Village of the Lost Girls
As seen:
By Agustín Martínez
avg rating
1 review
‘Gripping and atmospheric’ – Sunday Times
A breath-taking missing persons thriller set under the menacing peaks of the Pyrenees
Five years after their disappearance, the village of Monteperdido still mourns the loss of Ana and Lucia, two eleven-year-old friends who left school one afternoon and were never seen again. Now, Ana reappears unexpectedly inside a crashed car, wounded but alive.
The case reopens and a race against time begins to discover who was behind the girls’ kidnapping. Most importantly, where is Lucia and is she still alive?
Inspector Sara Campos and her boss Santiago Bain, from Madrid’s head office, are forced to work with the local police. Five years ago fatal mistakes were made in the investigation conducted after the girls first vanished, and this mustn’t happen again. But Monteperdido has rules of its own.
‘Addictive, atmospheric and haunting, one of the best books you’ll read this year’ – Jo Spain, internationally bestselling author of The Confession
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Initially group members thought this book looked good and were excited to read it but then quite a few just couldn't get into it at all.
Individual reviews below:
Overall, I enjoyed this book and was quite gripped by the twists and turns of the story. However, I was quite saddened by how blinkered and insular the villages were portrayed as, ignoring goings- ons that weren't right, willfully disregarding things they felt did not affect them (E.g. daughter being beaten/mistreated, hotel being used as a high class brothel). I hope societies/communities are not really like that. I was also irritated by the many references/analogies to the deer - it felt as though the author was trying to be too clever.
While I thought the premise of this novel was intriguing, I struggled to get into it and didn't finish it, which was disappointing. I quite like the character of Sarah Compos but the plot did not grip me enough, unfortunately.
Thororoughly enjoyed the mystery and intrigue in this book.
Set in the dramatic landscape of the Pyrenees, this is a mystery with characters that could have come from 'Twin Peaks', - if only they had been developed. Two 11 year old girls had gone missing 5 years previous and suddenly one of them reappears at the scene of a car crash. Detective Sarah Campos arrives with her boss determined to find the other girl and bring justice to the families. She was portrayed as a strong character but with personal demons that wasn't explored fully leaving a feeling that the writer intends to develop this character into a series of books. Throughout this novel you read from many different character points of view and the jumping from one to the other is rapid and frustrating and I would have preferred a deeper character development. Certain parts of this long book made me angry and had feelings of missed opportunities of making a fantastic read.
Although initially interested, unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this book.
