Brilliant writing! About three children, and a tragic consequence. The story flips between the present and 15 years ago, and I was totally immersed in both storylines. The characters are really well described and the storyline cleverly alludes to other new stories that you are instantly familiar with. And this just add to the uncomfortable feeling at times.

It has a bit of everything, really gripping throughout, a difficult read at times, clever subtle twists. I couldn't put the book down, I loved reading it.

Was able to become quite engrossed in this book. An excellent read, full of half truths, red herrings, secrets, anger and sadness. - and a subject which sadly, has happened all too often in our generation. It was pacy and gritty; well written and kept me guessing so that I was surprised by the ultimate reveal at the end. Hadn’t seen that coming! Need a sequel now.

Ihave so many feelings about this book, it’s made it difficult to know where to start. I was lucky enough earlier in the year to get a ticket to attend the Raven Books Proof Party.

Alice Clark-Platts (who, by the way, is LOVELY) was a speaker that evening and when she read an extract from her book I was hooked. I looked back through my notes from that evening and there were words such as ‘dark’ and ‘atmospheric’. I held off reading it for a while as I had other advance books to get through, but the temptation got too much and I got stuck in.

There are some really interesting topics in this book. As uncomfortable as it is to read about child murder and children as murderers, there are conversations to be had about the age of culpability and if children are ‘born evil’. In my opinion, there are no right or wrong answers, nor does Clark-Platts attempt to suggest there are right or wrong answers, but she does successfully give us the opportunity to open a dialogue about such matters.

However, maybe this book is just too ambitious. There are so many plotlines it just loses itself and can’t get it back. I found myself immensely frustrated by characters who have central roles and then just disappear or walk away without looking back. There was also one character, namely the Laurel and Primrose’s deceased mother, who I was itching to get to know better and the book doesn’t scratch that itch.

The pace of this book is spot on. It kept moving and I couldn’t put it down. But when I got to the end, I didn’t know it was the end. I turned over the page and found it blank. I found myself re-reading the last chapter, thinking I’d missed some significant reveal that brought everything together, and it didn’t. That’s not to say that’s always the way it should be, but there were too many unresolved issues for my liking.

With all that said, I would possibly recommend this book. In many respects, it is good. I loved the uncomfortable dynamic between Laurel and Primrose. The account of the murder is not overly dramatic. Is it horrific? Yes. But it’s not something out of Hollywood. It’s dark, brutal, and exposes worst parts of what it is to be human. I just wasn’t satisfied – maybe I wasn’t meant to be?

Many thanks to Raven Books and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this book, devoured it in one sitting. A delicate subject perfectly written, highly recommend to everyone.

This is a well written, dark, atmospheric read which had me hooked from the get go.

Laurel and Primrose (Rosie), The Flower Girls, are sisters. One is convicted of the murder of a toddler at the age of 10 while the other is deemed too young to be tried and given a new identity. The plot jumps from present day to the past and the characters are well drawn.

It was a riveting read, although there were a few loose ends left unanswered which I would have preferred to know.

I predict this will be a talked about book in 2019.

One of the best books that I’ve read recently and it’s a story that will certainly stay with me. I usually shy away from any books that include dead children but for some reason this synopsis lured me in and wow, am i pleased it did!
The book jumped from the present day to flashbacks to the past - the story steadily unravels and it took me in directions I never imagined. The ending was quite shocking really - a twist I certainly had not considered. I am still unsure of how I feel about the 2 sisters in this story - my emotions were all over the place with every chapter.
I would fully recommend this book - it feels so much more genuine than many other plot thrillers out there and is up there in my top 5 books with a “twist”.

This book was great, very very captivating and really gets you thinking. Recommended for those who like psychological thrillers.

Sisters Laurel and Primrose (Rosie) are at the centre of a child disappearing. The child is later found murdered - and the only suspects are the sisters. Ten year old Laurel is tried and found guilty while six year old Rosie is given a new identity as are her parents. Fast forward 20 years and Laurel is still in prison, each bid for parole stymied by the aunt of the murdered toddler who objects and stirs up media campaigns against her. Rosie now Hazel is staying at a hotel with her boyfriend when another child goes missing. Is she behind it as many think? Apparently not as the child soon turns up. Hazel gets a book deal out of the fiasco.

I didn't like this book. The characters were both boring and unlikeable. Each one more unpleasant than the next. There were numerous subplots which didn't go anywhere and the ending when it comes is ludicrous. I had figured out within two minutes what really happened on the day the toddler disappeared but the final twist was just silly - a twist for the sake of it. However I am clearly in a minority in my opinion as many seem to love it and I am sure it will do very well. It just isn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book and the ending was very unexpected! Left me feeling sad but was a good read and the characters were well presented.
Will look out for this author again.

I was a bit unsure about this book having read the blurb - it was a dark and discturbing story but compelling nonetheless. Ten year old Lauren is accused of murdering a toddler, her sister Rosie was with her at the time, but at the age of six, is too young to stand trial. The years pass, then a small girl goes missing whilst staying at the same hotel as Rosie - but she has been living under anew name for the last 19 years. Coincidence? I have to admit I didn’t see the final twist at the end coming. Will definitely look out for more from this author

This book starts off with a child going missing! The book has twists and turns. The ending is not what I expected. A good thriller that you want to read to find out what happened. Thank you for netgalley for letting me read this book.

An extremely disturbing but equally compelling read. A real page turner that at times is an uncomfortable read that gets under your skin and the ending is so shocking it leaves you in disbelief. Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this sensational book.

Laurel and Primrose are the Flower Girls, 10 and 6-year-old sisters, notorious for the brutal murder of a toddler they took from a park. Laurel, the elder of the two, was convicted and remains in jail, parole after parole hearing. Primrose, too young to face court, has moved away and changed her name.

Many years later, Primrose, now Hazel, is an adult hiding away from her ugly past. She's on holiday with her boyfriend - who knows who she 'really is' - and his daughter, when a five-year-old goes missing from the hotel they are staying at.

Hazel is forced to reveal everything to the police, and her life begins to unravel... a writer who wants to tell her side of the Flower Girls' story appears - what will looking back at it all reveal...?

This is at times a difficult book to read because of the subject matter. Child killers are always going to be a sensitive topic - I grew up near where James Bulger died, at a very similar age - it will forever be controversial here. I don't think it should be taboo, however. It is interesting, if well-handled, to examine what might one child kill, what might make them culpable, and how we should hold them to account afterwards.

The niece of the original murdered child shows us the deepness of loss, that it cannot be glossed over or forgotten. The writing is nicely done. But still... it's going to make some people uncomfortable. Perhaps some will find it distasteful - is it essentially an exploration of the psychology behind cases like Bulger? Or does it sit apart and we shouldn't care that there are similarities to real life crime? Or is the only similarity the simple, horrible fact of a child killed by a child? Should the author treat it with kid gloves, so to speak, to avoid offence, or go for a twist if it makes the book more exciting?

It definitely makes you think and it's a compelling read - I read it during the course of a day - and so it's four stars for me - for now!

. . . . .

It wasn't a favorite. Quite disturbing but the writing wasn't my cup of tea. Too chaotic and disjointed for my taste. The synopsis was good, but I didn't enjoy the execution

Laurel and Primrose (Rosie) Bowman became known as the "flower girls" after they abducted and killed a toddler in the 1990s. Laurel, aged 10 was tried as an adult and found guilty of murder but Rosie, only 6 years old was considered too young to charge and was instead given a new identity as Hazel Archer. She and her parents move away and have no further contact with Laurel. Twenty years later Laurel has been trying to get parole but is being blocked by the dead toddler's family who feel she should never be released. Now grown up, Hazel and her boyfriend Jonny are staying in a hotel when five year old Georgie goes missing and when Hazel's true identity becomes known she immediately becomes a suspect. Amid the media frenzy, Max, a writer and journalist staying at the hotel offers to write her side of the Flower Girl story to help clear her name.

Although this made for an uncomfortable read at times, I thought this novel raised lots of issues and some interesting questions that would make good discussion for a book group. Can a very young child be evil? How old should they be before they should be responsible for their actions? How long should a child be incarcerated for killing? And would a young child who killed another child be likely to re-offend as an adult? There is also the role that the media and public outrage play in cases like this.

I thought the pacing of the novel was good, with the intertwining of Laurel and Rosie's stories. I would have liked to have found out a bit more about that day in 1997 when the toddler was killed, not so much the gory details, but how the toddler came to have a number of injuries. Also I think more could have been made of the twist at the end, not so much to pre-empt it but maybe to make it fit better by adding in some unexplained facts as a teaser a bit earlier and also some idea what motivated someone to take Georgie.

‘The Flower Girls’ is a twisted, twisting mystery that kept me guessing right up to the last page. It’s also a thoughtful, challenging and shocking examination of an emotive subject that avoids easy answers and is all the more powerful for it.
The setup is simple but Alice Clark-Platts does a lot with it. In the late 1990s two young sisters, Laurel (10) and Primrose (6) are accused of the murder of a 2 year old girl, Kirstie. Laurel is found guilty and sent to prison. Primrose, who is under the age of criminal responsibility, goes free and she and her parents start a new life under assumed names. Skip forward to the present day and Laurel is still incarcerated, whilst Primrose (now Hazel) is living a normal life and is staying at a hotel with her boyfriend. When Georgie, a young girl who is another guest at the hotel, goes missing, Hazel finds herself a suspect again.
That premise contains two mysteries, what has happened to Georgie and what really happened to Kirstie. Clark-Platts does a good job of teasing them both out throughout the book. The investigation by local police into Georgie’s disappearance is laid out in convincing, if not painstaking, detail; while the truth of the past crime against Kirstis is revealed through flashbacks as Hazel gradually rebuilds her memory of it. The two strands are woven together nicely as the book progresses and both kept me engrossed right up to the end.
Throughout, the book is populated by convincing characters. There are a lot of them too, for a relatively simple narrative, but they are always distinct and I never found myself confused as to who was who. Importantly, they all have motivations and drivers which are believable, even if the reader might not always agree with them. The police investigating the disappearance, the staff and other guests at the hotel, Georgie’s parents, all slip in and out of the narrative effortlessly, building a convincing picture of an ongoing investigation.
What really impressed me though, was the attention that Clark-Platts pays to the continuing impacts of the original crime on the people involved in it. The victim’s family, including her aunt who has built a career as a campaigner for victim’s rights. Laurel who has grown up in prison, and her lawyer uncle who has devoted his life to seeking her release. The details of their lives are moving and thought provoking and really add to the richness of the book.
The end result then, is that ‘The Flower Girls’ is an engrossing and accomplished mystery, but beyond that it’s a brilliant examination of how society treats children who kill. It’s not always easy reading, but it’s definitely worth your time. It kept me guessing and thinking from the first page up until the chilling conclusion.

The Flower Girls is an intriguing read and one which had the added bonus of being sharp and super stylish, too. I loved Alice’s writing and felt that the story flowed at just the right pace, with plenty of intrigue but never feeling rushed.

The characters within the novel are excellent because I felt like they could be real people, and this is a testament to Alice Clark-Platts’s writing – realistic, measured and not too 'black and white' in terms of one character shown as 'good' and one shown as 'bad'... despite the subject matter being shocking and very much out-of-the-ordinary. The plot centers on Hazel, whose sister Laurel is in prison for a crime that stretches back to the 90's, when they were children and went on to abduct and kill a young girl, called Kirstie. Although she was deemed too young to be culpable and therefore to stand trial for the crime, Hazel’s life (and those of her parents) has still been turned upside down by her sister’s conviction and prison sentence, as they all had to go into witness protection. Now she’s getting on, under her new identity, until a child goes missing at the hotel they’re staying at and she panics that this could reveal her true identity.

I really liked that there were the two, seemingly separate, storylines. I did guess one of the twists but then found myself surprised again and again, so it’s certainly not a ‘predicable’ read, and there are plenty of important themes and messages presented throughout the story. The novel made me think about the treatment of people who commit crimes as kids – just because someone is 10 years old, does that make them able to stand trial for murder when a 6 year old cannot? Should either of them have been properly charged? It’s a difficult subject and one which I found fascinating to read about.

The various timeframes, which hopped between present day and back when the crime first occurred, were so interesting. I loved that there was an additional crime which may or may not be linked with the original case, and that we got other points of view too, from characters including a journalist and Joanna, the aunt of the little girl who was killed . This all adds up to a fascinating and atmospheric read which I'd really recommend.

This was the story of the Flower Girls, two sisters who had committed a heinous crime in the 90's but only one could be charged. It follows the two sisters and those around them as they battle the court systems, the media. Following the disappearance of a little girl at New Year, everything starts to unravel. I partially guessed the outcome, but there was another twist. This was cleverly written, persevere with it as the ending will take your breath away.

What a roller coaster of a book. Sat up till 3am to finish this. Loved the characters and how twisted their minds were. Highly recommended!