When I read the description for The Dead Girls Club, it sounded right up my alley! I picked it up not sure if it would be supernatural or not, and I wont spoil that for you here, because I think you should read it for yourself to find out! 

The Dead Girls Club alternates between past and present, both from Heather's point of view. We see her friendship with Becca change as Becca starts to become obsessed with telling scary stores about a woman she calls 'The Red Lady', and then we see Heather as an adult, with a career and a husband. As her past and present start to collide, Heather starts becoming a little unhinged, and we see that descent. 

I really liked the "urban myth" aspect to this story, with The Red Lady being a prominent theme throughout the book! I was dying to find out what exactly happened in the past that led up to the events that were happening to Heather in the present. 

I ended up really enjoying this book, and rated it 4 stars. There were parts of the book where I wanted to shake Heather and tell her to get it together, because I felt like her actions were ridiculous! The past chapters were relatable - the friendship dynamics and petty drama is definitely something I remember from when I was that age! 

All in all, if you are a fan of stories where it's not clear whether the book will turn supernatural or thriller, this will be a good choice for you! I've seen some reviews where reviewers were hoping the story would have gone in a different direction than it did, but I didn't have that experience. I enjoyed the way this one played out, and how everything ended.

This is a book that I was a bit divided on, but in the end I do recommend it if you are a fan of mysteries. Initially, I wasn't grabbed by the story line or the past/present back and forth of the plot, which is such a popular device in mysteries today. Heather, our heroine, is a child psychologist in present day, and recounts events from a dark summer in her life in the past scenes. Heather in the present is a bit of a mess as she debates if/who is stalking her from her past and who knows her secrets. I started to wonder if this was an unreliable narrator trope, as her present day experiences become more and more fragmented. The past scenes were written with more clarity, but were unpleasant in their description of young teenage girls and their friendships. It's probably accurate, but wasn't always fun to read.

However, I got pulled into the story and into the fascination the young girls had with the macabre - that rang VERY true. The story moved along without revealing much of anything, which made me want to keep reading. There are two reveals in the end, neither of which I had figured out. One simply had no clues given, and was perhaps a bit abrupt. The other reveal definitely had clues, looking back, and was clever. I had a few questions still that felt unresolved, but overall once I got into the story I wanted to keep reading and I enjoyed the ending, so three stars from me!

The Dead Girls Club switches timelines between present day, following Heather Cole, and 30 years ago, when Heather and her friends were members of a small, creepy club: The Dead Girls Club. That is, until one of the girls, Heather's best friend Becca, winds up murdered.

Now, 30 years later, Heather begins to worry someone who knows the truth of that night is back to haunt her..and make her pay.

I really enjoyed this twisty thriller. The main "dead girls" story of the Red Lady was creepy as all get out - even giving me a nightmare at one point! (As a thriller reader, this is totally okay by me, but be warned!) The ending was a little bit of a let down for me; it just wrapped up a bit too quickly. But overall, a solid thriller!

The Dead Girls Club
by Damien Angelica Walters
Crooked Lane Books

This is the first book I have read by this author, I enjoyed it a great deal. This book will definitely deliver and hold your attention throughout. I remember many nights camping out in our backyard in a tent with my girlfriends telling ghost 👻 storys, once in London we lived by a old castle. The story goes the husband caught his wife with her lover, and cut his head off, and tossed it into the woods it was said she comes out every night with a lantern looking for her lovers head. This book reminds me of those days. At around 12 yrs. Becca, Heather,Gia and Rachel were as thick as thieves they loved telling morbid stories, the more gruesome the better. Becca loved making up stories she introduces the tail of the Red Lady a witch who comes to take revenge on the people whom brutally tormented, and tortured her to death. Becca becomes obsessed with the Red Lady and given time her two friends Rachel & Gia have had enough of Becca's obsession, and they drift apart. By the end of that summer Becca would be dead, her body is never found, and her mother goes to prison for her death. In time Heather moves on with her life, and of all things becomes a child pathologist, and is happily married until she gets half of a necklace in the mail that belonged to Becca who sent it ? What do they know about the death of Becca at Heathers hands ? As she tries to figure out these things her life starts to fall apart. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat wanting to know more I kept saying just one more page before bed over and over till the we hours of the night. The writer keeps the book going at a brisk pace, and kept you guessing till the end. I

Thank you to NetGalley& Crooked Lane Books for a ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Beverly E\ladyedan

sadly this book was not for me - i have tried several times to get into it and I just never could. I thank you for the chance to read and review it but unfortunately i wasn't the right reader for it.

A group of four girlfriends love share stories about serial killers and scary stories but the one story that makes the most impact is that of the Red Lady. She’s the vengeful spirit of a witch killed centuries before. As the group gathers around each afternoon the belief that she is real starts to take hold of the girls, or most of them at least.

Heather Cole believed these were just stories, some a little too colorful, but then she is starting to lose her friendship with Becca when Becca won’t admit that the Red Lady story is just a story. Heather doesn’t want to fall under the spell but she feels there could be something haunting her friend.

That is the past and in the future the reader knows that Becca died. Was it because of this belief in the Red Lady? Now Heather feels like the past is coming back to her and she’s fearful of the life she’s been able to build around herself. She’s determined to find out what is going on even if it means reaching back out to her friends and putting together the pieces of the past.

The story is told in alternating chapters of the past and present. I thought the beginning was wonderfully creepy with the descriptions of the Red Lady. Similarly the way the author writes about the group dynamics of young girls felt very plausible. Keep this one in mind if you love a good ghost story or psychological thriller.

This is the 2nd time I've tried reading this book. And it's the 2nd time I've failed.

It's just not that interesting. I was sort of interested in the tale told in the flashbacks - usually I hate flashbacks, but these were mysterious and I liked our girls.

I was not at all interested in the present day. I didn't much like the woman our girl became, didn't like her husband, didn't care at all what happened to anyone in the present day.

The pace in the present day scenes was glacial for me.

I do think this will appeal to some - maybe people with a bit more patience - but I've given up

I enjoyed this one! This was one gripping read! I would describe it as a coming of age story wrapped in a thrilling psychological mystery laced with some hints of the supernatural. I liked how it took a few different tropes you see in horror, blended them together to make something pretty interesting. I thought the coming-of-age story of Heather and Becca was executed very well. The friendship and characters felt quite authentic. It reminded me a little of the friendship between Gretchen and Abigail in Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism. The psychological suspense was great! You could feel Heather losing it throughout with the guilt slowly eating away at her. The back-and-forth chapters from present day to when Heather and Becca were teens really helped keep the tension sustained throughout the novel. I also enjoyed how the author took inspiration from Slender Man and Bloody Mary to create the Red Lady. I would have liked to see her developed a little more to make her a more frightening antagonist. She was a touch bland. I also thought everything was tied up a little too neat at the end and that the ending wasn’t necessarily earned. A lot of it came out of left field. It seemed it was a twist just for the sake of a twist. However, despite all that I thought it was an absolutely riveting read and have already starting recommending it to patrons at the library when I’m doing reader’s advisory.

This book was ok but not what I was expecting. I feel like too much was given away in the blurb and it felt more like a kids book.

Dead Girls Club is the story of Heather, Becca, and their friends who are obsessed teenage girls with a taste for horror, monsters, and serial killers. The Red Lady is the witch they are obsessed about and wonder if she is real or a myth. Becca decides The Red Lady was real and sets out to prove her friends wrong. That’s when things go awry and Becca is killed. 30 years later Heather is being tormented with tokens from Becca. If she is dead, who is sending them?

I am not a fan of the macabre, so it was hard for me to get into the story. It alternated between present and past tense well. The teenage drama was relatable although Heather at times really racked my nerves with her attitude, it was a good story and wrapped up nicely at the end. Very suspenseful and a tad scary. Don’t read before bedtime!

Thank you, NetGalley, and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"The lady. She looks hungry, like maybe she's not a lady at all, but a monster wearing a lady face. That's how they trick you, monsters. They put normal faces on so you think they're real, but they're not. And when you get too close to run away, they show you their real ones," she says, eyes serious and far too knowing.
From the outside looking in, Dr. Heather Cole has it all together, until the day she receives half of a best friends heart necklace in the mail. The same half heart that she last saw around the neck of her childhood best friend. The night she killed her.

Told in successive flashbacks of the past and the present day, The Dead Girls Club weaves paranoia and threats of evil effortlessly until you are unsure exactly what the real truth is. Centering on the bond between young Heather and best friend Becca, The Dead Girls Club keeps its secrets close and the truth even closer. The author doles out these snippets of knowledge bit by bit, always giving you just enough to make you think you have it all figured out.

As we delve deeper into the past, adult Heather's sanity becomes more and more questionable. You start to wonder if her paranoia isn't all-consuming. Maybe what she remembers didn't happen. She's distrusting of all around her and soon she's teetering with one foot over the abyss. It's almost painful to watch as she spirals further and further out of control in her search for the mysterious sender of the necklace.

Walters overlays this part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age saga with The Red Lady, an urban legend style story birthed from the mind of a teenage girl. It's never told whether this entity has a basis in history, but for the purposes of The Dead Girls Club, it doesn't need to have one. Becca becomes so caught up in the myth of the Red Lady that her belief transcends its origins.

While The Dead Girls Club is lighter on the horror than expected, it does a reliable job of drawing you in. While the past was more momentous than present-day, I was still engaged. The real shining star here is the genuine connection between the girls, their friendship and the emotional rollercoaster of youth.

This one just didn't do it for me. I had a tough time getting into it and a tough time then getting through it.

An enthralling work that asks us to look at the darkest parts of ourselves to better know who we are. Heather finds herself reliving her childhood trauma after she gets a mysterious envelope with half a friendship necklace in it, the one she knows was buried with her best friend. How does she know? Because Heather's the one who killed her. The narrative's switch from childhood to adulthood heightens the tension, constantly making the reader question what is and isn't real. It also touches on themes of abandonment and the tricky balancing acts of female friendships, especially as teens. The action is fast-paced and you feel your blood pressure go up with every dark decision Heather makes. A fantastic read for a dark and stormy night!

i can't talk much about this book without giving away things/ spoilers. a shame, because i really need to talk about it! LOL

i will say that i read this fast paced book in just over a day.

it was creepy and totally held my attention.

sadly i was left with some unanswered questions and i did not like the ending.

despite that - i would recommend this book and i liked it enough that i would read another book by Ms Walters.

This was a good story, overall. Someone referred to it as “Goosebumps for grownups” and I agree. I’m usually not one to shy away from scary movies or books, but this book did give me the creeps when trying to read before bed. The author did an amazing job with making the Red Lady come to life and her attention to detail is excellent. I did find some of the characters to be a little frustrating, or not much character building or purpose surrounding them. This was a great read and I would definitely recommend to anyone who is looking for a book that will make them want to sleep with the lights on.

Having played light as a feather, stiff as a board as a kid this book gave me nostalgic feels. I liked how it was told both in past and present. Nice quick read.

This book was pretty good! I love it. Read it in a day. Will highly recommend. Unique and twisted with characters I was interned in and wanted to trust.

So many unexpected variables that come into play . Marvelous story line with exceptional characters. The author has hit a homerun with this novel. I can't wait to share with my Bookclub... The Handicapped Hangover

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters is a part mystery/thriller and part horror bringing in some elements of the supernatural into the story. The book is one that is told by alternating between the then and now with the past parts taking place over thirty years before.

As a girl Heather Cole had been part of a group of girls who called themselves the Dead Girls Club who had an obsession with all things horror. The group led by Becca would exchange stories of the macabre, killers, witches and monsters with a special obsession with the Red Lady.

Now Heather lives with the memories of those friends and has hidden the secrets of what exactly happened to Becca thirty years before. When a necklace that once belonged to Becca shows up Heather begins to fear that someone knows what she did in the past and is going to make her pay for what she did that night.

The Dead Girls Club was one that started off with a bang but to me ended up fizzling out as it went along. The chapters of the past were more engaging to me than the current timeline as I didn’t much care for the adult Heather but as the story went along it felt as it it all just began to drag too. Overall I’d say this one was simply a so-so story since I expected a much stronger ending.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

The beginning had me invested but that fizzled out. I was disappointed by the ending. But the writing was solid.