I read this book via The Pigeonhole ( read in instalments over 10 days) and it was so gripping. I could not wait for the next days stave to be released. The book starts when a child goes missing from a hotel. It soon becomes apparent that one of the guests is one of the Flower Girls - two sisters who 20 years earlier were involved in the abduction and murder of a little girl Kirstie. Rosie aged 6 at the time could not be criminally responsible and so was given a new identity whilst her 10 year old sister Laurel was imprisoned. Rosie now called Hazel is that guest. The book then flits between the current missing child’s storyline and what took place 20 years ago. I cannot recommend this highly enough and look forward to reading more by Alice Clark-Platts ( )

This review first appeared on CriminOlly.wordpress.com. I received a free copy of the book in return for a review.

‘The Flower Girls’ is a twisted, twisting mystery that kept me guessing right up to the last page. It’s also a thoughtful, challenging and shocking examination of an emotive subject that avoids easy answers and is all the more powerful for it.
The setup is simple but Alice Clark-Platts does a lot with it. In the late 1990s two young sisters, Laurel (10) and Primrose (6) are accused of the murder of a 2 year old girl, Kirstie. Laurel is found guilty and sent to prison. Primrose, who is under the age of criminal responsibility, goes free and she and her parents start a new life under assumed names. Skip forward to the present day and Laurel is still incarcerated, whilst Primrose (now Hazel) is living a normal life and is staying at a hotel with her boyfriend. When Georgie, a young girl who is another guest at the hotel, goes missing, Hazel finds herself a suspect again.
That premise contains two mysteries, what has happened to Georgie and what really happened to Kirstie. Clark-Platts does a good job of teasing them both out throughout the book. The investigation by local police into Georgie’s disappearance is laid out in convincing, if not painstaking, detail; while the truth of the past crime against Kirstis is revealed through flashbacks as Hazel gradually rebuilds her memory of it. The two strands are woven together nicely as the book progresses and both kept me engrossed right up to the end.
Throughout, the book is populated by convincing characters. There are a lot of them too, for a relatively simple narrative, but they are always distinct and I never found myself confused as to who was who. Importantly, they all have motivations and drivers which are believable, even if the reader might not always agree with them. The police investigating the disappearance, the staff and other guests at the hotel, Georgie’s parents, all slip in and out of the narrative effortlessly, building a convincing picture of an ongoing investigation.
What really impressed me though, was the attention that Clark-Platts pays to the continuing impacts of the original crime on the people involved in it. The victim’s family, including her aunt who has built a career as a campaigner for victim’s rights. Laurel who has grown up in prison, and her lawyer uncle who has devoted his life to seeking her release. The details of their lives are moving and thought provoking and really add to the richness of the book.
The end result then, is that ‘The Flower Girls’ is an engrossing and accomplished mystery, but beyond that it’s a brilliant examination of how society treats children who kill. It’s not always easy reading, but it’s definitely worth your time. It kept me guessing and thinking from the first page up until the chilling conclusion. ( )

So this was such a chillingly interesting premise and almost from the onset here because of the delicate and disturbing subject matter we are being exposed to I felt an almost deep sense of unease and dread down to my very bones.
This really wasn't an easy subject to take on board and digest: but it was one I really wanted to tackle just because of the discomforting content and unpleasant questions this poses when dealing with the actions of children and their culpability when committing such horrific crimes and while there were instances I found The Flower Girls to be thought Provoking and intense I also thought it started with a bang then slowly fizzled away leaving me feeling rather deflated inside as I was really expecting so much more then what I was actually given.
So this is told in then and now time and from multiple POV's: it also jumped around slightly which could be a tad disconcerting at times.
I loved the way this was almost a puzzle: a mystery to be solved and it did make me question what to actually take at face value here and how authentic was the limited information we were being dripfed by the author.
I was also left with questions here: one being the conspiracy of silence for so many years between the girls themselves.
I really liked where this eventually took us in regards to that end reveal: but did feel that this should have been expanded on and some clarity offered regarding the Why?
This did to me feel unfinished with that rather abrupt ending and I felt like I was leaving the story before the eventual conclusion was offered up.
I did enjoy this mostly but on reflection, there were just some aspects here that didn't quite work for me.
I would still recommend this as its very well written and in my opinion, did have more positives than negatives.
I voluntary reviewed an Arc of The Flower Girls.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )

So this was such a chillingly interesting premise and almost from the onset here because of the delicate and disturbing subject matter we are being exposed to I felt an almost deep sense of unease and dread down to my very bones.
This really wasn't an easy subject to take on board and digest: but it was one I really wanted to tackle just because of the discomforting content and unpleasant questions this poses when dealing with the actions of children and their culpability when committing such horrific crimes and while there were instances I found The Flower Girls to be thought Provoking and intense I also thought it started with a bang then slowly fizzled away leaving me feeling rather deflated inside as I was really expecting so much more then what I was actually given.
So this is told in then and now time and from multiple POV's: it also jumped around slightly which could be a tad disconcerting at times.
I loved the way this was almost a puzzle: a mystery to be solved and it did make me question what to actually take at face value here and how authentic was the limited information we were being dripfed by the author.
I was also left with questions here: one being the conspiracy of silence for so many years between the girls themselves.
I really liked where this eventually took us in regards to that end reveal: but did feel that this should have been expanded on and some clarity offered regarding the Why?
This did to me feel unfinished with that rather abrupt ending and I felt like I was leaving the story before the eventual conclusion was offered up.
I did enjoy this mostly but on reflection, there were just some aspects here that didn't quite work for me.
I would still recommend this as its very well written and in my opinion, did have more positives than negatives.
I voluntary reviewed an Arc of The Flower Girls.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )

A gripping tale of suspense with a spine tingling ending! Twenty years ago a two year old girl was found dead after being abducted by two young girls. Ten year old Laurel Bowman was found guilty of her murder, whilst her six year old sister, Primrose, due to her age, wasn’t considered criminally responsible and was allowed to go free. These girls became known as ‘the Flower Girls’ Now another young child goes missing at a hotel in Devon on New Year’s Eve where one of the Flower Girls is staying under a new identity. Is she responsible?

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I read it via the Pigeonhole app in staves and found I was eagerly awaiting each stave to arrive every day. It’s very much a page turner where the question of ‘is it nature or nurture’ springs to mind, as well as how do we actually know if someone is telling the truth. To me this tale read quite like a horror story at times, or even an episode from ‘Tales of the Unexpected’, especially as I began to realise that all was not as it seemed. This is a cracking read which held my attention throughout, right until the chilling end. I look forward to reading more by this author. ( )