An Instant New York Times Bestseller From the New York Times bestselling author of The Banker’s Wife, worlds collide when an FBI agent investigates a string of grisly murders on Long Island that raises the impossible question: What happens when the primary suspect is your father?FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn’t been home in ten years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never … Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. And Suffolk County will always be awash in memories of her mother, Marisol, who was murdered when Nell was just seven.
When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father’s ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father’s partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect–and that his friends on the police force are covering his tracks. Plagued by doubts about her mother’s murder–and her own role in exonerating her father in that case–Nell can’t help but ask questions about who killed Ria Ruiz and Adriana Marques and why. But she may not like the answers she finds–not just about those she loves, but about herself.
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I had a whole Sunday to devote to this book and it was a day well spent. I loved the twists and turns and especially Nell. I also loved The Banker’s Wife and can’t wait to see what Cristina Alger does next!
This is my second book that I have read by this author and I enjoyed it! A thrilling crime drama with a strong female character that the story is built around! Tests the boundaries of what a daughter would do to find out what happened when their father dies suddenly and she questions his integrity and moral! This one keeps you reading till the end!
FBI Agent Nell Flynn has come home after an absence of 10 years. Her father has died in a motorcycle accident and she’s there to spread his ashes and take care of his estate. He was a Homicide Detective and when his partner, Lee Davis, comes to pay his respects, he also wants something else from her.
Nell’s father was working a case of a murdered young woman when he died. There’s been another woman brutally murdered and Lee wants her to consult on the case.
Even though she is on medical leave, she accepts without telling her supervisor. After all .. better to ask forgiveness than ask permission in her case.
Nell’s investigation leads her to believe her father may have been involved with local law enforcement covering up for him. Who does she turn to? Who can she trust? And how can she find the truth about her father?
A slow start leads to a real page turner of a mystery. Well written with stand out characters, I found this one hard to put down.There are twists and turns and a very surprising ending.
Many thanks to the author / GP Putnam & Sons / Netgalley / Edelweiss for the advance digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Girls Like Us is a mystery that will keep you turning the pages. As I read it, I kept changing my mind over who the killer was and then there was a surprise ending that I didn’t see coming. I love books that keep me guessing until the end.
Nell is an FBI agent who has gone home to Long Island when her father dies. Her dad, Martin was a well liked but tough police detective. Nell and her dad didn’t have much of a relationship after her mother died and her plan was to sell the house and get back to her job. Martin’s partner asks Nell to help with a current case and as Nell gets pulled into the murder and all of the people involved, she begins to question how well she really knew her dad. Was he really a good guy or were his friends on the force covering up for him? As Nell begins to uncover more information, she realizes that the police are not investigating it correctly which makes her question everyone involved. As she gets closer to the truth, her life is in danger. Will she be able to solve the crime before it’s too late?
This was a wonderful roller coaster ride. Nell was a likable character despite being kind of rough around the edges. This is a mystery novel at its best.
“Girls Like Us” by Cristina Alger is told by Nell Flynn in a first person present tense narrative that creates a sense of urgency and importance. The book starts slowly as Nell, on leave from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, travels home to Suffolk County, New York after her father, a member of the Suffolk County Police Department, dies in a motorcycle accident. Readers see everything Nell sees, hear everything she says to people, and hear everything people say to her. She shares what she discovers and what she thinks about those discoveries. Readers get to know Nell well. “I like moving around. I like the solitude of working on the road, and the challenge of doing it in sparse working conditions.”
If burying her father, recovering from her on-the-job injuries, and dealing with “the inheritance” were not enough, a cop friend reports, “Something happened early this morning, out in Shinnecock County Park. A woman walking her dog found a body. A girl, buried in the dunes.” This death seems too similar to a case her dad was investigating to be a coincidence. Who is murdering girls amid multimillion‑dollar oceanfront mansions? If this is the work of a meticulous, seasoned, serial killer, there are likely other victims. She asks to “consult” on the case since she is still on leave from the FBI. The investigation proceeds in an orderly fashion with interviews, DNA collection, timelines, clues, but there are many pieces to this puzzle, and none of them seem to fit. The more she investigates, the more complicated the case becomes; this troubles her. “I have a bad feeling…Everyone who touches this investigation ends up dead.” Nell is driven to solve these two murders “It’s about Adriana and Ria. These are girls like us. I want people to know their names. I want to know who killed them. They deserve that, at least.”
Alger describes the geography of the region in such detail that the place itself is a character. “The dune grass grows high and unruly. In places, it comes up past my knees , nearly brushing my hips. Overhead, seagulls circle, dropping crabs onto the rocks to crack open the shells. One swoops off with a whole fish in its claws, victorious. I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with fresh salt air.”
Readers can follow along on Google maps, finding Nell’s familiar places: Dune road, Shinnecock County Park, Pine Barrens, Ponquogue Bridge and the Starbucks in Hampton Bays. One can even zoom in and see boats on the Peconic river.
“Girls Like Us” builds slowly, event by event, progressively becoming more complicated until the dramatic and tragic end. I was given a review copy of “Girls Like Us” from Cristina Alger, G. P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers, and Penguin Random House. The deliberately slow start established Nell’s character, and the action, suspense, and surprises kept me turning the pages.
Girls Like Us is a fast-paced novel about a FBI agent who returns to Long Island to bury her father, a cop. Nell Flynn hasn’t been in close contact with her dad, Marty, for about 10 years, so she is surprised to hear that he left her money in an off shore account. When she starts to wonder how her father could have had enough money to invest in an offshore account, she becomes concerned about his involvement in crimes. His former partner, Lee, asks Nell to get involved on a case that Marty and Lee were investigating. It seems that several sex worker young women have been murdered. As Nell investigates, she is thrown into very dangerous situations.
Nell suspects everyone, even her father. She wonders who else in the police department is corrupt. Is Lee? Is Dorsey, the chief of detectives and her godfather- a man she has know her entire life? Is it really the maintenance man who killed the young women? Are there other young women in trouble?
There are lots of surprises in this novel. I did not suspect the actual killer. I did find it interesting that the author’s characters had a lot of similarities to Jeffrey Epstein and his celebrity and political connections. I liked that the book read quickly.
#GirlsLikeUs #ChristinaAlger
Such a good book that keeps you guessing until the very end and then throws one more surprise at you. Cristina Alger writes such great psychological thrillers and I look forward to reading her next one!
Nell Flynn is an FBI agent on leave when her father dies in a motorcycle accident. She returns to her hometown only to become embroiled almost immediately in murders of teen girls. Nell is indefatigable in her pursuit of justice for these young immigrants and doesn’t care who may be involved, She enlists the aid of an old boyfriend and current police officer to try to follow the clues. All is not as it seems in this psychological thriller/suspense book, and the false clues seemed just as real as the actual ones. This is a very well-written book with lots of action that kept me reading late into the night. There are some surprises and some tear-invoking moments, too. Excellent book for fans of this genre! This author does not disappoint!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I checked out a copy of this book from my local library using the Overdrive App. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Cristina Alger writes an fast-paced, action-packed, suspenseful thriller about Nell Flynn, an FBI agent who returns home to Long Island, NY after ten years of being away from her estranged father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn to spread his ashes and close his estate. Soon after she arrives at her childhood home, she is asked to investigate on a case by an old friend involving the deaths of two young girls. The story takes unexpected twist and turns as Nell becomes convinced her father has something to do with the murders. She needs to find out the truth!
There are a lot of tangled, dramatic parts and characters that involve secrets, danger, corruption and betrayal that made reading the book extremely entertaining. At times, it had me on the edge of my seat.
Girls Like Us is an engaging, captivating page turner from beginning to end. I highly recommend it!
This book takes several familiar premises–a work-driven daughter estranged from her family, a death that brings her home and another that keeps her home, corruption in high places–and blends them into an appealing suspense story. Her detailed descriptions of a Long Island not familiar to summer vacationers is spot-on. We can’t help but root for (and fear for) the less than perfect protagonist, and the last-minute twist is highly satisfying.
I drug my foot on reading this and now I regret it! I loved this book. I liked that this stayed in one time line. There are so many books lately that bounce around from present day to 10 – 15 years ago. Nell, a BAU agent comes home to bury her father, who was a cop. She gets pulled into a murder investigation as an “unofficial” FBI consultant and uncovers more than she bargained for. She is trying to figure out who she can trust, who is involved and how deep the coverup goes. It was not an edge of your seat suspenseful thriller, but it was a page turning mystery.
Cristina Alger’s psychological suspense novel, Girls Like Us, opens on a somber note. FBI Agent Nell Flynn has come home to Suffolk County, New York to lay her father Homicide Detective Martin Flynn to rest.
A few days is all Nell needs to get her father’s affairs in order; however, just when she thinks that she can make a clean break, her father’s former partner asks Nell for her assistance with the investigation of the murders of two local young women. Soon, Nell begins to wonder: Who were these women, why were they killed, and exactly how was her father involved?
For the complete review, go to https://kindredconnection.wordpress.com/2019/08/04/girls-like-us/.
When Nell Flynn returns to her hometown after a 10 year absence to attend her father’s funeral (he died in a motor cycle accident) she does not expect that her leave of absence from FBI service will end and she will be pulled into the local murder case that her father was investigating. The body of a young “escort” is discovered, very simmer to an earlier body found under similar circumstances. As the investigation proceeds, her chief suspect becomes her father. Nell also begins to suspect his involvement in the murder of her mother many years prior. Is he responsible for these deaths? If not, whodunnit? While the book has some predictable plot twists, it kept me reading for the day and a half it took to complete it. In the end I liked it, and would read another by this author.
Christina Alger, author of The Banker’s Wife, follows up that bestseller with an exhilarating thriller featuring a strong female protagonist in an untenable predicament.
In Girls Like Us, Nell, an FBI agent on leave following a work-related injury, has reached a crossroads in her life. She has never been confident that the right man was brought to justice for her mother’s murder, even though she provided an alibi for her father. He has supposedly died in a motorcycle accident, but the more questions Nell asks, the more she finds the circumstances suspicious.
Alger’s thriller never compromises its authenticity and credulity. At the outset, Nell is comforted by her father’s fellow detective and best friend, Glenn Dorsey. But his last partner, Lee Davis, one of Nell’s classmates, asks her to serve as a consultant as he investigates two grisly murders of young women that no one seems to care much about. Both women were poor, undocumented Latinas and became sex workers in order to survive. Nell is put off when Dorsey and other members of the force seem convinced that they know the killer’s identity, even though crucial pieces of evidence simply don’t fit.
Nell — determined and relentless in her commitment to the investigation — discovers evidence that is at odds with the father she knew, an alcoholic with a temper who lived modestly on a detective’s salary, by a strict code of honor. Nell’s first-person narrative is extremely effective in not only revealing her inner struggle, but propelling the story forward at an unrelenting pace. His usually tidy house is a mess, his bills unpaid. Details about her father’s estate and recent activities are shocking. Unable to reconcile her findings, Nell fears that not only could her father have been a serial killer . . . but he may have murdered her own mother.
Alger cleverly makes several characters suspects not just in the murder investigation, but the underlying web of relationships and interests that motivated them. She expertly injects surprising plot twists and red herrings to keep readers interested. Nell is a sympathetic character — a loner who has enjoyed career success solely on her own merits and has convinced herself that she can work through her emotions without assistance or support. She has been running from her emotions for a decade. Most importantly, she is a committed agent who is repulsed by the indifference shown by the local police to the murder victims and their families, relentless in her drive to find their killer.
Girls Like Us is an intricately constructed, eerily timely story about a tenacious young woman who refuses to permit the murders of two young women, in which she glimpses aspects of herself, remain unsolved. It is a story about lost chances — not just for the murder victims, but for Nell and her father, as well. Alger proves again that she is capable of creating an engrossing, fast-paced thriller with emotional depth. Girls Like Us is one of 2019’s must-read thrillers.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
Ever since Nell’s mother, Marisol, was murdered when Nell was only seven years old, her relationship with her father, Martin, has been complicated. After his death and despite the fact that he was a Homicide Detective, Nell begins to suspect he might have been a serial killer.
“Dad had an unshakable, almost evangelical sense of right and wrong. But there were contradictions.”
Since Nell is a federal agent herself, the local Police Department asks her to consult on one of her father’s unsolved murder cases. As she delves deeper into the case, however, her suspicions about her father increase even more. Could he really have committed the serial murders? If so, who can she tell? Who can she trust? And, most shockingly, could he have murdered her mother as well?
Girls Like Us was suspenseful, twisty, and full of surprises. It kept me guessing all the way to the end, and I would recommend it for murder mystery fans who like to try guessing whodunnit.
“These are girls like us, Sarah. I want people to know their names. I want to know who killed them. They deserve that, at least.”
Lastly, be sure to check out the author’s previous book, The Banker’s Wife (4 stars) as well. It was a sophisticated and fast-paced international financial thriller, and I read it in just 1.5 days because I couldn’t put it down.
Location: Suffolk County, New York
I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
This book is EXCELLENT. I’m so thrilled it made the New York Times Bestsellers list.
/ 5
Girls Like Us is my first time reading a book by Cristina Alger and I enjoyed it so so much.
What it’s about: Nell Flynn is on leave from the BAU after shooting and killing a man, and suffering a gunshot wound. While on leave, her homicide detective father whom she hasn’t seen in 10 years dies in a motorcycle accident and she is forced to go back to her home in Suffolk County to settle his estate. She hasn’t been back since she left for college, and it brings back many nasty memories including her mother’s gruesome murder when Nell was only seven. But she ends up getting more than she bargained for when her dad’s old partner asks her to consult on the murders of two young women. As she digs into the investigation, she starts getting a bad feeling about her dad and the other cops of Suffolk County. Who killed Ria Ruiz and Adriana Marques, and why did they do it? And was the person who got sent to prison for killing Nell’s mom actually her killer?
I saw a few reviewers that mentioned they thought Girls Like Us was fast paced but I feel inclined to disagree. For me, this book was more of a slow burn – at least in the first half – and there was a lot of detail in the beginning that was meant to bring the setting to life. Which Alger did by the way, because I felt like I was right there with Nell. Because of the detail, I ended up reading this book slower in the beginning, but by the end I felt like I was speeding through it because of how much was happening. Overall, I ended up reading this insanely fast and finished in just 3 hours and 21 minutes. This is literally the fastest I think I’ve ever read a book, and I was completely drawn in by the plot and by Nell.
I loved Nell as a character and was so intrigued by the grittiness of Girls Like Us. The overall feel to the book for me was oppressive, like we were under a dark cloud due to all the bad things happening. For me, this was a good thing and the book really came to life for me as I read it. I also loved that Nell was a profiler because, Criminal Minds.
Song/s the book brought to mind: Yesterday by David Guetta feat. Bebe Rexha
Final Thought: I haven’t read any of Alger’s other books yet so I can’t do any comparisons, but I loved the style of writing she used for Girls Like Us. I didn’t see any of the twists coming either, and it felt like I was watching a TV show as I read it. I can’t wait to read more of her books ASAP!
Thank you to Get Red PR and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Lindas Book Obsession Review “Girls Like Us” by Cristina Alger, July 2, 2019
Cristina Alger, Author of “Girls Like Us” writes a suspenseful, captivating, page-turning, intense, and thrilling novel. The Genres for this Novel are Mystery and Suspense, Thriller, Psychological Fiction, and Fiction. The timeline for this story is the present and goes back to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. The author describes her dramatic cast of characters as complex, and complicated. There are twists and turns, action, betrayals, deep-dark secrets, dangers, and murder.
Nell Flynn is an FBI agent who returns to Suffolk County in Long Island, New York for her father’s funeral, after not being home for ten years. Nell’s mother died when she was a young child. Something about her father’s death is making Nell very anxious. The Police Detectives who worked with Martin Flynn sing the highest praises and express their deepest condolences. While Nell is home, a body is found that seems to have to do with one of Nell’s father’s former cases.
The Suffolk County Police don’t want outside intervention, but let Nell investigate because of her father. The more that Nell discovers, the more danger she is in. Both the questions and answers can be deadly for Nell.
I would highly recommend this riveting, tense, edgy and complex psychological thriller.
This was a fast-paced, gripping mystery with a great cast of characters, especially the strong female protagonist Nell Flynn. This story had me at the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next, and staying up way to late reading. Loved the surprising twists in the story. Cristina Alger’s an amazing storyteller and has become one of my favorite authors. Girls Like Us is one that should not be missed.
I received a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I enjoyed this book. I think it could be a series and would definitely read it if it became one. Will continue to read this author.