- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Corvus; Main edition (5 July 2018)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1786495546
- ISBN-13: 978-178649554
Synopsis
She appears, lithe and tanned, by the swimming pool one afternoon. Severine – the girl next door. It was supposed to be a final celebration for six British graduates, the perfect French getaway, until she arrived. Severine’s beauty captivates each of them in turn. Under the heat of a summer sky, simmering tensions begin to boil over – years of jealousy and longing rising dangerously to the surface.
And then Severine disappears.
A decade later, Severine’s body is found at the farmhouse. For Kate Channing, the discovery brings up more than just unwelcome memories. As police suspicion mounts against the friends, Kate becomes desperate to resolve her own shifting understanding of that time. But as the layers of deception reveal themselves, Kate must ask herself – does she really want to know what happened to the French girl?
Review
I fancied reading a crime novel, and rather the read one of the new or future releases I decided to pick a book from my over stacked shelves. The French Girl by Lexi Elliot was published last year and tells the story of six university friends who after graduation went to France for a holiday. Whilst there they met Severine, the French girl from the house next door, who is beautiful and sultry and goes missing. Ten years later Severine’s body is found and the friends find themselves the prime suspects, but just who would kill Severine and why? This is a real slow burner that still has the capacity to grab your attention as suspicion and mistrust grows between the friends as they question each other and their past relationships.
The book is narrated by Kate Channing, one of the six with friends Lara, Caro, Tom Seb and Theo being the others. In the ten years since their holiday in France Kate and Lara have remained best friends and also in contact with Tom, whilst the others have drifted away; Caro has joined her father’s firm, Seb moved to America and got married and Theo joined the Army and was killed in action. Kate is the central character in this book, and she also finds herself the prime suspect, and it is through her eyes that the plot in the past and present is slowly revealed. What is interesting, and keeps you reading, is the tension that builds between the friends, old jealousies and arguments come back to haunt them and add mistrust, as they realise that one of them is ultimately responsible for Severine’s death.
As a character, Kate is a fabulous choice for narrator. Ten years ago she was in a relationship with Seb and one she thought would last before he betrayed her, and she has not spoken to him since. Her hurt, mistrust and anger colour her view of Seb especially when her returns to London with his wife. Kate has also just started her own company which is added pressure as she tries to keep work and the investigation separately and strangely it puts her back in contact with Caro. The stress of the new business, the upset of Seb returning and the tension between the friends colour her feelings and views, making her slightly unreliable as a narrator. Added to this Lara, her best friend is in love with the French investigator Alain Modan, which adds paranoia to the plot as she is worried whatever she says maybe passed on in pillow talk. The rest of the characters all seem to have secrets from that time, untruths come out, and allegiances change. All of this adds to the tension and unease that underpins this book.
The French Girl is a gripping murder mystery, that builds slowly to a dramatic and stunning conclusion. There is a complex spiders web of relationships, where mistrust, jealousies and secrets show the darker side of friendship as they change and shift. I found this to be a compelling and intriguing psycholical thriller that I had to read in one setting. Another to add to your book shelves.
Thank you for visiting my blog and reading my review, I hope you will share the book love.
