friend who called me Dani for years so it doesn't bother me a bit 😉
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Excellent review Liz! And yes, you do have to read more thrillers! Especially now that you know that some of them can be quite f*cked up! Oh, and I also hate cozy mysteries. It’s so toned down, I doubt the best cozy mystery would ever please me. This story does sound like it gave you a good amount of thrill. Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you do get your hands on some really good thrillers this year! 😛
– Lashaan
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Thank you 🙂 I know right? I need to move out from under the fantasy rock I’ve been living :d well.. not completely… maybe have like a thriller rock as a holiday house where I can visit sometimes 😀 Thanks!
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Twisted fucked up story?? OMG GIRLL SIGN. ME. IN 😂Its true the bloggers made me discover so many different books that I would just look through it hahah 🙂 Glad you enjoyed this one! Take care witj that cold 😘 -Trang
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Hahahaha… Thanks 🙂 It’s OK to consume twisted stories… we know we’re actually.. you know… alright in the head.. but what must authors feel who write these twisted stories? 😀 wow…
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Great review Lizzy, you always have a way with words that makes me smile. I’m not a thriller fan but this sounds great.😀
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Thank you QP! 🙂
I think my ‘way with words’ may have something to do with the Estonian thoughts being translated into English? not sure… I wish everybody spoke Estonian- it’s a fantastically colorful language 😀
Yeah… the book is all sort of screwed up.. well, the characters in it… Inge is getting me proper invested in thrillers! 😀
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Ha, English can be colourful too when you remove all the boring words and replace them with foul mouthed sarcasm!😂
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True that! Moaaarrr profanity!
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Great review!! I rarely read thrillers- but I do love a good one!!
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Thank you! 😉
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You’re welcome!!
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Oh dear gawd cozy mysteries. I am glad I read a couple in October, so when people recommend them I can say… HELL NO! Ha ha. I like Psychological Thrillers, but they have to be SciFi, or have some type of paranormal component to them. But like you always say, who knows, in the future I might start loving straight up Thrillers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 🙂
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Hhahahaha… yeah, cozies are just – snore!
Hmm.. trying to think here if I’ve read a thriller with paranormal/scifi element… I may have but can’t think of one straight away… does Twilight count? 😀 bwahahahaha! jk.
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Did you know Twilight was the first book I ever DNFed? Ha ha. This was before I started blogging, too. I used to work as a dressing room supervisor for our kid’s regional theater company to help pay for Sebastian’s musical theater classes, and all of these girls were telling me to read this fabulous bookTwilight because I was always reading during down time. They assured me I was going to love it as much as Harry Potter. I only made it three chapters. Ha!
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Really? 😀 ahhahahaha… fabulous! I actually enjoyed the whole book series, the Twilight that is.. never read HP 😀 so strange how people find different books either appealong or appalling!? 🙂
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Great review! I’m glad you enjoyed this one! I read it last year and I still remember THE TWIST.
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it sure is one of those books that are hard to forget! ☺
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