George Foss never thought he'd see her again, but on a late-August night in Boston, there she is, in his local bar, Jack's Tavern.
When George first met her, she was an eighteen-year-old college freshman from Sweetgum, Florida. She and George became inseparable in their first fall semester, so George was devastated when he got the news that she had committed suicide over Christmas break. But, as he stood in the living room of the girl's grieving parents, he realized the girl in the photo on their mantelpiece - the one who had committed suicide - was not his girlfriend. Later, he discovered the true identity of the girl he had loved - and of the things she may have done to escape her past.
Now, twenty years later, she's back, and she's telling George that he's the only one who can help her.
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[It was dusk, but as he turned onto the rutted driveway he could make out the perimeter of yellow tape that still circled the property]
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(Faber & Faber Crime, 4 February 2014, 309 pages, ebook, A Year of @EpicReads 2019, a book with the word girl in the title, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I knew I was going to enjoy this book from the opening section which left me with a load of questions and a desire to read on and find out what was happening. I'm glad to say I was not disappointed. I loved George and Audrey/Liana/Jane's relationship at college. He falls for her hard, and ends up getting embroiled in a dangerous mystery when he finds out she's not what he thought at all. First love can be intense. You can ignore signs that things don't quite add up because you don't want anything to alter the image you have of the person you're enthralled by. This is one of those books that's full of misdirection and twists and turns, and I love that stuff. Who is Audrey/Liana/Jane really? What does she want from George and why? I love the fact that the end is left quite open, not everything is resolved and you're left to make up your own mind about what happens next.
