Marion has moved to Sawkill Island with her mother and sister. Her mother is the housekeeper for the Mortimers - Val and her mother. When Marion is injured after falling off a spooked horse, Zoey is one of the people who are first to reach her. Zoey's father is the chief of police.
Over many years girls have been disappearing from Sawkill, and none of them are ever found. Their deaths are never explained. The most recent was Thora, Zoey's best friend, who had recently dumped her for Val. It seems the Mortimers have been somehow involved in all of the disappearances. Zoey is determined to find out what is going on. The three girls' lives begin to intertwine as more girls disappear.
This book is weird and strange. And like I said, it really gave me genuine creeps at times. Horror isn't a common genre for me, but I have read some. I really appreciated the writing. Legrand can really describe a scene vividly. That is the main positive for me from Sawkill Girls. However, this book just wasn't for me.
The storyline was a bit too far out and unbelievable for me. That is definitely a personal threshold, but I had trouble suspending my disbelief. My main issue was that it was, at almost 500 pages, just so looooong. At about 50%, I thought we were going to start wrapping things up. But...50%. At 75%, I actually started skimming. I wanted to know the resolution, but I was getting tired of it. Which is strange, because I said the writing was compelling, but along with that it was very descriptive and the segments of action were just too far apart.
I would definitely recommend this to teens who enjoy gory, creepy, macabre stories that are a bit fantastical. It is not easy to find a real horror book. And Sawkill Girls is one. It just wasn't one of my favorites.
Published by Katherine Tegen, October 2, 2018
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
464 pages
Rating: 3.5/5
I am so not a horror story reader; I get too scared!
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