Girl A Review!

Girl A by Abigail Dean

Yay for another Book of the Month book! I was excited to finally get to this one (it has been in my TBR stack since February)! This is another step out of my comfort zone of YA novels: Adult Fiction and Thriller.

Girl A follows our main character, Lex aka Girl A, as she deals with the loss of her Mother. Now, her mom died in Prison...and there was no sadness in her passing. As the story progresses, Lex is trying to get each of her siblings on board with her idea on what to do with the house that was left to them in the will. Each chapter focuses a little bit on each sibling, and we get to see their past, their present, and their trauma. We learn that the siblings are famous....in the only way a family can be famous when tragedy is uncovered: they were known as kids who escaped the House of Horrors. Each kid was labeled Girl A-C and Boy A-D to help keep their identities hidden. You learn about the terrible child abuse, cult mentality, and the truth about their family and their crazy dad. I won't say too much, but there is a plot twist in the end that actually took me off guard and I was shocked.

For my first thriller, I can say I really enjoyed it! One of my favorite things about this book is that each character is VERY morally grey. They each cling to their trauma and it comes out in the worst ways at times. Lex struggles with interpersonal relationships and taking time for herself (...and a little more but thats a spoiler), Delilah is kind of a bitch and was a bitchy kid yet she has her moments, Ethan has some deep rooted anger issues and has a very questionable part in the abuse of his siblings, Gabe turns to drugs and other forms of escapism, and Evie is flighty and always keeps everyone out. I really liked Lex's character and I saw her as a strong person. I don't like Ethan. I don't trust him and I don't believe his act. Delilah, like I said, can be a bitch but she's lowkey funny. Gabe needs some help.

Their Father was an interesting character. I liked being able to see his decline and how he starts to see the world turning against him, and how to see his mental health just go out the window. Their mom is a an interesting character as well, as she was a participant in the abuse but it makes you wonder what she was also going through.

All in all, I enjoyed this book! I would have liked the book to be a little longer just so I could see more of their childhood and more focus on their father. I think it's a great book to get out of a book slump and I definitely recommend it.

Overall: 8/10

Pages: 342

Spice Rating: 2/10

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, death, child abuse, torture, drugs, PTSD