Brilliant! Bloody brilliant! ( )

hmm... not sure about this one. I could sort of figure out where this was going, plot-wise.... but the characters were so unpredictable and odd. I figured out who did it, but I'm not sure I approve of the ending. ( )

So I had a few days of not so great books I won’t even mention right now. But this one won. Pulled me in and kept me almost until the end. I did guess the guilty party (parties), but it was fun getting there. ( )

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott is a debut novel, and I was very pleasantly surprised at the excellent writing, consistent pace, realistic dialogue and well-developed characters. Kate and a group of friends from an English college take a vacation in France and encounter the mysterious Severine, i.e. "The French Girl," during their trip. 10 years later, the group are living their lives when they find out that Severine's body has been discovered in a well on the property where they were staying. So begins a mystery that grabs your attention and is hard to put down. The narrative is told from the perspective of the main character, Kate, and through her we are given access to the other characters' lives; and with her we try to figure out what actually happened all those years ago among the friends. There are secrets to uncover, betrayals to overcome and ghosts to lay to rest. One of the best things I liked about this novel was the author's fantastic use of personification in describing the appearances of Severine at various times in Kate's life. So intriguing and well done! Thanks so much to NetGalley for the digital ARC! ( )

Six college friends spending a holiday together in a French farmhouse should be idyllic....a lovely break from everything. But cracks have already started forming in their solid friendships....they have dallied in sexual relationships with each other, some have secrets, others are starting to look towards careers and "real'' life outside university. And then....Severine. The beautiful French girl staying in the house next door comes in and shatters them all apart. The cracks explode into fragments. Severine disappears. And is never seen again.

......until her body is found in the well behind the farmhouse 10 years after that fateful holiday in France.

That week in France, what it did to their lives, and what happened to the beautiful French girl all comes rushing in to their adult lives to tear things up all over again.

I found this story to be much more psychological than thriller. Human relationships, emotions, memories and long kept grudges and secrets can be quite complex. I think we all have one person in our young adult past that we would like to forget....or wish we could go back and make one different decision. One night. One bad decision. Lasting repercussions. Or maybe, like for main character Kate Channing, it's a string of bad decisions that she never really got over. Bad relationship choices, bad emotional responses....the last tantrum of childhood before really growing up.

But did any of them murder Severine and throw her body down a well??

I have mixed emotions about the ending of this story. I"m both satisfied and dissatisfied....possibly because it's entirely realistic. Nothing ever wraps itself up perfectly -- all wrongs righted, all mistakes atoned for, all problems solved -- by the last actions in a story. But some things can be fixed.....some things are brought out into the light.....and some things are best forgotten. It doesn't make realism any easier to take.....just take a swig of your drink after and wash it down with a sweet swish of adulthood and understanding. Sometimes you take what you can get......and walk away from the rest. Perfect.

The story is well-written. It moves a little slowly, but that's what makes the psychological power of this tale work its magic on readers. It gives each person time to think on their own past as they see Kate Channing's past and present come crashing together. It takes time for rumors to get started, time for old emotions to come bubbling to the surface, and it takes time for her to figure out what happened on a fateful night 10 years before.....who killed Severine? And why? And do you ever really know anybody? Really KNOW them.....or do you just get to see the parts of themselves they choose to share?

I loved the fact that Kate Channing sees the dead French girl nearly everywhere while she is trying to piece the facts together in her mind. She sees her as she was in life, and also sees her dead, white grinning skull. The vision never interacts with her, never speaks, never touches her....but she's always there. Dead Severine.In both her beauty and her ghastly final silence. Seeing the dead girl really added something to the story, and kept Kate focused on the fact that this was really about a girl that was murdered, and not entirely about her emotions about that week in France that broke up their friendships

All in all, a great book! Very enjoyable. More psych than thriller/suspense for me.....but to others it might feel differently. Just the fact that it pulled up old emotions in me from my own college days means that it's quite an effective story. No dead bodies in my college past.....but a lot of little barbs remain in the recesses of my brain. Lost friendships. Lies that destroyed relationships. The first "real'' breakup. And those I said goodbye to at graduation and never saw again. Bad decisions. Regrets. What ifs. Everyone has them. Kate Channing's just happen to blossom into a murder investigation.

Great story!! Loved it!

**I voluntarily read ad advanced readers copy of this book from Berkley Publishing via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )