LoveReading Says
Suspensefully structured, with the action slipping between two timeframes before they collide in an almighty climax, Alex Marwood’s The Island of Lost Girls is a devastatingly resonant thriller.
In the words of one of its key characters, the novel lays bare how “wealth is so seductive. Its glittering beams can blind one to the ugliest realities”. It’s an absolute page-turner that exposes the kind of self-entitled, dehumanising disdain the super-wealthy can have for those who are not. That said, in this case the abuses of power and money are being watched by someone who’s had enough of being silenced. Someone who has revenge to take.
In the mid-eighties, everything changes on La Kastellana when the new duke welcomes the obscenely wealthy to his traditional island, among them Matthew Meade with his super yacht and super-spoiled teenage daughter Tatiana. When 12-year-old islander Mercedes first meets Tatiana, she’s dazzled by her lifestyle, but it’s not long before she sees Tatiana for what she is. But no one says no to the Meades – the wealthy have a way of getting what they want, and this sense of entrapment is chillingly evoked.
In 2016, while Mercedes works as a housekeeper for the Meades, Robin has come to the island to search for her missing daughter. When the police close ranks around the duke and the Meades, Robin knows she must be on the right track, but she’s running out of time.
Chiming with contemporary revelations about the abusiveness of the super-rich, this punch-packing page-turner deftly interweaves island history and legends about sirenas, “the lost souls of impure girls, flung into the dark and transformed by the ocean”.
Joanne Owen
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The Island of Lost Girls Synopsis
'Gripping, stomach-churning . . . Marwood is in a class of her own' LISA JEWELL
'Heart stopping' SUNDAY TIMES, CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
'A ripped-from-the-headlines thriller . . . I couldn't put it down' MARK EDWARDS
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Sun-drenched glamour and obscene wealth hide the darkest of secrets and lost girls in this ripped-from-the-headlines thriller.
1985
For twelve-year-old Mercedes, La Kastellana is the place she calls home. It is an island untouched by the modern world, with deep-rooted traditions - though that is all about to change with the arrival of multimillionaire Matthew Meade and his spoiled young daughter, Tatiana. The Meades bring with them unimaginable wealth, but the price they will all pay is far darker than Mercedes and the islanders could ever have imagined.
2016
Robin is desperately searching for her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma, who has been missing for over a year. Finding herself on La Kastellana, the island playground of the international jet set, Robin is out of her depth. Nobody wants to help and Robin fears she is running out of time to find her child.
But someone has been watching, silently waiting for their moment to expose the dark truth and reveal to the world what really happens on the island of lost girls.
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FIVE STAR NetGalley reviews
'Superbly written, darkly atmospheric and incredibly creepy (but always page-turningly readable), Alex Marwood has played an absolute blinder with The Island of Lost Girls'
'The author specialises in "ripped from the headlines" thrillers, but has surpassed herself this time'
'This is one of the best beach thrillers I have read'
'Superlative suspense'
'This book is so compelling. So sunny and refreshing with this idyllic island that you just wish you were on and then - wow. A sharp, clever, blisteringly dark and gripping thriller'
'An excellent dual timeline thriller set in the glamorous world of the ultra-rich, where emotions and betrayal run high. Loved it!'
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780751566024 |
| Publication date: |
8th June 2023 |
| Author: |
Alex Marwood |
| Publisher: |
Sphere an imprint of Little, Brown |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
469 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Thriller and Suspense
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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