Review Copy

THE DEAD GIRLS CLUB is everything I want and love in a novel. It's a coming of age story about girls - something that's rare. It's also that, combined with horror, and it's a psychological thriller as well. The writing is sharp and faultless. I appreciated every word. Such a brilliant novel about friendship and loss is one that shouldn't be missed.

While child psychologist Heather Cole has not forgotten what happened during the summer of 1991, she has moved on with her life—until she receives the missing half of the friendship necklace she shared with Becca. Becca was killed that summer, and her alcoholic mother was jailed for her murder. As she receives more disturbing reminders of that summer, and the Dead Girls Club, which she and Becca formed with two other girls, Heather can’t stop herself from investigating. But her google searches and telephone calls begin to occupy more of her time, until her career, marriage, and other relationships suffer.

Even as she realizes the toll her obsession is taking, Heather won’t stop until she learns the truth.

The Dead Girls Club is a creepy suspense thriller. Heather is not entirely a sympathetic character, and at times, I wanted to shake her and beg her to stop. Author Walters does a fabulous job of establishing what a normal, enviable life Heather has constructed, before forcing the reader to watch her tear it down. Walters saves some pretty big surprises for the end. #NetGalley #DeadGirlsClub

Damien Angelica Walters has built a community and populated it with some very realistic characters. The story is told in layers, flipping from past to present as it unfolds. We see the Dead Girl's Club rushing towards a tragedy but when it actually happens, the surprise is disturbing. A different twist on many thrillers that revolve around youth and their abilities to cause deadly havoc. Well worth reading, but leave the reading light on....

1.5 Stars

“When you made a promise, you had to keep it. No matter what. You had to keep it forever.”

Heather and Becca are the very best of friends. Along with two other classmates, they form the Dead Girls Club. Sneaking away to tell ghostly stories such as the Urban Legend the Red Lady, the girls form a bond of shared secrets…and some of those secrets don’t stay buried…

The blurb to the Dead Girls Club gives too much away as it is, so I’ll jump into my review. Sorry to say, this book was just ok. The chapter format of the story is a “Then” and “Now”. Too much drama, drama, drama during the “Then” sections between the tweens drove me insane, and after much skimming over the tedious blah blah blah of getting their periods, going to the mall and sneaking away to tell ghost stories, I kinda forgot about the tale of the Red Lady and how it connected to Heather killing her bestie Becca. And honestly, by the end, I didn’t care.

Horror stories are subjective to what scares or engages the reader, and the Dead Girls Club hooked me into thinking this would be my “It”. If you are a fan of teenage angst with a killer twist, you may enjoy. Sadly, this was a no scare or even thrill for me.


**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

This was a slow start and I had trouble with the pacing throughout the book. There were long stretches not much happened in and I never really felt invested in the characters at all.

The best aspect of this novel was easily the relationship between the girls. Walters perfectly captured the intensity of female friendships, specifically between best friends. The narrative was very realistic and reminiscent of many of my own childhood experiences. Given these aspects of the novel, I think other female readers will most strongly connect to this story although it could certainly be enjoyed by anyone.

As a piece of nostalgic story about female friendship, this book reminded of me of My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendix. While not the exact same story, readers who loved that narrative will likely enjoy this one as well.

While this had aspects of horror, this novel read much more like a psychological thriller. Personally, I prefer the horror genre over the thriller genre, which affected my overall enjoyment for this book. Unlike other thrillers, this one is less dependant on a giant twist ending. Instead, this was more the kind of slow burning suspense story where the reader slowly learned how the characters got to the situation revealed in the present day.

This is my second time reading Walters and she is now well on her way to becoming a favourite author of mine. I have previously read the her short story collection, Cry Your Way Home, and absolutely loved it. She is a strong writer with a talent for writing strong female focused narratives like this one. I look forward to reading her future work, which will hopefully lean a bit more heavily towards the side of horror.

I would recommend this one to readers who enjoy thrillers centered around friendships and female coming of age narratives.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher, Crooked Lane Books.

“You don’t need flickering lights or doors slamming shut, the parlor tricks of a poltergeist, to be haunted. The true ghosts are made of deed and word and live deep inside the marrow and bone.”*

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The events of Heather’s childhood haunt her. There’s the loss of her best friend Becca, the dissolution of her friendship with Rachael and Gia, the other members of their Dead Girl’s Club, and the vengeful Red Lady, who Becca may have made up or who may be all too real.

Now a child psychologist with a successful practice and a happy marriage, Heather’s sorrow over the past has become a dull, white noise that vibrates below the surface and colors every aspect of her life with a tinge of gray. Then, Heather’s whole world comes crashing down. Damning evidence from the night that destroyed her life starts appearing, as does hints that the Red Lady is back and hellbent on making Heather pay.

The story toggles between the past and present, showing the evolution of the Dead Girl’s Club and the Red Lady’s role in the girls’ friendship. Heather’s choice of career is telling and her unraveling is well shown. She is a take-charge protagonist who fights to figure out who is threatening her and end the harassment, whether the culprit is supernatural or flesh and blood. Meanwhile, the pranks turn deadly and her laser focus on solving her problem stands to destroy all that she holds dear.

The pacing of the story is a bit slow as the past is revealed and the threats escalate, while the ending barrels along freight-train fast. The resolution was a bit problematic for me from a storytelling perspective, but I really liked how the epilogue tied up loose ends. The Red Lady nicely plays on urban legends such as the Slender Man and Bloody Mary, and imbibes a delicious spookiness into the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

*Please note that my review is based on uncorrected text.

This was a solid thriller with well drawn characters and a story that kept me interested, but I figured out "who did it" very early on because I read a lot of thrillers and it was pretty obvious what happened.

I will not be reviewing for my website as it is not horror enough

This was a definite 5 star read for me. I didn't see the end coming and I thought for sure I knew what was going to happen. The beginning was a little hard to get into but the end more then mad up for it. Once I reached about halfway I couldn't put it down!

I really enjoyed this book, but the ending did leave me disappointed. I felt when the truth comes out it is rushed. I did love the story behind it all, but I was wanting more to the revealing of the truth. The ending did answer a lot of my questions that I did have. I did feel like this book kept me guessing what was going to happen.

Huge Thank You to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this opportunity!!!

What a great story! I wasn't planning to finish it in one sitting, but I did! I appreciated the plot, the well developed and believable characters and plots twist I didn't see coming!!

A chilling story, full of suspense and mystery, maybe with a little of the paranormal and supernatural thrown in. Four young girls, just twelve years old, are obsessed with true crime and horror stories and form the Dead Girls Club. We learn early on that Heather kills her best friend, Becca, both were in the Club. As an adult, Heather receives messages that someone knows she killed Becca. It will keep you on edge and I do not think you will guess the ending!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a fantastic book. Such a well told story. I loved the characters and the psych of the MC. The story unfolded and had you wondering who was behind it.

DEFINITELY NOT MY LAST BOOK BY THIS AUTHOR

Amazing plot line! Love this story and our main character was very well written.

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Dead Girls Club tells the story of what happens when two young girls take a ghost story too far,
Heather and Becca have been telling, writing, and loving witch stories since they were young girls. Until their stories went too far and Becca ends up dead and Heather ends up dealing with the repercussions that seem to follow her years after. As she finds the answers she has been looking for, will they cost her too much?
Highly recommended! I couldn't put this down and found myself starting to believe in the red lady!

*Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

The premise of this book really spoke to me. Like these girls I was weirdly into true crime and urban legends at a young age, so I was very excited to read this one. The book started off a little slow for me, part of that was that I didn’t love Heather, and even at the end of the book she still sort of annoyed me, but I did understand her a little more.

At about a third of the way through the book really started to pick up and I wasn’t able to put it down after that. I really enjoyed the time switching between past and present, I was also reminded of how mean girls are, and it made me very glad I am an adult now. That being said, I think I actually preferred the story of the young girls to the that of Heather as an adult.

Overall the mystery was engaging, and I wanted to know who was behind all this as much as Heather as we got closer to the end. The ending was not what I expected at all, which I liked. Though I was a little unsatisfied.

A fascinating thriller with a supernatural element, the Dead Girls Club kept me constantly guessing.

Over twenty years ago, Heather Cole stabbed her friend Becca, killing her. It wasn't just simple murder- Becca had convinced Heather that being killed was the only way Becca could gain the favor of the Red Lady, a ghostly figure who could supposedly grant wishes, in exchange for a life. Unfortunately, Becca didn't rise again after being stabbed... Or did she?

Heather is now an adult, living with her husband in a comfortable home and working as a therapist. Her life seems to be going relatively well until mysterious objects begin appearing on her personal property, all tied back to Becca. There's Becca's ribbon and drawings. There are the stories Heather and Becca wrote together, all memories of the Dead Girls Club they shared as children, fascinated with the gory and the scary.

It's an excellent look at the strange fascinations children often have. It seems macabre to have a group of preteens so intensely focused on serial killers, but Walters shows how that's often a normal part of growing up. It's when that fascination grows that someone should grow concerned.

The mystery of whether or not Becca has truly come back, if the Red Lady actually exists, that propels the book forward. Part of me knew it wasn't possible, but that sense of 'what if' always lingers, harkening back to the infamous Slenderman Case, or other incidents of mass hysteria, particularly about preteen to teenage girls. It's a timely look at the phenomena, and also at seeing how far a person will go to both maintain friendships and to get out of a bad situation.

Heather's growing hysteria makes her an unreliable narrator- deliciously so. Is Heather hallucinating, or is she seeing the truth?

Up until the very end, I was kept guessing. Without giving spoilers- I did find the ending disappointing. It wrapped up too suddenly and too neatly for my liking, given what a complicated situation it was. Still, it's well worth reading, especially as nights become long and chilly.

Thank you to Goodreads for providing me with the review copy!

The Dead Girls club was a twisty psychological thriller that kept me guessing until the end. The story jumps between the past and the present , weaving together a story about a group of young girls and the scary story that led them to a terrible act, and the present day where one of the girls is being stalked by an unknown assailant.
I was hooked on this story all the way to the end, and have to admit I didn't see the final twist coming.
A fun, easy-to- read thriller !

I really liked this one. It is impossible to figure out what is going on in this book (as in, you cannot guess the ending not that it's hard to follow. This is the story of a group of friends. Like most groups of tweens, they're dealing with normal stuff and they are obsessed with ghost stories (or true crime or anything else that might scare them a bit). One of the ghost stories becomes a little too real. Years later, the mother of the girl that died is out of prison and Heather is being plagued by a stalker. All of this is just a bit too much, so she decides to find out who is stalking her and what really happened to her friend. I swear I thought that this was going to be ruined with an impossible ending, but it wasn't, so I liked it. I definitely recommend this if you enjoy the genre.

Becca and Heather are best friends and with two other girls they have the Dead Girls Club. The girls discuss serial killers, and all other things spooky and scary. One summer, Becca begins telling the story of the Red Lady. A tale that revolves around a witch who makes people mysteriously die. The story goes between the past and present. Readers know that Becca dies, but how? Who did it? Why are there so many secrets? Heather is now a happily married child psychologist when packages start to arrive. Packages that are a blast from the past with details only Becca would know. Who is sending these things?

Overall, a very easy read. Equal parts witchy spooky, page turny, and held my interest. No major plot twists or major jaw dropping conclusion, but a nostalgic read. Who didn’t play light as a feather stiff as a board as kids? Who doesn’t fondly recall the memories with childhood friends? Recommend to anyone for a quick, fun read.

Special thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.