Cover Image: The Girl on Mill Street

The Girl on Mill Street

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This was really just the most okay-est, maybe a little less. The ending has a nice little twist that definitely worked, but for the most part, The Girl on Mill Street is pretty mild for a novel that clearly wants to fit into the psychological thriller category. There’s no suspense, barely any twisty or thrilling moments. I’m usually a sucker for high-stakes murder trials, but somehow the author managed to even make that pretty boring. And I’m 100% blaming the narrator.

Told through the eyes of 19-year-old Annie Taylor during and after her father is arrested and put on trial for the murder of her mother, Annie as the POV narrator was decidedly a bad choice. I was expecting this to have a little more power in the narrative because of the topic and themes, but Annie killed all of that. Considering she’s 19, she talks and thinks with such a weird immature tone that it was really disorientating/annoying for me as a reader. I could not connect with her at all. Until I learned her age, I thought she was around 12-years-old. Annie’s speech pattern, her thought process and her opinions were not that of a young adult, but of a selfish, inexperienced child.

Anyway, two stars for the reading experience. Half a star for the ending. It’s whatever.

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What really happened to Annie's mother? There were a lot of secrets in her family, all of which begin to tumble out when she starts to as tough questions. A good read.

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The storyline was almost split 50/50 in terms of a court case and a sexual therapist type story line. Parts of the book were really easy to read, the court sections were particularly good with the clear back and forth dialogue but the ending wrapped up very quickly. There was good character description and development throughout and a good level of doubt thrown in too. But the ending wrapped up far far too quickly and ultimately it felt a little rushed.

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If you want to escape your parents' fate, don't follow in their footsteps. Annie's father was a psychologist - until he was accused of murdering his wife. But Annie tries to keep the faith and studies to be a psychologist herself. But sometimes the sins of the fathers really are visited on the children. Decent read with good characters, but I felt like Gilboy gave up at the end. The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying.

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Lately, I had been reading a lot of Bully romances and contemporary romances and needed something to break it up. When I feel like I have read too much, I tend to gravitate towards mystery fiction to rejuvenate myself. Scrolling through my kindle I came across The Girl on Mill Street and the cover captured me. Ten years ago, Annie's father was committed to murdering her mother when she disappeared one day. Her father built his career on being a top Sexual therapist and had written a self-help book called Twice a Day and had a strong belief in Freud's theories. Annie always believed her father was innocent but as the trial went along all this past information about her father came to light including a stint when he was in a cult in the 1970s before meeting Annie's mother Sunny. During this cult, one of her father's girlfriends was murdered and it seems to be identical to the way that Sunny's body was found. Annie decided to follow her father's footsteps and study psychology and continued to fight for the truth as she knew in the back of her mind that her father would never kill her mother as he loved her. The Girl on Mill Street is told from Annie's perspective as she attempts to write down her past and the story of her parents that influenced her to become the person she is today. I have to admit I did not see the twist coming at the end and when the actual killer was revealed, I was like WOAH, Horsie as in one way it was a shock but in another after reading everything in the book I could actually see that person being the killer and it made sense reflecting on the entirety of the book. If you are in the mood for a good psychological thriller and why people have the phobias they do and what drives someone to unleash their inner selves, then check out The Girl on Mill Street by Peter Gilboy.

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Not a fan of this one, my full review is in the link below.

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Very good novel about the daughter of a noted sex therapist who is convicted for murdering his wife. Annie's voice is convincing and the story moves quickly, keeping you very interested in the conclusion, but there are a few questions that are left unanswered at the end, and i think the plot twist was a bit implausibe. Overall, I did like this one a lot and would definitely reccomend to others.

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This was a great suspenseful book. The characters were very realistic and the story kept me guessing all the way through. I ended up reading this in one sitting because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five was the ending. I felt that it was somewhat abrupt and left some things unfinished. However it is still a very good read and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys suspense novels.

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In this story Annie Taylor’s mother disappears and her father, whom she has always believed is innocent is charged with her murder. Annie follows in his footsteps and studies psychology hoping to understand how this has shaped her life and prove her father’s innocence. As she investigates her family she discovers things about them she had not been aware of, her mother’s past is not as she once thought and what happened to the woman from her father’s past? In this book, you are left wondering do we really know anyone even those we love. I would like to thank the Publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC.

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The Girl on Mill Street is told through the eyes of 19 year old, Annie Taylor. Annie recounts the disappearance of her mother and the case that eventually sees her father, a doctor, being named as the killer and brought to trial many years later.

I enjoyed the way the story was written. However, after reading so many fantastic reviews characterizing the book as a suspense or thriller, I felt none of that. In fact, I actually kept thinking "When exactly is this story going to get to the point?" It's not until the trial that I felt invested in the story and that isn't until half of the book has been read.
The relationship between Annie and her father had a weird vibe that I just couldn't shake. Even if your dad is completely okay with all types of discussion, I cannot believe that he would want to know the details on his daughter's sex life. Seems a bit stereotypical for a doctor who follows Freud.

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My favorite genre is psychological thrillers, and this is a well-written book. Great character development; I, too, fell in love with Sunny, just like everyone else. I loved her kindness, her spunk, her spirit. When an author evokes strong emotions in the reader toward the characters, good or bad, to me, that's skilled character development. While the story dragged in parts, I kept reading because I needed to know what happened. Not just wanted to know; needed to know! I was pretty sure who the perpetrator was, and I was right. I would have liked to have been a bit more surprised. I'd recommend this book.

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I had very high hopes for this book and while the plot didn't disappoint I was very turned off by all the "psycho-babble" I am not a psychologist nor am I interested in becoming one but I felt this book catered to that crowd. I wish they had just focused on the plot and let the psychology stuff be in the background because it was a good story.

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I was disappointed with this book, it did not hold my attention. Felt the ending was unreal.

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My reaction to this book can be summed up in a mere two words: oh dear.

This is billed as a psychological suspense, and whereas it certainly could be described as psychological up to a point, the suspense was sorely lacking.

I suppose I should say that I absolutely hate Sigmund Freud. I'm not an official student of psychology or anything, but what I've read of him and what I've read of psychology graduates analysing him, iIdo not like the guy. He was instrumental in defining psychology for his generation, sure, but the vast majority of his theories are no longer relevant because they have been disproved.

Therefore, the many tangents about Freudian theory made me want to poke my entire eyes out.

Not only that, but the seemingly random insertion of these theories took away from the little suspense that was there. I'm not sure what Gilboy was trying to achieve. Was he trying to prove he was writing a Clever Thriller??

It didn't work. It was not clever. The psychological tangents were pseudoscientific and pointless. Do we really need a freudian analysis of psychology to tell the reader that sex and violence are sometimes linked and sexual motives are common with murders???? No. We don't. Everyone knows this. E v e r y o n e.

The majority of the book was dealing with evidence for a certain character who I will refer to as the Primary Suspect. Now, this did not create much suspense at all, because it is obvious that if a mystery thriller is dealing with evidence for the Primary Suspect for the majority of the book, the Primary Suspect is probably not going to be the perpetrator otherwise it would not be a mystery in the first place.

Therefore, the mystery should lie in trying to figure out who the murderer actually was. but there weren't enough characters introduced for this to really work, and the ending seemed completely ridiculous and pointless. The murderer's motive was extremely unoriginal, uninteresting, and lazy.

Finally, a bunch of minor annoyances began to build up throughout the book and combine with the central fact that the plot was weak and unoriginal, to culminate in me being more frustrated and annoyed with a book than I have in a long, long time. I may have overlooked these things if the overall book had been very good, but this was not the case.

Minor annoyances included:
- Poor writing, such as defining words (I know what cathartic means, thanks, and if I didn't then dictionaries exist. Unless you're also assuming I don't know what a dictionary is?)

- The suggestion that males are only interested in sex and not friendship with females, which is not only heteronormative but a notion that needs to be dispelled because the more it is perpetuated the more boys who do think like this will think it is okay because that is what is expected of them. (And the percentage of boys who are only interested in sex is not freaking 99%, as this book implies. What the hell??)

- Implication that antidepressants are an inferior treatment to therapy

So yeah, overall, I was incredibly NOT IMPRESSED. I can't even think of a single thing i liked about this. I don't know why I even finished it.

Maybe reading it so soon after finishing an Agatha Christie was a bad idea, but then again I don't think I would have even remotely enjoyed this under any circumstances.

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It was a slow and slightly tedious read with a great twist at the end. When the twist was revealed, that was when my interest level really increased but the story just died right there. I wanted to know the details of how, why, when and where. A lot was left to the imagination at the end which is sometimes good, but I think filling in the blanks would have made for a thrilling story. Overall I was under whelmed. Sorry!

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This was another enjoyable quick read, which I probably would have finished sooner if I hadn't wiped out and ate it on the pavement earlier in the week. (Side note: I'm a klutz and should be encased in bubble wrap at all times!)

The story is told from the point of view of Annie, the daughter of Sunny and Simon Taylor and begins after her father is charged with the murder of her mother. I enjoyed that Annie seemed to be aware of her audience (the reader) as she wrote and the book was written as basically a journal or diary as Annie remembers the events leading up to the trial of her father. It was refreshing to read a book that was written in this way and I found it easier to become engrossed in the plot.

I wish the author had spent a little less time focusing on Annie's father's profession as I felt it added little to the plot and this space could have been better used on character development or expanding on the courtroom procedural side of the story.

Overall, I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good plot twist. The author did a great job of keeping me guessing throughout and any time I would think I'd know what was going on, my head would again be filled with doubts.

Sorry for the shorter review on this one, but I'm trying not to give too much away!!!

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Unfortunately I didn't have the chance (time) to read this

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I just could not get into this book at all. The narration was just not for me. Also, the way she described her parents marriage was just a little creepy. I just couldn't finish it. Sorry. Maybe I can try again in the future.

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I found this a very hard book to get into, I thought about putting it away a few times but thought I would finish it and be done with it, I'm glad I did, it turned out to be interesting, I didn't see that ending and after I was done I thought back about the book over all and thought it was well written and quite interesting and over all I did enjoy it.

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great read and easy to follow story line. look forward to reading more from this author.

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