A review by renee_reads_books
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Because of all the travel I have coming up, I finally caved and bought an eReader. But I bought a Nook and not a Kindle because Jeff Bezos is garbage. Anyway, last night I finished The Broken Girls by Simone St. James.
Much like when I read her book The Sundown Motel, I was hooked. There’s a ghost story element to this one too, but it wasn’t enough to scare me too much (which is good since I’m a baby).
In this book, freelance journalist Fiona Sheridan is working on an investigative piece about the restoration of Idlewild Hall, an abandoned boarding school in her small Vermont town. This story is personal for Fiona. In the mid-90s, her older sister was murdered and dumped on the grounds at Idlewild Hall.
Woven in with Fiona’s present-day story are the stories of a group of girls who attended Idlewild in the 1950s. Those stories serve to set up the legends and lore of the place, including its resident ghost, Mary Hand. No one liked being at Idlewild. It was a dark place where families sent the girls they wanted to hide. And strange, creepy things were always happening (Mary preying on the girls’ fears and insecurities, filling all their days with anxiety).
When another body is found in a well during renovations at Idlewild, the past and present clash, sending Fiona on a quest to solve a 60 year old murder, as well.
This was just a fun, well-paced read. I was engaged the whole way through and appreciated the way she wove the stories together. There are some historical aspects that felt like she was trying to do a lot at one time, but those didn’t take away from my enjoyment. 4/5 for me.
Much like when I read her book The Sundown Motel, I was hooked. There’s a ghost story element to this one too, but it wasn’t enough to scare me too much (which is good since I’m a baby).
In this book, freelance journalist Fiona Sheridan is working on an investigative piece about the restoration of Idlewild Hall, an abandoned boarding school in her small Vermont town. This story is personal for Fiona. In the mid-90s, her older sister was murdered and dumped on the grounds at Idlewild Hall.
Woven in with Fiona’s present-day story are the stories of a group of girls who attended Idlewild in the 1950s. Those stories serve to set up the legends and lore of the place, including its resident ghost, Mary Hand. No one liked being at Idlewild. It was a dark place where families sent the girls they wanted to hide. And strange, creepy things were always happening (Mary preying on the girls’ fears and insecurities, filling all their days with anxiety).
When another body is found in a well during renovations at Idlewild, the past and present clash, sending Fiona on a quest to solve a 60 year old murder, as well.
This was just a fun, well-paced read. I was engaged the whole way through and appreciated the way she wove the stories together. There are some historical aspects that felt like she was trying to do a lot at one time, but those didn’t take away from my enjoyment. 4/5 for me.