I'm not exactly sure if I liked this book or if I didn't. It was equally compelling and yet very disturbing. This is one of those books that once you start, or certainly once I started, I couldn't put it down and finished it in a few hours. Despite how uncomfortable the book made me, I really needed to know what happened. While some of it was completely predictable, I totally did not see the end coming. I found the view point of the adolescent girl who was telling the story a very interesting choice. Though some of her actions were....a bit WTF? And you do as a reader have to remind yourself this is a girl of 11 years old. She won't understand certain things or why grown ups would find her actions so...disturbing. The ghostly touch of the narrator seeing the apparitions of previous murder victims was an interesting aspect. While it didn't add anything particularly scary to the novel, it certainly made an impact towards the ending.
One thing I really liked was how loyal the main character was to her friend. Her entire purpose was to find out what happened to her and do something about it. Though while it's completely obvious who the villains of the piece are, like I said earlier the end was unexpected.
An interesting though uncomfortable read.

This is a book that by turns will tear your heart inside out, and leave you caught on the edge of a precipice of emotions-anger, rage, frustration, helplessness all make an appearance as Thera takes on the impossible task of finding her best friend's killer.

Their games of Ouija boards and detectives, coccooned in the relative safety of their village and surrounding woodlands seem harmless enough, until Thera leaves Billie behind to track a walker, and never comes home.

Set in the 90's before girls Thera and Billie's age have been exposed to the news, social media and the terrible knowledge of what grownups want from young girls, sheer pluck and determination drive Thera on to make some truly terrible decisions. Is it her fault? She is 11 years old and suddenly is thrust into a world where sex, paedophilia and death rear their ugly heads. Her efforts to reconcile how someone could want to do what they did to Billie is framed by Thera's haunting, she sees black dogs who turn into the dead girls, 5 of them, who beg Thera to help them.

They appear to her and tell her their tales, and Thera becomes suffused with the agony of their deaths which is then turned into anger as she realises how woefully unprepared she is to deal with a grownup who takes the life of girls like her. As she explores the psychology of such a monster, a friendship develops between her and a boy who lives in a caravan park. Both outsiders, both crippled with the weight of adult sized guilt , this is an exploration of the growing consciousness of a young girl who weaponises the very thing that makes her vulnerable to predators.

For those who have read , or have seen, 'The Lovely Bones', certain themes will be familiar also-there is the central death of a child, the investigation into her murder and the pubescent stream of consciousness of central character Thera.

Her parents and the adults where she lives want to keep the children in the school safe, but even at 11 , Thera knows that telling anyone about the girls who beg her to find their killer will result in nothing more than her being put in her place.

Far too young, she has learnt that the thing that makes the dead girls so special-innocence and vulnerability-is something no one has taught her how to cope with, and this is the central tenet of the novel. The ghosts are the insubstantial remains of the forgotten, the abandoned, the dead who have been used and abused.

It is a reflection on the way that society treats, and disposes of, girls and young women, the way they fulfil a need for the killer and are interchangeable, replaceable and not unique.

What Abigail Tartellin has done is give a voice to the girls through Thera's narrative, and as it comes to a crushing , totally heartbreaking conclusion, 'Dead Girls' leaves the reader undone.

It's not an easy read, the subject is something which should never be used flippantly as a plot device and is treated with reverence it deserves. Abigail gives names and stories to girls who in the real world, are seen as numbers, faceless victims of murderers whose names become part of the culture.

After all, who can name Fred and Rose West's victims, Dr Crippen's wife or more than one of Peter Sutcliffe's murdered women?

It behoves us, as a society, to center the girls and the women in crimes carried out against them because of the nature of their sex. Not the names of the men who beat, abuse, groom and kill, the women and girls whose lives are destroyed at a rate of 2 a day in the UK (a figure which has sadly remained static for decades). Until we deal with the way that we raise girls to be fighters aginst not acceptors of their vulnerability, they will not be survivors of their progression to adulthood, rather, they face remaining victims of a society that treasures the taking of what makes them so special. That is the real horror of this novel

A unique read full of burning mystery. You never quite know how things are going to end up which adds to the excitement of the read. Very enjoyable, one more chapter kinda book.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

This was a nice and sweet read, showing how far friendship can really go. Even beyond the grave. Recommended.

Tense, visceral and thought-provoking, Dead Girls is the new novel from Abigail Tarttelin, the critically acclaimed author of Golden Boy.

Wow. This book had me reading behind my hands. It was... interesting. It's very well written and you begin to understand why the eleven-year-old questions everything. But I actually found it quite hard to read. The ending is rather surprising, but you can totally understand why it had to end the way it did.

So happy to be given a whole budget to replenish our senior shelves in the school library. The books in there are far from appealing at the moment and I have been delighted to find books here that will intrigue, captivate and engross my senior students.

This is a fantastic read with characters they will be able to connect with, a pacy narrative and an ending that will provide plenty to talk about. I loved the narrative voice and definitely think that I'll use extracts from Dead Girls with our creative writing group too...

It's great to read a book that does not feel formulaic and gives some credit to their reader's intelligence too. Young people are very fussy about the books they choose to read and in this time-precious day and age it really has to be something above and beyond the ordinary to get them to put down their devices and get their noses stuck in a book.

I think this is one book that will capture their imagination and keep them turning the pages until the end. This is definitely going onto my 'must-buy' list and I really look forward to seeing what the young people themselves think of this twisty, clever and engaging novel. What a read! I think this will create a huge buzz in the readers of the school and convert a few new fans too

Eleven year old's, Billie and Thera, are best, forever, true friends. They spend their days listening to the Spice Girls and trying, badly, to keep their nano-pets alive. After a long day playing in the fields around the small village they live in, dusk is falling and it's time to go home. Thera and her younger brother, Sam, leave Billie half-way between both of their homes. They've done it hundreds of times, the village is a safe one, but Billie never makes it home. By the morning there are countless volunteers helping the police to search the area for her. Thera wants to help; Billie is her best friend, the one who knows her best. She could show the searchers the places they like to go and where they have a secret den, but her parents, understandably, won't let her leave the house. Days go by and Thera becomes more and more frustrated, her parents aren't telling her anything, all she knows is that her friend still hasn't been found, so she sneaks out of the house and goes to their secret den. It's where she would go if she was scared and trying to hide from a kidnapper. Poor Thera finds her best friends lifeless body, partly covered by a white sheet. Thera doesn't know how to cope with her loss. It doesn't help that the adults won't be totally honest about what happened to her friend. She hears, from other kids at her school, that she was kidnapped, raped then killed. But what does all that mean? In her quest to find answers she attempts to talk to Billie using a Ouija board, then she starts to see and hear Billie's spirit, and, also that of other murdered young girls. Thera pledges to find the killer and take revenge for all of them.

Reading this was unique, in the sense that it was all told from an eleven year old girls persective. Because of this, sometimes, it read like it should be a young adults book, but there is adult content too.
This is a book every parent should read; especially if their child has suffered a bereavement. It's not based around a true story but it could happen.
In the Acknowledgements section, at the end of the book, it gives a shocking statistic; every 10 minutes an adolescent girl is violently murdered.

It is a dark, chilling book that is full of triggers for some readers. That said, it's unique perspective of following one of the victims actually makes this book stand out and make it character centric. unputdownable.

This was one where it made me feel really weird around the 40% mark of the book. I don't know what it was. I liked reading it but it just unsettled me a lot. Tarttelin's writing was clear and precise in what it wanted to do and Thera was something that i never expected. You got to see how her psychological processed worked and it was quite terrifying when she was trying to bring rationale to some choices she made. The slight distance between readers of today and Thera in the late 90s creates the impression that if she were real, she'd be an adult now and the thought makes me glad she's fictional. .

I’ve just finished reading this book and I’m reeling. Tarttelin is great at plot and character and setting and all those important things, but more importantly than that, she’s pushing boundaries with her books and showing us the questions we should all be asking about our society.

Dead Girls tells the story of eleven-year-old Thera and what happens when her best friend, Billie, is found murdered. Not content to let the police conduct the investigation, Thera takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of what happened to Billie and to take revenge. Oh, and did I mention that Thera is aided by the spirits of Billie and four other dead girls?

There are so many books about teenagers, but this pre-teen age is more neglected. Tarttelin has done a wonderful job of creating that world, complete with imaginary friends, nanopets and the first stirrings of sexuality. Thera is clever, but she’s naïve too, sometimes heartbreakingly so. And by creating her, Tarttelin has found the perfect way to voice some of the questions that we, as adults, have stopped asking ourselves. Questions about gender and misogyny and equality.

More than a psychological thriller, Dead Girls is a feminist work. And a hugely enjoyable one at that.

This is a dark and intriguing read that reminded me of The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel crossed with The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. Some readers may find the sexual violence and missing girls triggering.

Thera is a fascinating main character, and I can't remember any others quite like her. I thought the book established her intelligence and personality traits well, and the events felt like a consequence of who she is as a character. I was also interested in the mysterious alternating viewpoint and became invested in working out who this character was (though ultimately I guessed before the reveal).

An important message comes through about the treatment of young people by adults, and young girls in particular.

I found this a gripping, unsettling read and would certainly read more books by Abigail Tarttelin.

Oh, my! What an amazing, heartbreaking read.

This is the story of Thera, a very bright 11 year old girl , who has an affinity with spirits and her detective work to find a murderer.
It's so well written that I was totally absorbed from page one until the end and practically read the entire book in one sitting.

The examples of Thera's experience in discovering literature, 'big words' and the interactions with her school friends and feelings towards boys is brought to life with such reality - I was back to being 11 again.

The relationships between the 11 year old girls with themselves, friends, teachers, grandparents and other adults was so well explored and despite the emotional subject matter (it's a heartbreaking read) it also made me smile and laugh out loud a few times.

Wonderfully written, I was hooked throughout both with Thera and her 'famous five' references and the subject matter which is so well handled.

I thought I'd guessed the murderer partway through, but, nope there's lots of twists and turns in this quality read.

I loved it. A fabulous read that will stay with me for a long time.


Thanks so much to Netgalley and Pan MacMillan Mantle for the opportunity to preview this excellent read.

Firstly this book is a difficult and intense read due to the topics being addressed - rape, paedophilia, child murder - but an engrossing and amazing read nonetheless. The story is told from the viewpoint of 11 year old Thera whose best friend Billie goes missing after playing with an Ouija board with Thera. Billie is subsequently found murdered and we follow Thera as she copes with this loss and attempts to get to the bottom of Billie's murder.
I felt that it was a brave and bold decision to have an 11 year old as the main character in a novel like this and ultimately this paid off in my opinion. Thera's viewpoint and internal narrative truly engaged me and broke my heart at times and this raises interesting points for me as to how our children view and interpret life and their sexuality. Although very much a dark and disturbing thriller there is a supernatural element to the story which I quite enjoyed. The ending came as a complete shock and without giving anything away all I will say is that it was fitting to the story.
As many reviewers have commented this would make an excellent book club read as it poses some very important questions that deserve to be discussed.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was interesting, thought provoking and a little bit.....disturbing? When Thera's best friend Billie goes missing and is found dead, Thera does everything she can to find the killer. She's hearing voices in her head, she's convinced are the voices of girls killed by the same killer. As she finds out more and more about what happened to Billie, she plans to not only find the killer but bring him/her down so that other girls are safe. Can an 11-year old girl really do the things Thera did? Was the punishment for her actions just? I'm not sure. But she certainly is a voice to be heard and will stay with me for a long time.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan!

This was a difficult book to rate and up to halfway through it was a solid 4 star. I thought it said some interesting things about how society views children, especially girls, when it comes to rape/murder cases. It lost a star for me when I kept forgetting the main character was supposed to be an 11-year-old. The paranormal element may have explained some of it but this girl, from being a child who still played make-believe, is suddenly able to grasp the dynamics of adult relationships. I found it jarring and that's what made it a 3 star rating for me.

Book trigger warnings for mentions of rape, paedophilia, and violence.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers, Pan Macmillan, for the opportunity to review an ARC.

This is a book that really should come with some kind of trigger warning as it explores topics that are hard to read about (sexuality, mental health, paedophilia, rape and murder) and I'd hate for someone to pick this up without some fore-knowledge of the content. However, it also forces us to confront some of our assumptions about children, sexuality and gender issues in a way that cannot - and really should not - be ignored.
Our narrator, Thera, is eleven when her best friend, Billie, is murdered.
We are placed firmly in Thera's head and we follow the girls on their last night together as they play in their seemingly idyllic rural home. But Billie never makes it home and we watch as Thera learns of her friend's disappearance.
For reasons that she reveals as we follow her story, Thera blames herself and comes to believe that she has to avenge her best friend's murder. The girls have experimented with a ouija board, and Thera has a fierce intelligence that is cultivated by her family but which is feared by her peers (though they can't articulate it). When Thera becomes convinced that dead girls are talking to her and Billie's spirit is guiding her to find the murderer, it's hard to decide the extent to which we trust this narrator.
This is a character that is firmly straddling the adult and child worlds: with a wide vocabulary and very adult turn of phrase one moment, and then very innocent and naive the next. While I think this is deliberate, and it forces us to consider how we treat children of this age and the way they are influenced by events around them, it occasionally grates. Like many adult readers will probably be, I was not entirely comfortable hearing the characters' views on sex and sexuality. However, I do think that the novel raises some crucial issues surrounding how we talk to our children about how they present themselves and the potential harm we may be doing to our children in trying to shield them from some of the less pleasant aspects of life.
There was a rather confusing element to the story that does become clear towards the end, but I was stunned by the direction in which this went. Dark, utterly gripping and very very scary.
A huge thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

Thera was the one to have discovered the body of her best friend Billie after she was murdered. Now she must find her killer..
An enjoyable story

Holy sh*t. Like... HOLY SH*T. I did NOT see that coming.

Dead Girls is a thriller with a side of paranormal (or not, depending on how you feel about Thera's sanity). Billie, Thera's best friend, has been raped and killed. It's not really a spoiler, but it's a huge TW so I'd rather say it right now: this book features pedophilia, rape and some very disturbing scenes. Be warned.

Anyway, Thera is an 11-year-old girl whose parents won't talk to about this kind of stuff, and since the adults won't tell her anything about what happened to Billie, she decides to investigate her murder on her own. I think making such a young girl the main character was a bold choice but a very thought-provoking one as well. It makes you think about how adults see and treat kids. It's an important discussion to have and this book will definitely fuel some very passionate debates in book clubs. I'm looking forward to discussing this book with my friends when they read it. Another side effect of having such a young main character is that Thera's naive ignorance of the world gives us an interesting vision of this kind of tragedies, especially when it comes to victim blaming. Again, it's a discussion that we need to have, that we STILL need to have.

The writing really pulls you in and lulls you into forgetting the world around you. If you're looking for some action-packed thriller, you're in the wrong place. Dead Girls is very atmospheric, which makes total sense since a kid can't investigate the way a cop does.

All the characters are complex. There is villain, of course, but every character has a dark side and this is something I love in books. I can't get into too much details because I don't want to spoil the book for anyone but the characters are a real strength of this book. I loved the chapters from a different POV.

Finally, that ending? JESUS. That was awesome. It surprised me even though I was thinking I couldn't be surprised anymore. WOW.

Basically? Read it, but more important: discuss it. Don't hesitate to use the questions at the end of the book to put your thinking cap on.