The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

The box sat at the foot of the porch steps, in a small clearing of direct where grass still refused to grow. Cardboard sides left exposed to the elements, my full name written in black marker, the edge of my address just starting to bleed. It fit on my hip, like a child. (p. 3)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

June 2020; Simon & Schuster; 978-1501165429
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); thriller

Sometimes I scroll through my list of books read at Goodreads and see a book I absolutely loved but haven't read anything else by that author. That is how I discovered Megan Miranda's newest novel The Girl from Widow Hills. I saw All the Missing Girls on my shelf and remembering what a thrill that book was (it reminded me of another favorite author, Chevy Stevens), I went to Netgalley to see if Miranda had anything new coming out. 

Have you ever been presented with two characters, characters you know little about but quickly decide if one has to the killer you hope it is one over the other? I did with Olivia and Rick. It is early on in the book, where we are still learning who these characters are. However, I had an instant connection with Olivia, and while I liked her next door elderly neighbor, I would prefer if the killer was Rick. However, it is a few agonizing (in a good way) chapters later before the reader can be fairly certain it wasn't Olivia (though there are still hints that she could still be the killer - she's a sleepwalker so who knows for sure!).

There is a lot of delicious tension as other characters and suspicious information are introduced to the story. Olivia's paranoia keeps the reader on edge. "She's just paranoid, right? Or could she be right about that person?" kept running through my head.

For all the tension I felt throughout the novel, I found the ending to be a bit anti-climatic. Sometime about it just felt flat and I felt deflated. There was no Oh my! moment. It was more of an "oh *shrug*" moment. It was the ending that kept me from giving the book 5 stars. It gets a solid 4 stars because the journey was well worth the read.

Buy The Girl from Widow Hills at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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