A creepy horror/thriller just in time for winter. Add this book to your tbr before 2020 creeps up on us.

The Dead Girls club opens with Heather receiving a mysterious envelope that reopens a secret that she's kept hidden from everyone for nearly 20 years. It takes her back to the summer of The Dead Girls Club. The last summer she and her friends were thick as thieves. The summer of the Red Lady. A summer of death.

The Dead Girls Club initially appealed to me initially because as a child I was considered a bit of a creepy weirdo over my love of horror and urban legends. I was reading Stephen King and Christopher Pike in elementary, and wore out "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and Goosebumps long before that. My best friend and I would try "light as a feather" and exchange our own scary stories, much like the girls in the book.
I enjoyed the long slow burn of the story, bouncing from present to past. I especially liked connecting to the memories of my own awkward preteen self and thinking about what I would have thought of the Red Lady. (Though I love horror I still will not use the bathroom at night without the light lest Bloody Mary finally come for me)
But this isn't really a story about the Red Lady. This is a story of secrets and how they affect people for the rest of their lives. Like I said, it's a slow burn. The first half took me much longer to read than the second half.

4/5 *I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for my review.

What a creepy, fun read! I loved the whole premise and found myself flipping pages like a mad woman to find out more. Such an original concept for a thriller/horror story. I thought it had lots of fun twists, chilling chills, and thrilling thrills! Well written and fast paced! Definitely recommend to my fellow genre lovers!
Will make sure I buzz it up!

This was very creative.  I reminder trying to make clubs with my friends in school but none of my clubs worked out.  We were not in serial killers and things like this.  I have always loved horror and thrillers but not many people I meet usually do.  This book was a good read for me and I have not read anything from this author before.  I am glad to find someone new to read.  I can't wait to read more from this author.  "This book was given to me for free at my request from Netgalley and I provided this voluntary review."

The Dead Girls Club has such a eerie premise that hooked me right away and the cover is gorgeous. I wanted to love this one, I really did.

It's the story of four childhood friends who, in the early 1990s, create the Dead Girls Club, in which they, led by the imaginative Becca, share stories about serial killers and the vengeful ghost of a woman killed centuries before--the Red Lady. Heather knows she's not real, but as Becca's home life becomes more unstable, she insists that the Red Lady can save her and she convinces Heather to take part in a ritual to prove that she's real.

Only it gets Becca killed. Is Heather really responsible? Or is Becca's mother the murderer? The night haunts Heather well into her future.

Now an adult, Heather is a psychologist who has dedicated her life to helping kids. But the past has caught up to her and someone is sending things of Becca's--someone who may know the truth of what happened the night Becca was killed.

This book promised to be horror/thriller. And unfortunately, there weren't all that many twists that made it so. It does have a sort of supernatural element with the Red Lady, but it's definitely more for people who like a good mystery without too many scares. I thought the creepiest parts were actually the stories Becca told to her friends.

The narrative switches from past to present, and I thought the most effective parts were when Heather and her friends were children. It's where most of the action takes place and we can certainly empathize with Becca's actions--living with an abusive and alcoholic parent will cause the trauma that led to her death. The parts in the present I found frustrating. A lot of Heather's activities seemed like filler and she was a bit unlikable. I know you don't have to like a MC to have an effective story, but all I could think of was "you deserve everything you're getting right now." And she's downright awful to her husband. Why even lie about half the stuff she's lying about? And by the end I had had enough of her cuticle.

I'd recommend this to readers who enjoy unreliable narrators and horror that isn't gratuitous.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing this ARC for review.

If you like coming-of-age Horror/Thrillers then I highly recommend reading, THE DEAD GIRLS CLUB. Just when you think you have it all figured out - guess again!

Brimming with nostalgia – Becca, one of the main characters, reminded me of a friend I had in grade school who would tell my friend's and I scary stories, making us thirsty for more. And who can forget the folklore legend, ’Bloody Mary’ – so much fun!

Thank you #NetGalley and Publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t see that coming!!

Preteen girls playing at silly ghost story games. We’ve all been there, done that, but this time something goes terribly wrong.

Why is the Red Lady returning now? Is it the Red Lady or is Heather having a mental break?

Grab this story and be prepared to have your thoughts and ideas thrown out the window.

After reading the synopsis it was easy to get excited for The Dead Girls Club! I mean, hello, a club literally called The Dead Girls Club. Not to mention, there are scary stories and serial killers. Then you find out the main character killed her best friend. All of that, to me, screams MUST READ.

Throughout the book, you bounce back and forth between the present and the past. It is easy to get caught up in both story lines as they are told well. Plus, they both are extremely interesting. The main and supporting characters are easy to remember and help move the story along at a good pace. A few well known serial killers are thrown into the mix and you are told a very interesting story about the Red Lady. Which, honestly, I found to be really neat and a great addition to this book.

While I did really enjoy this book, there were a few things that knocked a few stars off for me. There are quite a few loose ends that I would have loved to seen tied up. Also, when I finished the book I was left with a lot of questions.

In the end, I definitely would recommend this for a quick and slightly spooky read.

This is a creepy book as the title would suggest, but I also found it compelling from start to finish! I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future!

A solid thriller, but unfortunately one that I personally didn't find that engrossing.

The book alternates timeframes between the past (when Heather was part of the "The Dead Girls Club" and something bad went down) and the present where Heather is a child psychologist and someone is trying to remind her of that ominous past event.

In my opinion, the sections that take place in the past are the strongest part of the book, with some genuinely creepy moments. Having been a girl with a similar interest in the macabre at a young age, I found notion of the club plausible and can see how the girls get so drawn into the web of the Red Lady they are unable to really see a clear delineation between real threats and supernatural ones. Unfortunately, the Red Lady herself only figures into the past tense story, implying that she was a figment of the girls' imaginations, (which was was a bit of a shame as the present tense sections could have used that same jolt of eeriness.)

The sections in the book that took place in the present were, in my opinion, not as strong as the past tense ones and seemed to strain credibility. In particular, I had a hard time buying into the notion of a mental health professional (who is friends with other mental health professionals) being so out of touch with her own mental health. Not only was Heather unaware of things spiraling out of control, she didn't even have any curiosity about her increasingly erratic behavior. I guess I would expect a child psychologist who works with kids in trauma to at least ask questions of herself like, "Wow. Wonder why my paranoia is so out of control?" or "I keep mutilating my fingers, I wonder what I should do about that?"

Overall, it was a solid thriller that I enjoyed, but the present tense sections kept me from really loving it. Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher for the eArc. Not a bad written book but it wasn't for me. A quick read, full of supernatural book about a girl Becca who had died when the girls were younger. Which Heather is at fault. They had made up a club to tell stories about murders and other crimes. Heather ends up getting random messages and signs that point to that day so long ago. And is trying to figure out who is behind them.

This horror/thriller was amazing! Present day Heather is a child psychologist that one day receives a necklace that used to belong to her best friend Becca, who she killed 30 years ago. This starts a series of very scary instances, and I could not put the book down. Recommended for those who like a good horror with supernatural elements.

Read this as an eARC from Netgalley.

I have a confession to make, between the time I requested to read this on Netgalley and I pulled it up on my Kindle to read, I had completely forgotten anything about this book. I was not even certain of the genre before I started to read it. This turned out to be a really good turn of events as it allowed me to delve into this book with very little preconception.

The Dead Girls Club tells two stories in parallel, centered on our main character, Heather, but also largely about her best childhood friend, Becca. We are introduced to Heather in the now where she is a child psychologist with a private practice. The story begins when Heather receives a package from an anonymous sender that brings back memories of a horrible act she did as a child. Heather goes down a spiral of obsession trying to figure out who is taunting her with the knowledge of her past.

The other story line focuses on Heather with her three friends during the summer when they were twelve years old. They become fascinated by a supernatural story spun by Becca that is akin to tales we told as kids of spooks like Bloody Mary and current kids tell of Slenderman. This earlier storyline seems to draw a lot from the story about the two girls who murdered a friend because of the Slenderman story (which is meta-narratively mentioned in this book).

The most fascinating part of this book is Heather's growing obsession with trying to discover who her tormentor is. At first I was a little thrown off by some of her suddenly irrational actions, but realized that they were signs of her growing unease and lack of control. The book also teases us about the supernatural aspects present in either story.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thriller.

I really liked this book! It was a spooky, and suspenseful book! The book starts in present tense, and goes back in time to 1991 , when Heather Cole and a few other friends were in a club, called the Dead Girls Club. The kids were fascinated with serial killers, and a witch that was killed many years ago, called the Red Lady . And then one of the girls, Becca dies. Fast Forward 30 yrs later, Heather receives something in the mail that brings back all the memories and secrets she had been carrying around for so long.
I was flipping the pages to the ending. If you like thrilling books, you will enjoy this one.

The books releases in Nov 2019

Thanks @Netgalley @CrookedLaneBooks #TheDeadGirlsClub for giving me the chance to read this book.

Really, all I ever want out of a book is for it to be so damn good that I am raaaaccing through the pages trying to get to the end. This book fit that bill and then some. Is it supernatural? Is it a thriller? Is it a horror novel? Maybe, yes, and yes. Rebecca regales her 3 friends, one of which - Heather - is her best, with tales of the macabre. They love horror stories and scary stuff, but one night Rebecca starts telling tales about the Red Lady. Living in an abusive home, Rebecca is looking for any kind of outlet for that pain, and she pours it all into this story. One thing leads to another, and Becca ends up dead, with Heather at the other end of the knife. But it was the Red Lady's fault. She was real and she demanded the sacrifice if Becca's life was ever going to get better.

Now, decades later, Becca is dead and Heather is holding the necklace that should have disappeared with her friends body. Somebody knows, and is determined to inflict psychological trauma on our protagonist. The rest of the book is a game of is she, isn't she? Interspersed with page turning tension to figure out exactly what is and isn't real in this game of cat and mouse.

Excellent novel, original plot and fascinating characters with a little bombshell tacked on at the end. Great book.

Heather killed her childhood friend Becca, and she's been suffering ever since. So when mysterious things start happening, she knows someone has found out about her deep, dark secret, but who? Becca was her best friend who loved to tell stories. So when Becca weaves a story about the revengeful Red Lady, Heather is scared, not that she would admit it. All these years later she thought she's moved on, but someone hasn't, and they're slowly breaking down Heather's fragile walls.

For all Heather's bouts of missing time and actions that she doesn't remember doing, I thought she had disassociative identity disorder, so imagine my surprise when she didn't, because I really thought the ending was going to go a different way because of that belief.

As far as a main character, I really didn't like Heather, I thought she was weak, and while she did have a reason to be scared, I thought her reactions were over the top. Also, I lost track of how many times Walters felt the need to point out how many times Heather picked and tore at her cuticles, the author could have taken out 10 incidences, and it still would have been too many times.

Aside from what I don't like about the book, there are a lot of things to like. The Dead Girls Club in itself is a fun concept and something I think kids would totally do. The story was well-written aside from the cuticle thing, and I thought the characters were well thought out. There was a good, steady pace in the book that kept you turning pages to find out what has happened. I'm not one for half-stars because you can't place them, but I do think The Dead Girls Club isn't quite a 3, but not yet a 4, so 3.5 stars it is.

A solidly good mystery. A lot of it seemed fairly predictable, but then there were some things that came my way that I wasn't sure on, so it kept my attention, even though the very end I had already figured out from the first few chapters. Sometimes that makes a book worse. In this case it didn't hurt it. 3 stars, solidly good spooky, mystery.

A creepy ghost story . Heather Cole receives half of a best friend necklace that belonged to her best friend Becca.thirty years after Becca’s death . Alternating between present time and past when the girls formed a club to study all things macabre including the horrific red lady . . Scary , twisty and creepy this novel is beyond disturbing

This was an unsettling read about four young girls that tempt their supernatural thoughts. The “leader” of the group of girls, Becca, has issues of her own that ignite her own version of the “red lady”. Becca has all of the traits of a troubled teen. It has twists and turns that question what is real and what is not and surrounds a murder.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this intriguing novel.

The Dead Girls Club was not really what I expected. The book flips back and forth between the past and the present. The main characters, Heather is the person telling the story.

As a young girl, she and three of her friends were members of a little club, The Dead Girls Club, where they discussed serial killers. In their morbid fascination of violent death, Heather's best friend introduces them to the Red Lady, the one story that will alter their lives.

The Red Lady helps those who need it but at a price. Heathers best friend, Becca, puts all of her faith into the Red Lady which causes her death. Now Heather is being haunted by her past and the Red Lady.

I read this book in two days. There were a lot of twists and I appreciated that the book moved along smoothly. I do wish at the end that we got some additional information about all the characters. Otherwise is a good suspense read!