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A review by cynsfictionaddiction
The American Girl by Kate Horsley
4.0
“The American Girl” by Kate Horsley is an intriguing thriller about American exchange student Quinn Perkins who gets wrapped up in the secrets of a small French town. The host family, the Blavettes, consist of a former school headmistress and mother of two teenage children – Noémie and Raphael.
This noir novel begins with Quinn running and stumbling out of the woods naked only to be hit by a car when she finally makes it to the road. The mystery around her appearance and the fact that she’s a foreign exchange student quickly creates buzz and makes headlines around the world, bringing journalist Molly Swift to town desperate for a scoop. Pretending to be Quinn’s aunt, Molly and Quinn bond and quickly develop a sort of closeness in which Molly anxiously tries to solve the case in hopes of absolving Quinn.
Consistently switching between Molly’s perspective and Quinn’s, as well as piecing together former posts from Quinn’s blog, the reader is given insight into what drives these two characters while trying to piece together the mystery of what happened to Quinn in the woods and why the Blavettes all disappeared.
One of the most interesting aspects is that this novel is inspired by a true-crime case making it that much more disturbing and realistic. In fact, just last week a 19-year old American exchange student was found dead in Rome (The Guardian). Horsley’s novel is not only relevant, but extremely disconcerting to think about because most people equate exchange programs with school, adventure, and opportunity. No one ever thinks about the potential dangers lurking in a foreign country surrounded by complete strangers.
From the style to the content, this book keeps you guessing until the very end and is a definite must-read for anyone who likes a good mystery.
For this post and more, please visit: https://thebookbasics.wordpress.com/
This noir novel begins with Quinn running and stumbling out of the woods naked only to be hit by a car when she finally makes it to the road. The mystery around her appearance and the fact that she’s a foreign exchange student quickly creates buzz and makes headlines around the world, bringing journalist Molly Swift to town desperate for a scoop. Pretending to be Quinn’s aunt, Molly and Quinn bond and quickly develop a sort of closeness in which Molly anxiously tries to solve the case in hopes of absolving Quinn.
Consistently switching between Molly’s perspective and Quinn’s, as well as piecing together former posts from Quinn’s blog, the reader is given insight into what drives these two characters while trying to piece together the mystery of what happened to Quinn in the woods and why the Blavettes all disappeared.
One of the most interesting aspects is that this novel is inspired by a true-crime case making it that much more disturbing and realistic. In fact, just last week a 19-year old American exchange student was found dead in Rome (The Guardian). Horsley’s novel is not only relevant, but extremely disconcerting to think about because most people equate exchange programs with school, adventure, and opportunity. No one ever thinks about the potential dangers lurking in a foreign country surrounded by complete strangers.
From the style to the content, this book keeps you guessing until the very end and is a definite must-read for anyone who likes a good mystery.
For this post and more, please visit: https://thebookbasics.wordpress.com/