Happy Publication Day to The Prized Girl by Amy K. Green, and it is also a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour for this fantastic psychological thriller.
About the Author
Amy K. Green - 'I'm a Boston and LA based author. I also work as a Production Accountant, most recently on the 2019 film Little Women. Working in accounting on movies is a little like cleaning the costumes at Disney World; it's not glamorous, but you get access to more behind the scenes details than you'd ever want.'
The Prized Girl is my debut suspense thriller.
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About the book
From debut author Amy K. Green comes a devastating tale of psychological suspense: a teen pageant queen is found murdered in a small New England town, and her sister’s search for answers unearths more than she bargained for.
Days after a young teenager named Jenny is found murdered, her small town grieves the loss alongside her picture-perfect parents. At first glance, Jenny’s tragic death appears clear-cut for investigators. In the murder of a former pageant queen from a safe and loving family, the most obvious suspect is a fan who got too close for comfort. But Jenny’s sarcastic, older half-sister Virginia isn’t so sure of his guilt and takes matters into her own hands to find the killer.
But for Jenny’s case and and Virginia’s investigation, there’s more to the story. Virginia, still living in town and haunted by her own troubled teenage years, suspects that a similar darkness lay beneath the sparkling veneer of Jenny’s life. Alternating between Jenny’s final days and Virginia’s determined search for the truth, the sisters’ dual narratives follow a harrowing trail of suspects, with surprising turns that race toward a shocking finale.
I think it's fairly clear that the world of pageantry has lost the majority of its fake gloss since the murder of JonBenét, and the author only dips ever so slightly into that world in this story. Just enough to show the obsessive and narcissistic nature of the parents who parade their children, and how their needs overshadow those of their children. And then the deviants who follow the children put on display like possessions. They ones who want to own them and much worse.
Jenny used to be a teen pageant girl until she decided she wanted to make her own choices, so she started to rebel and now Jenny is dead. Raped, murdered and left in the woods. Unfortunately her life has been less than stellar lately and her attempts to free herself from a her strict and obsessive mother culminate in tragedy.
Virginia and Jenny are half-sisters, but blood doesn't mean they are close - in fact it's quite the opposite. Virginia is too busy dealing with her own demons to pay attention to the fact her teenage sister is crying out for help. When Jenny jumps over her own shadow to reach out to her the rejection sends her deeper down the rabbit hole of her own making.
It's a captivating psychological suspense thriller - a riveting debut by a talented writer.
What I really enjoyed was the way Green was almost dogged in her determination to keep readers from grasping the truth. Teasing it here and there, then twisting the truth to then lie and back again. Also the lack of need for a fluffy candy floss ending, which is something I always like to see. I hope this is the first of many by Green.
Buy The Prized Girl at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ, pub date 19 Mar. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.
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