Review: The Dead Girls Club

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

From the very beginning I did not like the protagonist/narrator. I find her selfish, self-centered, egotistical, and a drama queen. Almost immediately she goes into the "huff, puff, I'll swoon" stage like a well-bred Victorian noblewoman on her fainting couch. I'm reminded of the antagonist Kate in Robyn Harding's HER PRETTY FACE; I could not abide her character either (though I adored the book). Heather also reminds me of the unreliable narrator of GIRL ON A TRAIN. This protagonist has no reason I could see to be as she is: she didn't have an abusive childhood; she had supportive and loving parents, a best friend, and two other almost-best friends. They seemed to have much freedom as far as being able to roam and go about, separately and together. Perhaps she is one of those cases of "damned by faint praise," a person whose life is too stable so she gets spoiled and seeks out excitement, then blames her failings on others (including the victim).

All that aside, the novel did catch my interest about 18% in, and the plot is intriguing, especially certain events which begin to occur in the life of the protagonist in an odd but compelling sequence, so that the reader wonders if the protagonist is having blank spells and acting thus herself, or is being gaslighted, or is in actuality being threatened. Throughout the story, the past is interwoven with the present, so that we see why events in the past happened as they did, and in what I think is the denouement, we find out exactly what was and was not done that fateful past night, and why, and what were the intents. I will only say how tragic, for all, but especially for some.

Despite my strong and persistent dislike of the protagonist, Heather Cole, the story line did maintain its intrigue and keep me turning the pages till the end.

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