Damien Angelica WaltersBesprekingen

[b:The Dead Girls Club|45701350|The Dead Girls Club|Damien Angelica Walters|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557438326l/45701350._SY75_.jpg|70470811]
Red Lady Red Lady
First, I would like to thank the author the publisher and Netgalley for my arc of this book. I enjoyed this book more then I expected to. Before you think negatively of me that isn’t an insult. I am a person who lives to read an awesome thriller and I have read so many that they tend to be predictable. I loved this book from start to finish so much so I finished it in one sitting. Heather Cole has a secret. When she was a tween, she killed her BFF, Becca, as part of a ritual for an urban legend called The Red Lady. Years later, Heather is a respected child psychologist who receives something unsettling in the mail. Is the past haunting Heather is her BFF still alive, or is The Red Lady…. Back. So many questions that I promise you will have the answers too by the end. I loved the relationship between the four girls in the Dead Girls Club. I also loved the past and present point of views which made me more intrigued to read the story. My goodness the ending is so well worth the wait. If you get the chance to pick this up it’s very much worth the read. I know many people are comparing this to Gone Girl. I also know that many people did not like gone girl so if seeing that in a review is scaring you off, I urge you to give this a chance you won’t regret it.

I know that the lower I rate a book, the longer the review tends to be, so I'll try to be more succinct in this one. Most of what I really want to say is spoilery anyway, so here goes. I really did not like the main character...couldn't connect with her at all. I also didn't find the mystery or the twists all that interesting or surprising, and pretty strongly dislike the ending. And the synopsis is very misleading.

The story is told in 2 timelines--the NOW is first-person POV with Heather as an adult narrator. The THEN is third-person POV, but still focuses on teenage Heather. I could not stand adult Heather. She acts like a victim of this mysterious person who is sending her little things that Heather knows were directly related to the night Becca died, but uses this as an excuse to stalk people from her past and treat pretty much everyone she interacts with terribly. By the second half of the book, I would literally groan every time the book went back to the NOW storyline, because it was just so boring. Her obsession with finding out what was going on turned her into a monster. And don't even get me started on how terrible she became at her job, which just bugged me so much.

I also got to a point by halfway in the book where reading it made me feel kinda skeevy. Heather had a habit of picking at her cuticles when she was nervous and stressed, which of course she was during the entire book. As an author, it is important to give characters quirks, ticks, habits like this to make them seem real, but the amount that her peeling, biting, and scratching at herself enough to draw blood is shown got under my skin (pun intended).

I am surprised I haven't seen this in any reviews yet, but during the THEN timeline, the teenage girls go into a bit too much detail about their menstrual cycle for my taste, which makes me feel especially bad for any men who read it. There's just no need for some of what they said to be included in this book...at all.

Now about the horror aspect...I honestly can't even tell you why I requested a book classified as horror (I told myself that it must not have been listed as horror until later, but I really can't say if that's true), because I am really not into horror in general. But I steeled myself for a scary read...that hardly came. The supernatural elements that the book promised were flimsy and constantly explained away by the MC. I think I came to realize at some point that the narrator was very unreliable, which just made me doubt everything that happened in the THEN parts. I also didn't find the stories about the Red Lady scary. A bit gruesome and over-the-top, yes, but not so much scary. Near the end, the combination of reading the last 25% at night and a decently creep scene did finally give me some chills, but that was pretty much it. I'm seriously a wimp when it comes to scary things, so that might tell you something about the level of horror in this book. I also wouldn't really classify it as a thriller, so suspense is the best I could come up with.

In the end, a lot of this probably boils down to personal preference. But seriously...she gets away with murder! And it's explained away why, because she got caught up in the Red Lady story? Her mind made it real when it wasn't, so it's not her fault...does this not bother anyone else? So this wasn't a good book for me, but it has plenty of 4- and 5-star reviews. The THEN parts contain some 90s nostalgia that a lot of people will probably enjoy, and the horror and thriller elements will likely hit the mark with plenty of people. So if it seems interesting to you, please be sure to check out others' reviews for this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Haunting, colourful, filled with anguish and tears and sometimes even hope, Sing Me Your Scars is a wonderful collection of short stories by the deeply talented Damien Angelica Walters. Each story took my breath away. They all were filled with such emotion that it was hard to separate myself from each character and what they were going through.

If I had to choose a favourite story, it would be Girl, With Coin, about a young woman who can cut herself open but the wounds heal quickly, so that she does not die. She uses her talent as an art exhibition but the real pain is in her childhood and her relationship with her mother.

They Make of You a Monster was another lovely tale about a kingdom that holds its women with magic in prison until they can break them, making them use their power for evil. It centers on Isabel who, by the end, finds out what her twisted magic can really be used for.

Running Empty in a Land of Decay is a quick little tale of life after the zombie apocalypse. Not scary but not not scary. ;)

I really couldn't put it down. It is totally worth it to just buy this book today. Your life will be so much better after reading! There are not enough words to describe how much I loved it.

Once I got into it, this was a fast read, but I'm afraid it's not one I can recommend. In fact, I'll probably avoid the author's work in the future after this read.

I have to note here, first of all, that some of the blurbs are misleading. It's impossible to say exactly how without making this initial point a spoiler, but suffice to say that one of the subgenre types listed in a number of the blurbs on Amazon is, very simply, not accurate. And since that descriptor is one of the reasons I bought the book...well, yeah, there's disappointment number one.

That said, I enjoy many, many genres of books, suspense being one of them. So, as much as I'm annoyed that the blurbs were misleading, that alone isn't cause enough for me to feel annoyed with a book. But add to that a drawn out story that feels predictable and gets bogged down over and over again in the same types of scene/repetitive action, and one storyline of two mostly lacking suspense, and there are real problems. The fact that the final reveal came completely out of left field was another issue. I'd be more forgiving of that if this were horror (though not completely), but with this being more along the lines of suspense/mystery, I'd say that a reader should be able to be surprised at the final twist, but look back and understand how they could have seen it coming...here, that's just not possible. The final reveal is, literally, out of the blue and impossible to predict, but not in a good way. More in the-author-wants-to-play-a-trick-on-the-reader-and-didn't-remotely-earn-this-ending way.

All told, obviously, I was underwhelmed. The writing was fine, but the best moments in the book ended up not mattering all that much in general, and the way the book kept circling back in its 'now' storyline was nothing less than frustrating/boring. I loved the concept of this, but the magic of that idea got lost along the way for me.

This story is told on two timelines, 1991 and the present day. Back then, we learn about the childhood that shaped the woman Heather has become today. Oddly enough this book dredged up some old memories for me, or maybe it's not that strange. Maybe we all had that one childhood besty who turned catty and left us out, or talked behind our back once puberty hit. Perhaps we all had a friend who we would rather visit when their parent wasn't home to make us feel uneasy. On the other side of the coin maybe you were that friend, and surely you had your reasons if that were the case. Back then Heather and Becca were 2 such friends. Inseparable until they weren't. Girls from very different backgrounds who loved each other like sisters. Friends for life until Heather killed her. Today Heather is a psychologist, working with troubled kids, though she has always kept her own dark childhood secret. Until now. Someone knows what happened all those years ago. Is it a supernatural being come to life from a story? Or is it something no less sinister but far more human that wants to make heather pay? You'll have to read to find out.

I received an advance copy for review.

Cry Your Way Home is a fitting title for a tome so heavily steeped in grief and despair. It touches on loss of a child in more than one way and in more than one story. Loss of a spouse, the pain of watching your husband forget you because of Alzheimer's, bullying, and more. Endless suffering can be found here.
Luckily for me I picked this up at a time when I have had enough sappy happy holiday cheer. There is some general dark fiction, and stories that straddled the line between fantasy and horror, occasionally dipping a toe in each. I hate to use the word "Enjoyed" in this case so I will just say there is mighty fine writing here.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

This basically read like a Mean Girls murder mystery that comes back to haunt you 3 years later. I really didn't love it. I thought it was going to be suspenseful and mysterious but you could guess where it was going by the end of the second chapter.

Creepy, creepy and more creepy. When you were 12 years old did you and your friends huddle under a blanket at a sleepover and tell scary ghost stories... serial killer stories, and "dead girl" stories.? Did you and your friends listen breathlessly believing you heard footsteps from something that wasn't there yet and you hoped would never arrive...but on the other hand, couldn't wait to see? I did....there was 8 of us...and we couldn't get enough. So I could so see myself and my friends maybe forming a club like Heather and her friends and scaring the s**t out of each other. Of course we did that without the club title. Unfortunately for these girls "something" did answer their summons. "Something" took Becca and now no one believes Heather or her friends. Becca and Heather were solid friends with very different backgrounds. Heather came from a stable home...while Becca was being abuse in a broken home. I empathized with both girls. Becca was troubled and Heather had a genuine desire to save her friend. Now we meet "Adult Heather" who is a child psychologist. She has a successful career, a stable marriage, a well-ordered life but carries a disturbing childhood secret. Everything in her life runs smoothly until some very odd events occur that threatens her carefully-constructed façade. Somebody mails Dr. Heather Cole one tarnished half of a heart-shaped "best friends" necklace...she panics since the last time she saw this particular bit of jewelry, she was 12 years old and it was hanging around the neck of her dead BFF, Becca Thomas. What's true? Is there something Heather isn't remembering about that night in 1991? Readers will miss sleeping time, perhaps dinner time, who needs to eat anyway when you just have to find out how this ends? You may be very surprised.

Received via NetGalley for review.

A wonderful examination of guilt, uncertainty, mental illness, and friendship. Heather and Becca are and always will be best friends, but when Becca starts to seem obsessed with the story of the Red Lady and show signs of abuse, Heather doesn't know what to feel or how to act. Eventually, she decides that their friendship is the most important thing, and does what she can to help Becca.

Years later, as an adult, someone begins to send Heather reminders of the incident, sending Heather into a spiral of paranoia and anxiety. Watching her sabotage herself trying to figure out who knows her secret is incredibly well-written, engaging, and hard to read. At times, it was hard to tell if there were was anything supernatural going on, or we were just witnessing Heather's descent into madness (which is a trope I always love).

I’m a big fan of horror and the supernatural, and I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The stories and obsession about The Red Lady reminded me of Slenderman and “The Craft”. The second half though was a bit of a letdown and prevented a higher rating. It turned into a whodunit thriller, complete with my oh-so-favorite ending where the villain reveals their plan during a time of crisis. The villain is hinted at in the beginning very stealthily, so when they were revealed I personally wasn’t too surprised, but I suppose other readers would be. The character’s tendency to keep secrets and not talk to each other bugged me. I did enjoy the little movie trivia game Heather played with her husband, as that is something I would do with my husband.

My thoughts while reading this book. “Eh.” “Meh.” “Oh.” “Hmm.” “Ooh, where‘s she going with this?” “Okay, now it‘s getting creepy.” “WTF is going on here?” “Is it or isn‘t it?” “Must. Know. Now.” “Whah, whah.” There was a stretch where I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, so I‘d probably give this author another try. A bit of a “Sun Down Motel” vibe, but you have to stick it out a bit to get there, and the ending underwhelmed me.

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters

Crooked Lane Books
December 10, 2019
Fiction, supernatural thriller, NetGalley, digital book, ARC (5/19/19)

I received this digital arc from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

I think this book would be best catalogued with YA novels as it lacked the grit of an adult thriller. This is not for the person who enjoys deep psychological thrillers.

The story alternates from past to present but mostly focuses on Heather Cole and her paranoid fixation regarding events of the past. It is difficult to take the journey with the protagonist as it feels like she is going down the rabbit hole. Since it didn’t feel warranted I couldn’t follow her and thus watched from above in disbelief shaking my head.

Ironically, Heather Cole is a child psychologist who slowly unravels when she is taunted with reminders of her own unresolved childhood trauma. Unfortunately, she becomes angry and defensive with her husband Ryan who becomes worried about her suspicious behavior. Heather begins to revisit her childhood trauma recalling the events of The Dead Girls Club and their fascination with the gruesome crimes and The Red Lady.

The story felt anticlimactic and fell short of a thriller.

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

Not too much to say here. I will echo what other reviewers have said. The parts of the book focusing on the protagonist's childhood were great. When it moved to her as an adult the book felt off in some way and I just didn't want to keep reading further. I finished this around midnight last night since I was up fuming about the debates that were on. I think there is some promise in Walters writing, it just needs to be tightened up a bit. I thought the way that some of the characters talked to each other was weird too in some places. One of the worst parts of getting a book via NetGalley and downloading it to your Kindle is that you can't upload your notes on the book. I am too lazy to post the writing that I went what at a few times. Some of the sentences made me hard pause and wonder what the heck the author was trying to say.

"Dead Girls Club" follows Heather Cole. She and her friends back in the early 90s formed a club that was obsessed with telling stories about serial killers, death, etc. They were pretty much the hosts from Stay Sexy, Don't Get Murdered before that became a thing. The girls in the group become obsessed with a woman they call the Red Lady. When Heather's best friend Becca starts talking about the Red Lady and how she's real Heather doesn't believe her. Then Becca ends up being killed. Fast forward decades later and Heather is now a child psychologist. Heather has never told anyone what happened to Becca, but now Heather thinks that the Red Lady is out there stalking her and leaving her creepy clues about what happened with Becca.

I really can't say much about the characters. Though this book isn't written in medias res it should have been. We just get kind of pushed into the book and I felt a little lost at first. I didn't know who was who or what anyone was doing. I had to re-read sections so many times to even make sense of who was speaking sometimes.

Heather being a child psychologist was kind of laughable cause she seems to have no empathy (at least I didn't think she did) for children or the ability to relate to him. She's married to a bland dude whose name I am totally blanking on. Two of Heather's younger friends, Gia and Rachel are also kind of bland in the present, but not in the childhood portions.

So the writing is so weird to me. Walters writes the sections dealing with Heather in her childhood so well. Then it moves to the adult portion and it was just not working for me at all. The "Then" and then "Now" format seems to be a thing in a lot of thrillers written in the past few years and I wish that it be utilized a little more judiciously. Sometimes writing in that style can make the novel great when you get a third act twist or something. But this just bogged down my reading enjoyment. Also fair warning since this came up the other day, this is written in first person present tense. It doesn't bother me as a reader, but I know it bothers others, so thought I bring that up.

The flow wasn't great jumping back and forth between the "dead girls club" and present day Heather. I felt myself getting so confused while reading this ARC cause there were not clear spacing between paragraphs so that just made things worse for me. I am sure when it's published that will all get cleaned up.

The ending had a lot of plot holes I thought but at that point I was just glad to be done. A good first effort. I wouldn't re-read this in the future though.

It started out innocently enough. A group of girls interested in serial killers and ghost stories start a little club, meet in an empty home and proceed to scare each other. However, along the way, real life intervenes and scary stories become too real. One friend tries to help her best friend, but nothing goes according to plan. Then the past catches up to the present, and everyone suffers. It was an interesting modern horror story.

The Dead Girls Club was founded by a group of friends including our protagonist Heather Cole. The four girls of the club are united in their curiosity for the stories about gruesome topics - serial killers and chilling fantasy beings. So begins the tale of The Dead Girls Club and The Red Lady - an ancient witch with a thirst for retribution. Becca's belief in the mysterious spirit is inevitably why she dies at the hands of Heather, her best friend forever. Heather has been building her life for over thirty years and done her best to try and forget the events that transpired but someone isn't willing to let her forget.

The Dead Girls Club is written in a way that it feels like a descent with our main character Heather for her memories and current life. As a character Heather is well put together, successful and no nonsense - she is not what I would consider a vapid female character. This book is like reading the tricks your mind plays on you after something disconcerting happens to you or watching something scary/paranormal.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was easy to get sucked in and the 90's tween characters are pretty on point. It does touch base on some sensitive subjects and contains some profanity. Fans of suspense, horror, paranormal and urban legends would enjoy this book. I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley in change for an honest review thanks to Crooked Lane Books.

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters is an intriguing mystery with supernatural overtones.

Fascinated by serial killers and urban myths, twelve year old Heather Cole, her best friend Becca Thomas and friends Gia and Rachel form the Dead Girls club. Becca regales her friends with disturbing stories about the Red Lady. The three girls are soon weary of Becca's obsession with the Red Lady and their friendship grows strained. Before long, Rachel and Gia are no longer friends with Becca and Heather. By summer's end, Becca is dead and although her body is never found, her mother is convicted of her murder. Heather knows more about what happened to Becca than she is saying, but she soon puts what happened to her best friend behind her.

In the present, Heather Cole is a child psychologist and she and her husband Ryan are quite happy. Her uneventful life is suddenly interrupted when her long ago past collides with her present. After receiving a package in the mail that brings up memories she would rather forget, Heather is desperate to find out who sent it to her and more importantly, why. Frantic with worry, she makes one disastrous decision after another that affects her career, her marriage and friendships. Will Heather unearth the truth about who is behind the increasingly upsetting events that are occurring?

Heather is very secretive about her past and this does not change as she tries to figure out who is behind what is happening to her. She is distracted at work as she continuously plots her next moves in her search for answers. Heather is short with Ryan and as events spiral out of control, she grows suspicious of everyone around her. As the situation careens to an explosive and shocking confrontation, Heather has alienated everyone around her. Will she emerge from a shocking showdown unscathed? And can Heather salvage her career and relationships once the dust has settled?

Alternating between the past and present, The Dead Girls Club is an interesting mystery with a clever storyline. Unfortunately the pacing is slow and Heather is an unlikable protagonist. Her decisions are over the top and unbelievable. Becca's stories about the Red Lady are initially absorbing, but they soon become rather repetitious. With stunning plot twists, Damien Angelica Walters brings the novel to an action-filled, satisfying conclusion.

It was a fun read. Not sure where it was going. No great surprise though.

Dead Girls Club is a story that delivers in all departments as a murder mystery. This story definitely has the feel of a psychological thriller, as a now grown Heather’s life slowly spins out of control when some unexpected tokens of her long dead friend are mailed to her office. Heather and Becca were best friends when they were kids. A creepy tale about a witch known as the Red Lady drove a wedge between the two girls, ultimately culminating in the death of Becca, at the hands of her best friend Heather. Nearly thirty years later, a mature Heather tried to move past her tragic past. A past that seems intent on landing in the present. For me the strength of this story lies in the relationship development constructed between the four young girls who are members of The Dead Girls Club. The Dead Girls Club meets and discusses women who have died and who killed them. A rift develops when Becca latches onto the story of the Red Lady. A paranormal witch who takes murderous revenge on those who have wronged her. Becca’s manipulative nature and Heather’s drive to be accepted provide a toxic brew that is ripe for murder. While the story isn’t rocked by earth shattering surprises, there is enough here to keep the mystery reader pleased. Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy.

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The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters left me unprepared for what I was about to read.

A perfect blend of mystery, spookiness, friendship and psychological trauma. This book will keep you away from social events until you are finished. And a few days after…

Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face…

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real – and she could prove it.

That belief got Becca killed.

It’s been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night–that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She’s done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn’t seen since the night Becca died.

The night Heather killed her.

Now, someone else knows what she did…and they’re determined to make Heather pay.

From the beginning of the book, you can feel the intensity, the guilt and the mystery behind it, which was something I very much enjoy in my books. We get to see the life of Heather 30 years after the death of Becca, and we know from the very first chapter that Heather killed her.

But they were best friends. And Heather loves Becca, even now, with every atom of her body. They were those BFFs that were always together, and knew each other’s secrets. They both loved mystery and talking about serial killers. And then things somehow start to go wrong. They are slipping from the friendship slide, and they can’t do anything to stop it…

The heart, the other half of which once hung around my neck, even after, is a cheap thing of nickel, stainless steel, or some inexpensive alloy. Originally affixed to a cardboard square and purchased by two girls who saved their allowance. Best Friends Forever. We meant it, she and I. We meant it with every bone in our bodies and every true and good thing in our souls. We didn’t know forever didn’t always last that long.

This is one of the few stories where I rooted for a killer. I know how horrible it sounds, but I loved that perspective. The innocence behind a terrible act. The belief that what you did might have been wrong, but you still did it for the right reasons. The ultimate friendship and the boundaries.
I loved Heather, and I also loved Becca. I hated all the things that were standing between them, driving them further away from each other.

This is a book about a murder, and about a scary story becoming real. But this book is also about friendship, about psychological trauma, and about the force a person needs to get trough it. The crucial support this person requires to get through the rainy days. Heather was struggling, and there was no one beside her to help her. Everyone she knew and trusted suddenly abandoned her, and this tells a sad and realistic story about the reality people with mental health issues are facing. No one wants a damaged person in their lives, I get that. But when this person is your friend for life, when this person is your life companion, you know. You know how they were before it, and you should always be there to support them, and get them to become their healthy selves again. We all need a person in life that will push our boundaries and be there for us when we are not able to be there for ourselves.

The Dead Girls Club covers so many topics that warm and crush my heart. And I love it for it. If your book taste is similar to mine, I am sure you will love this book too, and I recommend it!

Huge thanks to Melissa and the team at Crooked Lane Books in the US, for sending me a paperback ARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

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I read a lot of suspense novels and this book just didn't work for me. It wasn't very compelling and I probably won't read anything by this author in the future.

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters is a so-so debut psychological thriller about secrets from the past.

In 1991 twelve-year-old Heather Cole and her best friend Becca Thomas formed a Dead Girls Club with two other girls. In the club Becca told the other's stories about serial killers and ghosts, but she especially focused on telling an elaborate ongoing ghost story about the Red Lady. Becca began to believe the Red Lady was real. The club ended when Becca died - by Heather's hands. A body was never found, but Becca's drunk, abusive mother went to prison for the murder.

Heather is now a child psychologist and has kept her secret for years, so she is shocked when someone sends her Becca's half of their "best friends" necklaces. No one knows what happened back in 1991, but now it seems that someone knows something, and they know Heather killed Becca. The anonymous "I know what you did" threats continue, and Heather panics and becomes obsessed with identifying who is trying to frighten her.

The narrative follows two different time lines: Heather's torment in the present day and the girls and ghost story in 1991. The 1991 flashbacks and the Red Lady story drags on and on far too long. We get it. We understand kids with secrets. I ended up skimming through much of the Red Lady stories because - whatever. The present day chapters, although more interesting to follow, basically just serve to highlight Heather's instability and obsession. While it is understandable for her to be shocked over receiving the necklace, that in and of itself proves nothing. Her immediate jump to assuming someone knows something rather than just throwing it away or, when another event occurs, contacting the police, makes absolutely no sense. Document and report the torment. Those friendship necklaces are nothing unique.

The character development is lacking. Heather's whole terror-filled inner torment over the fact that someone might know something almost thirty years later feels fabricated and falls short. We get no sense of her as an adult before we are subjected to her manic falling apart and making poor choices. I'm afraid I didn't feel any tension or terror building, rather I kept mumbling "call the police" while watching her mental breakdown. The ending... well, that clinched it for me and took the rating down. There are numerous better stories out there of childhood secrets coming out years after the fact.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/12/the-dead-girls-club.html

This is billed as a “supernatural thriller.” I don’t read in the horror genre, nor do I read much dealing with the supernatural, so I can’t say how this book measures up against Trembley’s A Head Full of Ghosts or others in this category. As a thriller, I think it was a mixed success.

This novel is written in the ever-popular dual timeline format.

In the “now,” we follow adult Heather as she receives the necklace in the mail and hunts for who sent this to her. In the “then” sections, we follow Heather and her other friends during the summer between 7th and 8th grade. Becca tells stories about the Red Lady. They’re fascinated. But as the summer progresses, “fascinated” becomes “obsessed.” As you’d expect, the two timelines converge at the end.

At first, the “then” sections didn’t interest me. When I was 12-13 years old, the supernatural wasn’t enthralling to me. Ditto for scary stories, ghosts, anything macabre. Never played Bloody Mary or Light as a Feather. In other words, the girls of the Dead Girls Club would’ve kicked me out if a) we’d known each other, and b) they weren’t fictional characters.

Even so, there were things in those sections that rang true in my memory. The mistaken idea that once you make a promise, you must keep it. The equally mistaken idea that adults don’t have a clue and can’t help. The idea that best friends stay best friends forever.

Walters does a great job capturing the teen mindset and how easily they succumb to obsessions not easily understood by the adults around them. Because of this, by the end of the book, the “then” sections captured my attention. I read quickly, eager to learn what happened to Becca.

The opposite was true of the “now” sections. At first, I was curious about Heather’s reactions. But as her mental state rapidly deteriorated, her decisions became self-defeating and hurtful, both to herself and others. Just like Becca became obsessed with the Red Lady and was convinced only the Red Lady could help her, Heather becomes obsessed with finding out who knows “the truth.” She can’t think rationally.

After a certain point, I (along with another character) lost patience with her. She’s a trained child psychologist. Yet she behaves unprofessionally: forgets to take notes during sessions; zones out during group sessions with volatile teens; and reschedules patients’ appointments so she can hunt for whoever continues to send her items from the past.

(As a mom, I feel badly for the guardians of her child clients who have undoubtedly taken off from work, specifically chosen a particular time to fit into the child’s school/activity schedule, and will not be happy at last minute cancellations. Like I said, Heather’s not being professional, nor empathetic to her clients’ needs.)

At this point, she appears to need counseling more than give counseling.

It’s also increasingly apparent that she’s an unreliable narrator. How much of what she tells us is real? How much is delusional? Is her memory reliable? For example, we hear the Red Lady stories through Heather’s first person point of view memories from thirty-odd years before. Were these really the stories that Becca told? Have the stories been colored by Becca’s fate?

While I can enjoy an unsympathetic, unreliable narrator, these characters are tricky to pull off. (The type of narrator has also been overused in recent years, in my opinion.)

Heather’s paranoia escalates quickly. Rather than a gradual mental breakdown, which would feel more compelling and understandable for most readers, her reactions become overreactions.

While I understand her desire to keep this a secret, her continual secrets and lies make her previous stability seem unbelievable. How on earth was this woman able to function well enough (without counseling, apparently) to get a doctorate in psychology? Of all people, she should know the dangers of keeping secrets; she kept the secret of Becca’s mother’s “problems” even when questioned by her parents, with disastrous results.

At the same time, though, I understand why she’s haunted by Becca. She turned a blind eye to her best friend’s need, and when she did try to help, she only hurt her. That’s not a decision that can be undone.

I remember being a teen and responding inadequately to friends in similar circumstances. The evidence was right before my eyes but I was too naive, too preoccupied with myself to act in my friends’ best interest. (Yes, plural.) Those times of willful blindness haunt me to this day. As I read this book, I thought about them. No one died, but if they had . . . Who’s to say that I wouldn’t be as paranoid as Heather?

All that to say, while I frequently lost patience with her, I also saw certain elements of myself reflected in her. And that scared me more than any Red Lady story.

I had mixed feelings about the ending. It felt like the conflict both was and wasn’t resolved at the same time. Still, I don’t know what a better ending would be.

In the end, The Dead Girls’ Club is worth reading. Here’s why: Walters beautifully captures the early teen mindset of all-or-nothing thinking. Heather and Becca’s story serves as a sober reminder that the stories we tell ourselves are rarely only stories, obsessions can turn deadly, and turning a blind eye to those in need will haunt you for life. Recommended to suspense fans.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for a copy of The Dead Girls’ Club in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

I was drawn to this book by the title and the summary. I could not wait to get a copy of this book to read. Therefore, when I did score a early copy; I was so excited. Sadly, this book did not do it for me. I recognized this early on but kept reading hoping that the story would get better.

The legend of Red Lady was intriguing. It did have the "witchy" vibes. I could see where this story was going and it could have been really good. However, what was lacking was the emotional and character range of Heather and the other ladies.

I mean, Heather is being staked with her past secrets and she hardly reacts in fear. The past storyline where the girls were learning about the Red Lady was the only redeeming part of this book. Finally, there is the ending. It was "just ok".

When Heather was 12-years old, she was best friends with Becca. Rachel and Gia rounded out their group of friends, and the one summer they called themselves the “Dead Girls Club”, as they discussed serial killers and Becca told the other girls the story of the “Red Lady”, a witch who was horribly murdered, but maybe wasn’t actually dead.

Almost 30 years later, Heather begins receiving things in the mail that remind her of that awful summer – the summer she killed her best friend (not a spoiler – it is revealed very early on in the book). Who could be sending these things!? Who even knew what happened that night?

I really liked this. It pulled me in and kept me wanting to read. It turned out to be a pretty fast read. It is told alternating between Then and Now, as the reader slowly learns what happened that summer, while at the same time trying to figure out who has contacted Heather now. Yes, I was surprised by a couple of twists at the end. Maybe some will figure it out (at least one of the twists), but it never occurred to me! And, there were a few creepy parts, so fitting for an October read.

I've enjoyed Walters' stories when I've come across them, so I was very happy to receive an entire collection of her work; unfortunately, I made the mistake of trying to read the book straight through, and it began to feel a bit monotonous. The stories are good, but I really should have dipped in and out of it instead.