The French Girl: A dark, fresh and exhilarating debut novel of psychological suspense

The six of them spent a summer together in France and now the events of that time are coming back to haunt them. All the six have moved on to adult life, no longer the students they were then but nothing is going to stop them revisiting every nuance of that golden summer. Told from Kate's point of view we only really know what she knows about the events that led to the disappearance of Severine on the day they left the villa. This works relatively well as the story unfolds for the reader as it does for her - you see, she was only ever a bit player she just didn't know it. Sadly from the text you can see why she was more or less sidelined by the group as she isn't a particularly interesting character. This means that as she tells us about what happened on that last night and explains how Caro, Tom, Theo, Seb and Lara were involved you do find yourself taking it with a pinch of salt - as the character herself says lying is surprisingly easy. There is a fair chunk of the book taken up with Kate soul searching about her feelings for Seb and his cousin Tom and her attempts to set up a legal headhunting business. Most of which has little to no bearing on the events unfolding but are, I presume, there to draw us in to Kate's life. Unfortunately for me this just didn't work as I could not warm to the character at all. The plotting is good and there is a good build up of tension as the French Police startup the investigation again. Unfortunately this is derailed by the narrator on a frequent basis and I did find my attention wandering. The denouement is a combination of bizarre actions and startling inaction that eaves you feeling slightly cheated out of an actual resolution. It does have a smack of legal veracity with regards to the death of Severine but goes no further than that. Overall a little bit ploddy and could have done with a tauter editing to make a more satisfying read. I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.