I Know What You Did Last Summer meets the French countryside in this exhilarating psychological suspense novel about a woman trapped by the bonds of friendship—perfect for fans of The Widow and The Woman in Cabin 10. One of RealSimple’s and Cosmopolitan’s Best Books of the MonthEveryone has a secret… They were six university students from Oxford—friends and sometimes more than friends—spending … six university students from Oxford—friends and sometimes more than friends—spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway…until they met Severine, the girl next door.
But after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate Channing knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can’t forgive. And there are some people you can’t forget…like Severine, who was never seen again.
A decade later, the case is reopened when Severine’s body is found behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she’s worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts all around her. Desperate to resolve her unreliable memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the memory of the woman who still haunts her, Kate finds herself entangled within layers of deception with no one to set her free….
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I adored this book fell in love with all the characters, even the evil ones!! A must read!
Kept me guessing.
This book enthralled me for reasons I can’t explain. It was haunting, and it had a mystery feel about it, but I felt it was much more than that. I really liked the narrator, and I found myself emotionally involved in the outcome.
Firstly I have to say that “The French Girl” was a decent enough read that was without doubt, well written by debut author Lexie Elliott and I did enjoy reading it.
But – unfortunately not a lot happens during the story and I don’t even think I’d say this was a slow burn book as even the denouement is a little lacklustre and predictable. The story focuses mainly on Kate’s narrative and thoughts regarding the ill fated holiday trip to France, however I found there was a little too much detail into her job as a legal recruitment agency owner to be entertaining and the constant appearance of Severine – which should have been eerie – was just too often. Perhaps if there were flashbacks to the events leading up to Severine’s disappearance ten years ago it may have given a little more intrigue to the plot and I did find it a tad unbelievable that the relationships between all the characters from so many years ago would still have such a strong hold over everyone, even after they had all moved on.
I never wanted to stop reading this book, it just wasn’t the fast paced psychological thriller I was maybe anticipating but I imagine it will still be liked and enjoyed by a lot of readers, young and old alike and I would probably still read more by this new author in the future.
3 stars
I agree about a lot of “Girl” books out there, it’s funny cause I have the movie The Girl on the Train on my DVD player from Net Flix to watch. Anyhow, this is a really good read. The character build up, the well written easy flow, I seem to fly through the pages, when I would look down at the page number after a while it was like dang like 50 pages went by. I didn’t care, this was really good.
There were some big words that I never seen before so I found myself looking them up, plus the words in french, so my vocabulary is very good after this. haha funny cause my name is French but I’m not. Thanks Grandma RIP.
I liked the characters, only two I didn’t and one I was hoping was the killer. The book was slow paced but had enough things going on that you just kept reading, which gave some distraction from the story, I kept reading cause I really wanted to know what happened, sometimes I had to go back and read to see who was actually talking but that was the only problem I had.
I don’t feel what was written on the back of the book (synopsis) was really what was in the book. Anyhow I do recommend so you can have you’re own opinion, it is a worthwhile read, took me 2 days and I liked how Severine was “there” but not “there.” Read this book and you will know what I mean.
I loved the box it came in but didn’t get sunglasses and a scarf…boo hoo.
Thank you Lexie Elliott, Good Read Giveaways, Berkley Publishing, and Jim Yu for the free book.
I really enjoyed it and hope Ms. Elliott will wrote more, cause I’ll read that too.
Cherie’
I enjoyed reading this book and it was a good escape for me from thinking about the lava flow that covered my home two weeks ago. I tried reading “The Weight of Ink”, which I had been very anxious to read, but I can’t focus on anything high minded or serious now. I enjoyed guessing who committed the murderer. The main characters could have been more developed but this book took me away and that is what was needed.
Aloha.
Good character development, interesting right to the end.
Really didn’t hold my interest. Sorry! Go Blake Pierce!\
Enjoyed the story and the characters -It will keep your interest -right up to the end-though you may find the whodunnit predictable- after the fact The psychological haunting by the deceased French Girl -is intriguing and well done-
An impressive first novel, atmospheric and intoxicating.
One of those books where you relate to the characters so much you feel like they are your friends. Then you slow down at the end of the book because you’ll lose your friends.
A police detective seeks out Kate Channing and her five friends, all of whom shared a farmhouse for a week ten years ago. Severine, the French girl next door, disappeared at the end of the week. Now her body has been found. All the friends are suspects, but Kate begins to feel sure the police are focusing on her.
Who is hiding what shifts as Kate gets to know her old friends/enemies again. I felt for her as the investigation threatened her personal life and her fledgling business. The memories of Severine haunt her, though as readers for most of the book we’re not sure if Kate’s feeling guilt or something else.
I loved not only the suspense but the author’s thoughtful treatment of the victim.
When I read the synopsis for The French Girl, I thought, “Probably another ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ type of story.” I promise you, it is not.
Kate Channing is a great lead in this story. An intelligent woman taking big risks to start her own legal search firm, who is at the same time forced to face a tragic past event, along with her surviving friends who were also at the scene from ten years earlier.
And then there’s Tom . . . I loved him and the romantic thread that weaves through this story, always teasing just below the surface but never overtaking the main plotline. Well done.
Lexie Elliott has a fluid, immersive writing style that I thoroughly enjoyed; and I am not a huge fan of first-person storytelling, but SHE nailed it. To the point that I cannot imagine it being better written in any other style.
And, aside from this terrific story and Lexie Elliott’s phenomenal writing skill, her own backstory is amazing to me:
*A doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford
*Works in fund management in London
*Keen sportswoman
Apparently, there is nothing this amazing woman cannot do.
Well, it’s not Gone Girl… (loved it and Sharp Objects, but we are not all Gillian Flynn). I am not a prolific reader of murder mysteries. I didn’t like this one as much as The Witch Elm because Tana French is brilliant. The characters are a co-ed group of former Oxford classmates (inspired by The Secret History?) who spent a holiday in France where they met a beautiful black French girl who ends up dead. Ten years later her body is found, and an investigation ensues. The theme of this story (at least as I read it) is how people don’t really know each other. When they were students, they may have thought they were friends, but as adults they learn they may never have been as close as they thought they were. In this vein, I think some story-lines were not fleshed out or deepened and the character development a bit shallow for my taste.
This was an interesting ride, I can tell you that. This is my first read in the whole “Girl” phenomenon that has recently taken over the physiological suspense reads. But a few have been on my radar for some time.
While I was expecting more of a focus on the mysterious French girl, that the book title seems to focus on, it seemed to of fall second to the spider webbing of the our cast crossover relationships within the group of the original six university friends who took the trip to the farmhouse in which Severine was introduced. With that being said one could also argue that was the point of the book, to have you focus on the relationship when clues a bluntly dropped in front of you so then you can enjoy the big reveal of what truly happened.
But even with that, the answer was plain and simple to find within the first half of the book. Even though my theory proved to be correct, I still found that once I concluded I was still feeling somewhat surprised at how the author chose manifest the scenario.
My suggestion to you is to make a web to keep track of the relationship because really it is quite the entanglement.
The ghost or image of Severine has seemed to stick with Kate for the past 10 years prior to the case being reopened. While Severine has no actual speaking parts, Elliot did a phenomenal job at building a relationship between the two characters. Speaking of Kate she seems to have a bit of an affable attitude towards life ( I know it’s not a bad thing to be but in this case, it was a bit much ) which factors into a lot of the drama that unfolds within the pages.
It all dwindles down to this… How well do you really know your friends?
I can’t really compare this to any of the other “Girl ” books as I’ve said before I haven’t taken the time to read them. The writing was easy an easy flow, but the actual pace of the books has it mixed waves for me. It fluctuates from interesting to lacking.
It’s not that I disliked this book, but I can’t say yes I liked the book, I’m betwixt you could say. Would I read it again, probably not? Would I recommend this book absolutely especially to those who are fans of Psychological suspense novels.
The French Girl is a standalone novel written by Lexie Elliott. The story features a variety of elements to include detective fiction, suspense/thriller, interesting relationship dynamics, and a whole lot of mystery. Overall, I liked The French Girl. Although I found the bulk to be slow and uneventful, each subtle and unsubtle suspicion and revelation allowed the whodunit to become more and more interesting. My favorite thing about this book was the haunting imagery the author incorporated throughout the story. With the right cinematography, The French Girl would create quite a captivating adaptation for the screen. If the synopsis and listed genres sound like something you might enjoy then I’d say check it out!
Thank you to the following for mailing me an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of The French Girl. This generosity did not impact my honesty when rating/reviewing.
Source: Marketing Assistant at Berkley Publishing
Author: Lexie Elliott
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Genres: Psychological Suspense
Pub Date: February 20, 2018