Good Girls Die First by Kathryn Foxfield (review)

Portgrave Pier has been abandoned for decades, its once-bustling carnival now an abandoned burned-out shell—in other words, the perfect place to lure a group of teens with vague threats of blackmail. Ava is among them, her camera in hand, ready to take on the blackmailer and keep her secret from her ten classmates and friends who have also been drawn in. The Pier is more than a creepy place her parents forbade her from exploring, however, with time passing in fits and starts, lights and music starting up without electricity, and a malevolent force following the group who fellow victim Livia insists is named Whispers. This UK import is undeniably creepy from the start: a gothic, classically spooky setting, a motley crew, and well-selected carnival motifs work together to create a menacing air. As the body count rises, the book shifts from suspense to horror, and Foxfield excels in describing gore and inventing imaginative ways to torture her characters. The limited third person narration keeps the readers as baffled as Ava is, with each new tragedy resulting in a barrage of doubt about what is and isn’t real, who is and isn’t guilty, and who will crack and die next. Whispers is a villain horror fans can’t help but love: manipulative, cunning, and otherworldly, as malicious as he is sicken-ingly charming and as beautiful as he is horrifying. With a macabre escape and a surprising amount of heart, this will leave readers feeling oddly optimistic and perhaps a little kinder to themselves . . . provided Whispers lets them escape.