"The Girl Who Lived" by Christopher Greyson

The Girl Who Lived by Christopher Greyson

Warning: spoiler alert!

Small towns. It’s great when you are in a bind and because everyone knows you they help out. However, when everyone knows your history, it’s not so great. That’s how “The Girl Who Lived” plays out. Even before Faith returns to her hometown, everyone knows. Everyone she runs into knows her past and exactly who she is. She is the girl who lived. The girl who survived a horrific crime when four others didn’t.

I wish I could say I was a fan of this book, but I just wasn’t. The premise was great and I was very interested after reading the synopsis. However, it mostly just annoyed me.

First, the resolution of the story had so many twists and turns, I felt like I was on a tilt-a-whirl that was out of control. I enjoy a novel with lots of twists and turns that all click into place at the end, but not just for the sake of confusing the reader. That is how this book felt to me.

Second, I find it hard to believe that Beverly lived believing that Faith and her father were a “mistake” her entire life and never felt it.  I would think that would have been hard for Beverly to hide and that Faith would have felt that and the book would have been full of examples of Beverly loving Kim, Faith’s sister, more and treating her better.

Third, I find it hard to believe that Beverly did not enact revenge against Hunter and Woods for killing her “precious” Kim too, which was never part of the plan. Kim was her baby with the man she truly loved.

Additionally, the spouse/parent is always the first suspect. Did nothing turn up during the initial investigation to point the finger at Beverly? It seems like Faith’s father was found guilty far too easily and that no one, including Kim, thought that two people might be involved in the initial murder. The police did not investigate enough to find out that Kim’s father did not have Fabry disease and could not be Kim’s father.

I did love Mrs. Henderson’s character. Was she crazy, physic, or communicating with her dead son? What the heck was going on with her? I liked how that part of the story played out.

Publication Date: November 4, 2017

Genre:  Thriller, suspense, mystery, crime, conspiracy

Cover:  OK

The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

What do two murders committed over 100 years apart have in common? Kaine Prescott races to find out before she is the next victim.

After her husband Danny’s “accidental” death, Kaine believes she is being stalked and gaslighted. Determined to make a change and escape San Diego, she buys the local “fixer-upper” haunted house in Oakwood, Wisconsin after only seeing an online advertisement as Oakwood was the home of her great-great-grandmother, Ivy.

It seems, however, that the stalker has followed her to Oakwood and the house on Foster Hill. Strange things begin happening and Kaine feels like she is losing her sanity. Unlike the San Diego police force, the Oakwood police don’t believe that she is merely suffering from PTSD and imagining the odd things going on in her life.

Kaine makes quick friends and soon discovers that the house on Foster Hill was the site of a murder that involved Ivy and a missing infant many years ago. She feels a kinship with Ivy as they both understand that grief is “a high currency to pay for loving someone.”

Kaine learns everything she can about Ivy and learns that Ivy was an oddity in Oakwood. Ivy assisted her father during postmortem examinations and even kept a death journal so that everyone she knew who died would never be forgotten.

“The House on Foster Hill” is an excellent mystery.  Throughout the book, the characters learn that no matter the circumstances, there is always hope. Heaven is the future and “there is no despair in eternity, in God’s presence, in His perfection. There is only hope. He is my hope.”  

 

Publication Date: November 21, 2017

Genre:  Thriller, suspense, mystery, Christian fiction

Cover:  Perfect!

Source:  I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

Rating: 4 stars