They Say a Girl Died Here
A Novel
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4.2 • 9 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
THE BRILLIANT NEW THRILLER FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NETFLIX SMASH HIT BEHIND HER EYES
“A page-turning suspense masterclass with a mind-blowing twist.” —Chris Whitaker
Two murdered girls. A town with dark secrets.
A race to break a deadly cycle.
Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It’s supposed to be a new start for her and her family, but after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place—working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia, whose paranoid episodes have started to unnerve her. The only interesting thing about her new town, it seems, is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman—and the clue she discovers that reveals the case is yet unsolved.
Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town’s darkest curiosity—but even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears. Tension is building in Harper’s Creek, and everyone can feel it. The house is becoming more claustrophobic by the day, and her grandmother is growing stranger. Anna begins to wonder if her delusional moments are somehow the key to discovering the truth about the murders, and if the old house, and her new start, is haunted by its own bloody baggage.
With a devastating, genre-bending mystery at its core, They Say a Girl Died Here is a novel of thrilling and terrifying secrets, with a twist that could only come from the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, Sarah Pinborough.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
There’s a creeping sense of dread running through this mystery about a small town haunted by memories too dangerous to be left buried. Not long after moving into her grandmother’s house in Harper’s Creek, Anna starts hearing disturbing rumors about a killer known as the Farmhand. Apparently, he murdered a young woman here, and then exactly three years later, he murdered another before being shot by police. But some locals don’t believe the cops got the right man. They think the true killer will be back three years after the last murder, and with that date fast approaching, Anna is beginning to agree. Sarah Pinborough meticulously builds this chilling tale with unrelenting tension. The town’s list of suspects grows ever longer, while Anna’s endearingly cranky grandmother’s dementia keeps crucial memories of the murders frustratingly out of reach. With her many flaws (including an admitted anger problem), Anna is the perfect heroine for this dark read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Pinborough (We Live Here Now) delivers an addictive tale of Midwestern macabre. After Anna Maybourne drops out of college, she moves to Harper's Creek, Neb., with her mother, younger sister, and dementia-stricken grandmother, Evelyn. During one of Anna's diner shifts, she overhears locals dreading the upcoming sixth anniversary of 16-year-old Lila Clarke's murder. Exactly three years after Lila was killed, 19-year-old Bonnie Buchanan was murdered in similarly gruesome fashion. Though police insist they found and shot the man who murdered both girls, many suspect the killer is still at large and might strike again on the three-year anniversary of Bonnie's death. At home, Anna comes across Evelyn's notebook, which is filled with disturbed ramblings, talk of ghosts, and suggestions that Anna might be the next to die. Believing that Evelyn may be trying to tell her something through the fog of dementia, Anna investigates Lila's and Bonnie's murders on her own, turning up evidence that rattles Harper's Creek. Pinborough's fierce yet flawed characters are easy to root for, and she doles out the story's shocking secrets at a tantalizing pace. Thriller fans who like it dark will devour this.
