The Island of Lost Girls
A gripping thriller about extreme wealth, lost girls and dark secrets
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3.8 • 21 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
'Gripping, stomach-churning . . . Marwood is in a class of her own' LISA JEWELL
'Heart stopping' SUNDAY TIMES, CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
'A ripped-from-the-headlines thriller . . . I couldn't put it down' MARK EDWARDS
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Sun-drenched glamour and obscene wealth hide the darkest of secrets and lost girls in this ripped-from-the-headlines thriller.
1985
For twelve-year-old Mercedes, La Kastellana is the place she calls home. It is an island untouched by the modern world, with deep-rooted traditions - though that is all about to change with the arrival of multimillionaire Matthew Meade and his spoiled young daughter, Tatiana. The Meades bring with them unimaginable wealth, but the price they will all pay is far darker than Mercedes and the islanders could ever have imagined.
2016
Robin is desperately searching for her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma, who has been missing for over a year. Finding herself on La Kastellana, the island playground of the international jet set, Robin is out of her depth. Nobody wants to help and Robin fears she is running out of time to find her child.
But someone has been watching, silently waiting for their moment to expose the dark truth and reveal to the world what really happens on the island of lost girls.
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FIVE STAR NetGalley reviews
'Superbly written, darkly atmospheric and incredibly creepy (but always page-turningly readable), Alex Marwood has played an absolute blinder with The Island of Lost Girls'
'The author specialises in "ripped from the headlines" thrillers, but has surpassed herself this time'
'This is one of the best beach thrillers I have read'
'Superlative suspense'
'This book is so compelling. So sunny and refreshing with this idyllic island that you just wish you were on and then - wow. A sharp, clever, blisteringly dark and gripping thriller'
'An excellent dual timeline thriller set in the glamorous world of the ultra-rich, where emotions and betrayal run high. Loved it!'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The idyllic Mediterranean isle of La Kastellana is fictional, but much of what transpires there is all too real in this disturbing thriller from Edgar winner Marwood (The Poison Garden). The three-decade-hopping narrative starts in July 1985, when London-based tycoon Matthew Reade docks his yacht in La Kastellana, planning to develop the unspoiled setting into "the New Capri," and his bored 13-year-old daughter Tatiana seizes on local Mercedes Delia, just a few months younger, as the plaything she must secure for the summer. This proves a devil's bargain for Mercedes, who remains trapped in a web with Tatiana and her father into adulthood as a powerless witness to the abuses inflicted on the barely legal beauties they groom for the delectation of Matthew and his cronies. Meanwhile, an undercover Europol investigation of human trafficking zeroes in on La Kastellana, and in 2016, a desperate British mother arrives on the island in a last-ditch effort to find her runaway 17-year-old daughter. Marwood builds her ripped-from-the-headlines premise into something sprawling and admirably ambitious. The suspenseful results should satisfy readers with stomachs strong enough to handle the gruesome details.
Customer Reviews
Dreadful
Absolutely awful