Cristina Alger | GIRLS LIKE US

Plot (via Goodreads):

FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn't been home in ten years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. And Suffolk County will always be awash in memories of her mother, Marisol, who was brutally murdered when Nell was just seven.

When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father's ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father's partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect--and that his friends on the police force are covering his tracks. Plagued by doubts about her mother's murder--and her own role in exonerating her father in that case--Nell can't help but ask questions about who killed Ria Ruiz and Adriana Marques and why. But she may not like the answers she finds--not just about those she loves, but about herself. 

Review:

Cristina Alger is an author who was really talked about when her novel The Bankers Wife was released and someone I've had my eye on since. Readers of all  types were praising this novel and telling me time and time again to read it and I was so intrigued with all of the love this novel has gotten. When I saw the plot and cover to Girls Like Us, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. The cover was inviting and ominous, the plot was intense and right up my alley, and it was a new novel from an author who has been recommended to me multiple times.

So here's the real deal with the plot to this one and why it intrigued me so much - I think the area in this book of being from Long Island to The Hamptons is such a great setting when you combine the beauty of the water combined with the sand dunes and then when I think of the Long Island Serial Killer who has yet to be discovered, the combination was like sensory overload for me. It was the perfect place to have a novel and Alger does not waste any time on the creep factor in this novel. I loved how between the way Alger introduces our protagonist, the way the plot weaves in and out of literary fiction, psychological thriller, and a police procedural novel was captivating and illuminating.

I loved Nell. Even the characters you weren't supposed to like in this one were so well written and jumped out of the pages, flawlessly carrying the plot of this novel and kept me entranced, every page just breezing by and before I knew it, I was 200 pages in and ultimately hooked. I liked that Alger completely ventured off your typical plot with a thriller. The way she introduced characters, the build up in the plot, the way things were revealed, and the multiple different directions this one went in was such an adventure. I loved how Alger would uncover some details, steer the reader in one direction, debunk a theory, and then twist and pull the plot in another crazy direction without any warning. It was a roller-coaster of theories, emotions, and all the while being cinematic and imaginative. By the time the conclusion was drawing near, I thought I had an idea as to where this one was going to go before the final line and I was completely wrong. Alger shocked me, tricked me, and then completely threw me for a loop...all while also leaving me emotional, which is unusual for a thriller. I loved this one so much, not only am I going to go back and read some of Cristina Alger's back-list, but I am also going to silently (kidding; nothing I do is silent) pray that this is the first in a series.

Special thanks to GetRed PR for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5