This is just my type of read!
The Other Girl
Erica Spindler
St Martin’s Press
ISBN: 9781250083654
Description:
From the NYT bestselling author comes a chilling new thriller about a ritualistic murder of a college professor that sends a small town cop back into the trauma she thought she’d put behind her.
Officer Miranda Rader of the Hammond PD in Louisiana is known for her honesty, integrity, and steady hand in a crisis—but that wasn’t always so. Miranda comes from Jasper, just south of Hammond, a place about the size of a good spit on a hot day, and her side of the tracks was the wrong one. She’s worked hard to leave the girl she used to be behind and earn respect in her position as an officer.
However, when Miranda and her partner are called to investigate the murder of one of the town’s most beloved college professors, they’re unprepared for the gruesomeness of the scene. This murder is unlike any they’ve ever investigated, and just when Miranda thinks she’s seen the worst of it, she finds a piece of evidence that chills her to the core: a faded newspaper clipping about a terrible night from her long-buried past. Then another man turns up dead, this one a retired cop, and not just any cop—Clint Wheeler, the cop who took her statement that night. Two murders, two very different men, two killings that on the surface had nothing in common—except Miranda. 14 years ago.
And when her fingerprints turn up at the scene of the first murder, Miranda once again finds herself under the microscope, her honesty and integrity doubted, her motivations questioned. Alone again, the trust of her colleagues shattered, Miranda must try to trust the instincts she’s pushed down for so long, and decide what’s right—before it’s too late.
My View:
This is just my type of read! This novel has:
- A great opening hook – where the reader just knows no good is going to happen and wants to shout at the protagonists to beware, but they don’t listen, ever.
- Likeable protagonists that are flawed and credible.
- A shocking crime or two to be solved.
- Moral conflicts.
- Compelling writing and storyline that kept me reading until I turned the last page.
- And importantly, the author has managed to create a crime fiction narrative that has depth with many social issues being raised in the telling.
- A new for me author who already has a catalogue of books I can seek out and read at my leisure. This is an author I have added to my musts read list.
Reading, Writing and Riesling 
You have me at the setting, Carol. It sounds like a very effective setting for this context and these characters. And it certainly sounds suspenseful. Thanks for sharing.
Margot i can see why this author is on best seller lists! But a question for you – do you “hear”an accent when you read books- for example this author is American and I chanced to find an excerpt of the audio book after I finished reading this one. The narrator used a very stylised accent for the introduction- which surprisingly was similar ( but much more so) than how I “heard” the same words. I should have listened longer as in the book the “voice” quickly changed…but the point I am clumsily trying to make is hearing a little of the book didn’t work for me- the two “voices” were not congruent, that was a discord- for me but maybe if I had heard read by an English/Australian – with only a slight accent/ it might have worked? Do you “read” with an accent?
Interesting question, Carol. I actually do read with an accent. For instance, I ‘hear’ Australian voices when I read Wendy James’ work or Honey Brown’s or Peter Corris’, etc. I wouldn’t want the stories read with an American accent. It wouldn’t sound right. I do get that.
I don’t think I read with anything but my own voice in my head most of the time- though some prose demands to be heard with an accent- maybe what I consider I “southern” accent. Maybe the result of television viewing ?
Interesting point, Carol. I wouldn’t be surprised if TV has something to do with it.
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