I honestly don't think this has happened before but this was a DNF for me. As others have said it is incredibly slow! There was nothing about the beginning that grabbed me. And there was no investment in the characters. I couldn't get into the story and there are too many books out there to force myself to read something I'm not enjoying. I have liked books by this author before so it was disappointing.

Unfortunately not my cup of tea. The premise sounded interesting, but fell flat in practice. Certainly not a bad read, but think we can pass on this one for the collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.
Great combo of thriller and supernatural. I really enjoyed this book. I am not usually a fan of supernatural books but this has the right combination and it worked well.

Games for Dead Girls is a psychological mystery thriller by Jen Williams. This author was new to me and I chose it based on the intriguing premise. The story unfolds across three timelines and multiple POV. In the present we have Sarah who along with her niece arrive in the seaside town under the guise of writing a book on the town folklore. We get flashback chapters set in the 80s when our main character is a young teen on holidays with her family where she meets and befriends a girl who will change her life. Then we also have a third storyline set in the 60s with a male narrator. Finding out how all these storylines converge will keep you turning pages. With elements of horror, mystery and thriller, this not to be missed read will have you hooked.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an arc of this book.

This thriller is full of twists, spooky stories, secrets, and weird characters. It was super creepy and kept me up way past my bedtime the past few nights!

There are several timelines, all of which occur in the small seaside town of Hithechurch, England. The elements of the stories focus on missing girls, scary folklore of the local area, and a ritualistic game kids were playing on holiday. Seriously, nothing creeps me out more than creepy kids!

I highly recommended reading this book, but warn you may sleep with a nightlight while reading it 🖤

Thank you @crookedlanebooks and @netgalley for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

This one made me sad that I didn’t enjoy it. The summary sounded so good! But it was a bunch of build up just for a huge wave of disappointment. The plot wasn’t as exciting as the summary made it sound. The three timeless was just more annoying than anything, and the characters weren’t really connecting with me.

Eh... The plot is good, but the development not so much. I was bored during most of the reading. The characters didn't stood out. The choice to follow three different timelines may have seen interesting, but it was not. It kinda helped the characters to seen flat. The pacing was too slow, and the ending was just... there. Ok, and that's it.

So... Not good. The story drags. The characters - I couldn't connect with any of them. There are three timelines that follow three different treads that connect eventually. But I just didn't care about any of them.

A huge thank you to the publisher for the arc!

I wanted to like this so much more than I did, but the pacing was terribly slow, with too many timelines and points of view to follow. Horror fans will find a lot to like here, but readers looking for a suspenseful story might want to keep looking. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher!

2.75/5 stars! The haunted horror premise worked well and will likely draw in readers. The result? Adequate. This is good for avid horror lovers. However, readers looking for a quick thriller fix will likely be disappointed. The reason for this is how slow the pacing was. This read like a long historical story across three different timelines. If you stick with the story, the payoff was great. But I worry many readers will grow bored prior to those developments.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Games for Dead Girls is a horror/mystery/thriller told in three timelines that, at first at least, don't appear to be connected. In present day, a teen girl is abducted on the beach of Hithechurch, a southern English coastal town. A few months later, Sarah shows up at Hithechurch with her niece in tow, intent on researching the area for a book on local folklore - or at least that's the story she tells the locals. In reality, she's being directed by an unknown stalker of sorts, texting her that she needs to dig up something from her past. Cut to 1988, when a precocious girl named Charlie likes to make up stories and pass them off as real. She tells her new friend, Emily about a local legend named Stitch Face Sue who will grant the girls' wishes in return for some sacrifice on their part. Though the legend isn't true, Emily believes Charlie's story, and soon their playful rituals are spiraling into dangerous territory. Meanwhile, a third story line taking place in the 1950s involving Derek, a young man with a stern surgeon for a father makes appearances in the story. Though Derek once had a promising future, an accident sends him down another path, one which have dark consequences.
The three plot lines alternate throughout the book, and while at first they don't necessarily appear to be connected to the main story, as the narrative unfolds their connections slowly become clear. Williams does a tremendous job of unveiling things carefully and enticingly keeping you wanting to keep turning to page to see what happens next. For a change, I was clever enough to pick up on the very first real hints of what each story line meant in the bigger picture, but even knowing what twists were coming didn't lessen the impact of the book. There were only two surprises near the end for me (and this book was chock full of twists and turns), that I didn't see coming, and while they did tie a lot of plot details together, one of them felt a bit on the chintzy side and temporarily reduced the overall impact of the story. However, everything made a reasonable sort of sense by the end, and this was a definite thrill ride of a novel. 4.5/5* rounded up.

The synopsis was solid, and I was eager to read this one. Sadly, the execution was lacking, and I just wasn't invested in this story. There were several inconsistencies that bothered me, and the characters never came alive. It was overall an ok read but not memorable.

My thanks to Crooked Lane books, Jen Williams and Netgalley.
There was just something about this damn story! I'll confess that I was hooked from the very beginning.
As I read along, I kept finding inconsistencies...I loved that!😜
Also, I discovered a bit of graffiti in a cave wall that said "Bango Skank wez here!" Great Easter egg and tribute to Stephen King! Bango shows up "graffiti wise" in many of his books! 😍
This story was pretty damned near perfect! Only the ending brought it down to 4 stars. It didn't suck, but it wasn't all that I hoped for!
I'm not saying much about this book. Read it!

Twisty and well written! A very quick read with small town horror elements mixed with secrets galore. Characters weren’t super interesting to me - I didn’t feel I connected with any of them, but overall 3.5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was just okay for me I found it extremely hard to get into, it just wasn’t what I was expecting based on the title of the book.

This book was a solidly average read for me. I like to guess more than I did in this case because the three different perspectives took far too long to converge so I didn't even want to guess. It just moved too slowly for my liking and wasn't saved by the ending which can sometimes excuse the slow pace.

This is my first book by this author and I will say the idea of this book was what appealed to me. I did enjoy it was a tad confused for a bit with so many timelines but in the end it was entertaining a tad slow to start but towards the end kept me glued to it. I will try reading other books by this author in future.

I’ve seen other reviews note the same thing: THIS WAS SO SLOW.

I just could never get into it because it was so slow and i was so disengaged and uninterested. Which is a shame because the premise was SO GOOD!

I loved Jen Williams previous novel, but this was just so slow and I couldnt finish. Did not finish at 30%, really sad about it but won’t give up on this author

"Games for Dead Girls"

How badass is that title?

The book also also has a great cover with the title in all Red. So, a long time, in the seaside town of Hithechurch, ago young Charlie (eleven years old) meets up with another young girl named Emily who has a abusive father. So they do what needs to be done with all abusive fathers and attempt a secret ritual to summon "Stitch Face Sue" to take care of him. But unfortunately this one goes bad, as most evil rituals do, and another girl is killed.

FLASH FORWARD! Grownup Charlie returns to Hithechurch (Jeez if you move to a town with that name you should really expect evil shenanigan's) to research the folklore of the area. But she finds more local girls are missing and her ex-bestie has written a book about what happened to them and blames Charlie. Not on my watch! Charlie instantly puts on her detective badge and starts to get to the bottom of this.

The good: This book is messed up! I love dark and sinister books where the author "Goes there" And it had short chapters which are now a must with me. If you love evil books then you will love this one!

The bad: IT IS SO SLOW. This book has three timelines that move about the pace of me doing the household chores my wife loves to give me. Like I love the ominous tone of the book but I thought it could have picked up some.

But still a great read. Not really a beach read but maybe a three in the morning, can't sleep read?

I really appreciate Crooked Lane Books for giving me the chance to review this book and it has a publication date of April 18, 2023.

Advance Reader Copy given free for honest review.