Ohhhhh my goodness!! Frances Vick is truly a master storyteller! I was hook, line, and sinker from the first page of Two Little Girls! This novel made the hair on the back of head stand up and gave the chills more times than I can count and that is the exact reason why I love Frances Vick’s novels! The characters were well developed and the twists and turns were perfectly timed! I highly recommend all thriller fan 1-click this 5 star read! If you haven’t read yet, I also recommend all of Frances Vick’s previous novels as well!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this compelling psychological thriller which contains many unpredictable twists. At its core is a clever description of how childhood memories can be manipulated by unscrupulous people.

Krista and Lisa, aged 10, are inseparable childhood friends. Lisa has a wild imagination and a penchant for telling farfetched stories; especially that she was engaged to marry Toqueer, her mother’s lodger, and plans to move to his home country with him and become a princess. Krista has learned to believe very little of Lisa’s lies, but attempts to confront her has led to crying or temper tantrums. I found the early part of the book dealing with the young girl’s conversations and actions to be believable and compelling.

Lisa has gone missing, and Krista is subjected to lengthy question sessions by the police, who in turn coerce, threaten and reward her into giving the answers they want. Krista, after repeated badgering, becomes confused about what she really remembers. She agrees that she saw Toqueer in the park where Lisa was last seen by her. He is arrested and understands little English. He is not given an interpreter and confesses. He believes he is confessing to overextending his student visa, and not murder.

Thirty years later, Krista, is trying to figure out what really happened. Her memories are still hazy. She gathers facts and speculation from the internet, wondering if she was instrumental in sending an innocent man to prison.. She moves back to her hometown and accepts work there. Her loving and protective husband is concerned with her obsession with the past. At this point, she treats her husband unfairly. He cannot move with her because of work commitments.

Instead of carrying out a straightforward investigation into Lisa’s disappearance, she becomes entangled with two psychics. One is an elderly woman, Sylvia,
with infirmities common to her age. She does Tarot card readings for free and lives in impoverished and ramshackle conditions. The other is her daughter, a wealthy TV psychic, now living in the USA. Mother and daughter do not get along. Sylvia becomes like a mother figure to Krista. Are either woman possessed with true supernatural gifts, or are they fakes? Who can she believe in her quest for answers about the past and what happened to Lisa? Can she trust her husband who has been hiding a secret?

Krista soon finds herself in mortal danger. The truth and outcome are far from predictable.

Two Little Girls was fast paced, gripping and I really enjoyed the authors writing style. What I didn't like was the obvious antagonist and the lack of thrills.
The groundwork is there for this to be a great story but I think it's best suited to the casual thriller reader.

Two Little Girls by Frances Vick is a fast-paced psychological thriller that will have you guessing up until the final pages. A thirty year old mystery will be revisited, and the answers that result are anything but predictable.

In 1985, Lisa Cook and Kirsty Cooper are 10 years old and inseparable friends, despite Lisa's penchant for telling lies. When Lisa goes missing, Kirsty, confused by Lisa's endless fabrications about her relationship with Toqueer, the family's Omani lodger, is easily convinced by police that she has seen him with Lisa in the park on the day she disappeared. Tokki is arrested and, not having a strong grasp of English, inadvertently confesses to the crime.

Thirty years later, Kirsty is still questioning her accusation against the Omani man, unsure whether the right person has been convicted. Through her sister, Kirsty meets medium Angela Bright and her mother Sylvia, who come from the same unnamed town where Kirsty grew up, and the case is again brought to light by the medium's psychic musings. Kirsty forms a strong bond with Sylvia, who becomes almost a surrogate mother to her. But not everyone is being truthful and even Kirsty's husband, Lee, seems to be hiding something from her. Is there a master manipulator at work in Kirsty's small circle of confidantes?

This is a thrilling journey with enough twists thrown in to keep you turning the pages. With the manipulation of childhood memories at the core, the author crafts a diabolical tale that will fully engage the reader.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

Thanks #Netgalley, #Bookouture, and the author for providing an ARC to read.

This is a well written gripping and pacey crime thriller with well laid and engaging characters.

Two girls one goes missing and the other driven by fear she may have testified against an innocent man decides to uncover the truth unaware that certain truths better remain unknown.

Kirsty has returned to her hometown for the first time in decades. Years before her best friend, Lisa had disappeared and Kirsty provided police with enough information to send a man to jail. She has always wondered if she had an innocent man convicted, and now she’s decided she needs to uncover the truth once and for all. Kirsty is willing to do almost anything to find out what really happened to her friend, never realizing that uncovering the truth may be fatal.