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Lisa of Troy's Reviews > Darling Girls
Darling Girls
by
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Not the next Gone Girl but there is enough here to entertain
One of my favorite mystery tropes pervades this novel—a before and after timeline with additional pieces of the puzzle being slowly revealed.
Darling Girls is set in Australia focusing on three foster children, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia who all lived at Wild Meadows with their maniacal foster mum, Holly Fairchild.
The overall reading experience was enjoyable, particularly the plot. Take the very first page. Someone is talking to Dr. Warren, the psychiatrist. Who is it?
However, there is one thing holding back Darling Girls from being exceptional—its characters. These characters were not very convincing; they felt flat and predictable. It felt as though Hepworth created a character outline describing the three main characters in two sentences. Some form of the word “organized” was used 23 times!
This weak character development ended up seeping into and tainting the narrative voice and the ending.
The narrative voice was rather dull. For a great modern example of a spectacular narrative voice, explore The Fury by Alex Michaelides . Darling Girls is written in the third person; however, Hepworth should have considered the first-person perspective to increase the suspense, really leaning into the narrator’s desperation and terror, quickening the reader’s pulse. Darling Girls also lacked the humor of Hepworth’s The Good Sister.
Because the characters were cliché, the ending was lackluster and overly cozy—downright forgettable.
Not a seminal piece of the mystery genre but Darling Girls solidly holds its own.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent:
Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
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One of my favorite mystery tropes pervades this novel—a before and after timeline with additional pieces of the puzzle being slowly revealed.
Darling Girls is set in Australia focusing on three foster children, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia who all lived at Wild Meadows with their maniacal foster mum, Holly Fairchild.
The overall reading experience was enjoyable, particularly the plot. Take the very first page. Someone is talking to Dr. Warren, the psychiatrist. Who is it?
However, there is one thing holding back Darling Girls from being exceptional—its characters. These characters were not very convincing; they felt flat and predictable. It felt as though Hepworth created a character outline describing the three main characters in two sentences. Some form of the word “organized” was used 23 times!
This weak character development ended up seeping into and tainting the narrative voice and the ending.
The narrative voice was rather dull. For a great modern example of a spectacular narrative voice, explore The Fury by Alex Michaelides . Darling Girls is written in the third person; however, Hepworth should have considered the first-person perspective to increase the suspense, really leaning into the narrator’s desperation and terror, quickening the reader’s pulse. Darling Girls also lacked the humor of Hepworth’s The Good Sister.
Because the characters were cliché, the ending was lackluster and overly cozy—downright forgettable.
Not a seminal piece of the mystery genre but Darling Girls solidly holds its own.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent:
Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
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Reading Progress
January 2, 2024
– Shelved
March 19, 2024
–
Started Reading
March 25, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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BookwormishMe
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 25, 2024 09:59AM
This is on my to-read list! I am excited to get to it now.
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Fair review. I agree it would’ve been more impactful in the first narrative. I felt Hepworth could have gone deeper into her characters' backstories as children in foster care and grown women. I am glad you enjoyed it overall as well, Lisa!
Great review— I keep adding/deleting this one from my TBR… I think after reading your review it’s back on… 😎
Love this review. You articulated my feelings precisely!
Great review! Appreciate your honest thoughts. Shame about the weak character development!
Wonderful review, Lisa!
I agree that strong, well-rounded characters are crucial to a compelling narrative. It’s unfortunate that the characters in this novel fell short of expectations. Based on my experience with Sally Hepworth’s previous works, flat and predictable characters seem to be a recurring issue in her novels.
Question for you… what is the next gone girl?..
Very confused by your review… sounds like you really didn’t like it, yet rated it 4 stars?
