Lost Girls by Celina GraceMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book, if the author's name was hidden, could easily be mistaken for one written by one of the top authors out there. It is that good. The story of Lost Girls begins with Maudie's (Maude Simpson) dream that she and her friend Jessica are out in the woods of Cornwall approaching one of the many ancient stone ruins. As Jessica approaches the hole in one of the stones of Men-an-Tol, Maude sees a dark figure grab her and that is the point when Maude wakes. Though it is all a dream -- a recurring one at that -- the ruins in Cornwall were the last place that Maudie knew Jessica was going to be before she disappeared.
That was when they were ten years old but Maudie had been very disturbed by what happened ever since. Many years later, Maude is still suffering from the effects of her childhood friend's disappearance. Her father's death seemed to have made things tougher for Maude to handle. She has always been unstable emotionally and losing her father puts on more pressure on her fragile mental state. Her husband, Matt, is the one steady force in her life that she can trust will always be there for her. The same goes for her best friend, Rebecca.
After her father's funeral, Maude had a moment when she thought she saw a blonde-haired woman amongst the many guests in her father's home. But Matt was able to show her that all she saw was a reflection of herself in a set of hall mirrors. Maudie can't seem to shake the feeling that she knows the blonde woman and that she may be her long lost friend Jessica. But that did not make sense. How can Jessica be back after that time?
She sees the woman again outside their flat in the city late at night. But the woman was gone in a blink of an eye. Her vision makes her anxious enough to start drinking heavily. But, the Maude sees the woman again and when she was able to get near enough to ask the woman what she wants; the woman says she is Jessica.
Is Jessica really back? Is the woman just a figment of her imagination especially as Matt remarked she appeared to be speaking to herself? Is Maude losing her mind? Her therapist, Margaret is certainly not telling her much of anything except to ask the woman what she wants. Maude tries to do just that.
Celina Grace writes a very exciting psychological thriller that has enough twists and turns to keep the reader hooked. The narrative sweeps the reader into Maude's lonely and almost insane world.
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