A review by sharron_joy_reads
Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger, Dale Halvorsen

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Published 13th June 2023 by Titan
 
Donna, the rebel, Rae, the good girl and Kat, the budding writer are best friends, it is them against their very close minded boring little town of Little Hope, California.
They decide to hike into the woods in search of the fabled gold mine of Little Hope and days later Donna and Rae stumble into town, both covered in blood and naked, what happened to them and where is Kat.
Do the survivors know more than they are saying? What happened in the hidden cave deep in the wood? Does the resident returned murderer know what is going on?
 
This is a brilliant horror mystery and short chapters make this a fast paced thrilling read. The story unfolds through multiple POV’s and secrets are dripped through the story to keep you reading, loved that!

The story is set in the 90’s and it has a very nostalgic feel to it, the music, the posters on the walls, the clothes, all evoking that era. The book includes pictures of newspaper clippings, news reports and pages of the girls zine, I love this device in books and it gives the story a perspective outside of the characters involved and how the world will consume their story.
 
There some really heavy issues raised here, Rae’s ultra conservative religious family and her reaction to this, Donna’s grief and Kat’s over protective mother. But at heart it is a story of the power of female friendship especially in teen girls and how intense and all consuming that can be.

The horror really kicks in at the halfway mark and is visceral and grisly. There is a YA horror that has a similar theme to this but this is far more detailed and complex, a far more rounded story where you feel you really know the girls, their families, their community and the small town they live in.

This is a really fantastic read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I received this E-ARC from Netgalley for an honest review.
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