Lexie Elliott | THE FRENCH GIRL

Plot (via Goodreads):

They were six university students from Oxford--friends and sometimes more than friends--spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway--until they met Severine, the girl next door. 

For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group's loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can't forgive, and there are some people you can't forget, like Severine, who was never seen again. 

Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine's body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she's worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free.

Review:

It's 11:30PM on a Monday night and I should've been in bed over a half an hour ago. Why am I not in a deep sleep, you may ask? THE FRENCH GIRL by Lexie Elliott is why. I started this novel over 24 hours ago and it has been all too consuming. If I could go back in time, I would sacrifice sleep and all responsibilities to binge-read this fantastically crafted novel and it would all be worth it.

THE FRENCH GIRL is a captivating, claustrophobic, and cinematic masterpiece perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware. The plot to this novel is not only well constructed, but criminally charged with a decade old murder, a plethora of red herrings, and a prose that is dangerously sharp. The characters in this novel are not only strikingly believable, but deceptively genius. The protagonist, Kate is possibly one of the most believable characters I've read in a while and not only is she well-written, but every character in this novel is believably constructed with personalities that fly off the pages and timing that is like a ticking bomb. 

Elliott's writing is pure and delicious, especially for a debut novel. I couldn't get over how wrapped up in this story I was and how the minutes felt like hours until I could pick this one up again. What I found remarkably likable with this story was that it was such a slow burner that it's impossibly realistic. This one doesn't rely on explicit shock value to get its point across, but rather shakes the reader to the core as we watch our protagonist and others involved in this case unravel in a dark and perfectly paced novel that takes the readers psyche hostage. For instance, with one scene during a rather intense conversation in a coffee house between two characters, a loud boom is heard as a bird flies into the window. Was it crucial to the plot? No. Did it have a chilling effect? Absolutely. The way this scene is written along with many others only showcases Elliott's writing talents as a step above the rest. You could almost hear the loud noise followed by an ominous silence as the feathers float to the ground and the two characters are left shaky with jaws gaping. 

This is the novel that fans of psychological thrillers need to be talking about. With a deadly plot, deceptive pacing, and characters I will truly miss, Lexie Elliott needs to be a household name. 

*Special thanks to Berkley Pub for providing me with this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5