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The Lost Girls
From the bestselling author of The Mistake comes a hauntingly powerful story about families and secrets and the dark shadows cast by the past.
Curl Curl, Sydney, January 1978.
Angie's a looker. Or she's going to be. She's only fourteen, but already, heads turn wherever she goes. Male heads, mainly . . .
Jane worships her older cousin Angie. She spends her summer vying for Angie's attention. Then Angie is murdered. Jane and her family are shattered. They withdraw into themselves, casting a veil of silence over Angie's death.
Thirty years later, a journalist arrives with questions about the tragic event. Jane is relieved to finally talk about her adored cousin. And so is her family. But whose version of Angie's story – whose version of Angie herself – is the real one? And can past wrongs ever be made right?
The shocking truth of Angie's last days will force Jane to question everything she once believed. Because nothing – not the past or even the present – is as she once imagined.
Curl Curl, Sydney, January 1978.
Angie's a looker. Or she's going to be. She's only fourteen, but already, heads turn wherever she goes. Male heads, mainly . . .
Jane worships her older cousin Angie. She spends her summer vying for Angie's attention. Then Angie is murdered. Jane and her family are shattered. They withdraw into themselves, casting a veil of silence over Angie's death.
Thirty years later, a journalist arrives with questions about the tragic event. Jane is relieved to finally talk about her adored cousin. And so is her family. But whose version of Angie's story – whose version of Angie herself – is the real one? And can past wrongs ever be made right?
The shocking truth of Angie's last days will force Jane to question everything she once believed. Because nothing – not the past or even the present – is as she once imagined.
280 pages, Paperback
First published February 26, 2014
7 people are currently reading
924 people want to read
About the author
Wendy James
40 books185 followersWendy James is the celebrated author of eight novels, including the bestselling The Mistake and the compelling The Golden Child, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Ned Kelly Award for crime. Her debut novel, Out of the Silence, won the 2006 Ned Kelly Award for first crime novel, and was shortlisted for the Nita May Dobbie award for women's writing. Wendy works as an editor at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation and writes some of the sharpest and most topical domestic noir novels in the country.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
April 13, 2014
In 1978 fourteen year old Angie spends a couple of weeks of her summer holidays with her twelve year old cousin, Jane and her older brother Mick. Angie is a beautiful girl and she knows it. When she walks down the street heads certainly turn.
Jane loves spending time with Angie and wants to spend as much time with her as she can. Angie soon got bored with hanging out with Jane, so she'd sometimes go out with Mick to the local shop where they'd play pinball with some of the other local kids.
One day Angie heads out to the shop, but she never returns which has friends, family and the community on a huge search for her. Her body is found days later and her death will have a big impact on those that are closest to her for many years. Six months later after Angie's body is found another girl is found in similar circumstances and now the case will be called The Sydney Strangler.
Thirty years later journalist Erin Fury arrives in town wanting to do a radio documentary about murdered victims and the impact it has on families and friends. Jane is now married with a daughter of her own and her brother Mick lives with his mother and he has a medical condition. After asking numerous question Erin starts to get a clearer picture of the events leading up to and after the death of Angie. After piecing all the information together will Erin discover what really happened to Angie or will it remain a mystery? Erin also seems to be carrying her own secret and if anyone one finds out it could change someone's life forever.
This was a fantastic read which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finished. Plenty of twists and turns with an ending which I absolutely loved. Highly recommended.
Jane loves spending time with Angie and wants to spend as much time with her as she can. Angie soon got bored with hanging out with Jane, so she'd sometimes go out with Mick to the local shop where they'd play pinball with some of the other local kids.
One day Angie heads out to the shop, but she never returns which has friends, family and the community on a huge search for her. Her body is found days later and her death will have a big impact on those that are closest to her for many years. Six months later after Angie's body is found another girl is found in similar circumstances and now the case will be called The Sydney Strangler.
Thirty years later journalist Erin Fury arrives in town wanting to do a radio documentary about murdered victims and the impact it has on families and friends. Jane is now married with a daughter of her own and her brother Mick lives with his mother and he has a medical condition. After asking numerous question Erin starts to get a clearer picture of the events leading up to and after the death of Angie. After piecing all the information together will Erin discover what really happened to Angie or will it remain a mystery? Erin also seems to be carrying her own secret and if anyone one finds out it could change someone's life forever.
This was a fantastic read which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finished. Plenty of twists and turns with an ending which I absolutely loved. Highly recommended.
February 24, 2014
Twelve year old Jane idolized her cousin Angie. Angie was fourteen and beautiful. She already had that way about her that young teenagers develop; she knew the boys liked her, she knew how to turn heads just by moving a certain way. Mick, Jane’s older brother also thought a lot of his cousin, he seemed to be with her continually, and that summer in 1978 when Angie came to stay with Jane and Mick for the last two weeks of the holidays was to be the best of their lives. The Sydney weather was predictably hot and Jane wanted to spend all of her time with Angie. At the beginning of her stay, they watched movies together, did everything together, but then Angie became tired of it, and spent time down at the pinball machine with Mick and his friends (all male) leaving Jane to sulk in silence.
But that last Sunday afternoon disaster struck. Angie didn’t return home – no-one knew where she was, and with the frantic search by police and volunteers, the hysteria of Angie’s parents and the terrible feelings of guilt by Jane’s mother and father (who was a cop), plus Mick who was the last to see her – everything changed. When her body was found a few days later their grief was palpable; the horror was immense. The tragedy affected everyone in different ways, but not one member of the family was ever the same again….
Thirty years later, Jane was married to Rob and they had a daughter, Jess who was twenty three by this time. Jess of course had heard about Angie’s violent death, but even though sad, it didn’t really mean a lot to her – it happened before she was born after all. But with the investigation of a journalist into their past tragedy, suddenly there seemed to be secrets where there once was truth. Jane wasn’t sure what was happening – her long held views were in danger of shattering. Would the terrible pain of the past never go away?
I absolutely loved this book! It gripped me from the very first page, and I found myself thinking about it while not reading it, and longing to get back to it. The tension, the pace and the plot were intense – the twists and turns shocking. The ending was brilliant, and I was sad when I turned the last page….
I have no hesitation in highly recommending this book by Aussie author Wendy James; after loving The Mistake and others by her, this one most certainly didn’t disappoint.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.
But that last Sunday afternoon disaster struck. Angie didn’t return home – no-one knew where she was, and with the frantic search by police and volunteers, the hysteria of Angie’s parents and the terrible feelings of guilt by Jane’s mother and father (who was a cop), plus Mick who was the last to see her – everything changed. When her body was found a few days later their grief was palpable; the horror was immense. The tragedy affected everyone in different ways, but not one member of the family was ever the same again….
Thirty years later, Jane was married to Rob and they had a daughter, Jess who was twenty three by this time. Jess of course had heard about Angie’s violent death, but even though sad, it didn’t really mean a lot to her – it happened before she was born after all. But with the investigation of a journalist into their past tragedy, suddenly there seemed to be secrets where there once was truth. Jane wasn’t sure what was happening – her long held views were in danger of shattering. Would the terrible pain of the past never go away?
I absolutely loved this book! It gripped me from the very first page, and I found myself thinking about it while not reading it, and longing to get back to it. The tension, the pace and the plot were intense – the twists and turns shocking. The ending was brilliant, and I was sad when I turned the last page….
I have no hesitation in highly recommending this book by Aussie author Wendy James; after loving The Mistake and others by her, this one most certainly didn’t disappoint.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.
June 8, 2014
When Jane Tait was 12, something really bad happened to her cousin Angie that neither she nor her family have ever fully recovered from.
It was the 1970s and Angie, bored by the long summer school holidays had come to spend the last two weeks with Jane and her older brother Michael at Curl Curl on Sydney's Northern beaches. Angie was beautiful and knew it and was beginning to realise the power such beauty could wield over boys and men. Bored with Jane's childish company, Angie took to hanging out with Michael and his friends, listening to music or playing pinball at the corner store. Until one day Angie failed to come home and her strangled body is found dumped in the bush. Michael and his friends are under suspicion until a second girl is found murdered with similarities to Angie's case and both deaths are attributed by the police to an unknown serial killer.
Now some 30 years later, a journalist, Erin Fury has come into Jane's life wanting to make a radio documentary on the effects of serious crimes on families lives. Jane has never told anyone her story before, instead being encouraged to put Angie's death behind her and move on with her life. She finds it therapeutic to talk to Erin about losing Angie and is surprised when her mother, brother and husband Robbie also tell Erin their memories of events. All of them have secrets they have been harbouring, including Erin who is not the disinterested journalist she claims to be.
This is a slow boiling domestic thriller, which tells a gripping story that ultimately brings resolution to everyone involved. Highly recommended!
4.5★
It was the 1970s and Angie, bored by the long summer school holidays had come to spend the last two weeks with Jane and her older brother Michael at Curl Curl on Sydney's Northern beaches. Angie was beautiful and knew it and was beginning to realise the power such beauty could wield over boys and men. Bored with Jane's childish company, Angie took to hanging out with Michael and his friends, listening to music or playing pinball at the corner store. Until one day Angie failed to come home and her strangled body is found dumped in the bush. Michael and his friends are under suspicion until a second girl is found murdered with similarities to Angie's case and both deaths are attributed by the police to an unknown serial killer.
Now some 30 years later, a journalist, Erin Fury has come into Jane's life wanting to make a radio documentary on the effects of serious crimes on families lives. Jane has never told anyone her story before, instead being encouraged to put Angie's death behind her and move on with her life. She finds it therapeutic to talk to Erin about losing Angie and is surprised when her mother, brother and husband Robbie also tell Erin their memories of events. All of them have secrets they have been harbouring, including Erin who is not the disinterested journalist she claims to be.
This is a slow boiling domestic thriller, which tells a gripping story that ultimately brings resolution to everyone involved. Highly recommended!
4.5★
February 25, 2014
Wendy James has been described as "A master of suburban suspense" {The Age} after the publication of Where Have You Been? and The Mistake. The Lost Girls, the author's fifth novel cements this reputation with a compelling story of loss, grief and family secrets.
Fourteen year old Angie's body was discovered a few days after she went missing in the January 1978, she had been strangled with her own scarf and dumped in the national park. Her unsolved murder, eventually blamed on an unidentified serial killer dubbed The Sydney Strangler, devastated her adoring cousins, Jane and Mick, with whom she was spending the summer, and the loss has haunted them ever since. Thirty years later, a journalist approaches Jane requesting an interview, claiming to be developing a radio documentary about the impact of murder on the loved ones of the victim. After so many years of silence, Jane finds relief in talking about the beautiful teenager idolised by her twelve year old self, but it isn't just her talking, Jane's brother Mick, her mother, and Jane's husband, Rob, all have stories, and secrets, to share about Angie - about the way she lived... and about the way she died.
The Lost Girls is told through memories, interview transcripts, newspaper articles and the story of the present day, revealing the events that led up to, and followed, the death of Angie. As the novel unfolds, moving between time, place and perspective, the reader begins to piece together a wider view of the tragedy, and those affected, than any one character has.
While Jane remembers the cousin she adored with childlike innocence, her mother recalls a manipulative girl who, "...wasn't really all that nice a child. She was always looking out for herself." p158. Mick's teenage crush on Angie colours all of his memories of the girl Angie was, while Rob has held one of her secrets for thirty years. Somewhere amongst their memories is the truth about who Angie was and how that may have contributed to her death.
It soon becomes obvious that the 'journalist', Erin Fury, is not motivated by professional curiosity but by a personal connection to the case. Her motivations are obscured for much of the story, helping to raise the tension as Erin digs for the answers to questions she is not even sure how to ask. Her 'reward' is learning a truth she wishes she never knew.
With a well crafted, multi-layered plot exploring the ways in which the past shapes us, and the difficulty in leaving it behind, The Lost Girls is an engrossing story of domestic drama and suspense. I'm happy to recommend this slow-burning but gripping suburban thriller.
April 26, 2020
2014: Very well crafted suspense story exploring family dynamics after the tragic death of a young girl. Great read!
2020: I thought this story sounded familiar - obviously because I read it six years ago and forgot about it! This time I listened on audio, which is always a good choice for a slow burning, character-driven mystery, because it allows the time to take it all in. I really enjoy James' writing style, and her keen observations of human nature. The effects of a young girl's death on her immediate and extended family were so far reaching and touched my heart.
2020: I thought this story sounded familiar - obviously because I read it six years ago and forgot about it! This time I listened on audio, which is always a good choice for a slow burning, character-driven mystery, because it allows the time to take it all in. I really enjoy James' writing style, and her keen observations of human nature. The effects of a young girl's death on her immediate and extended family were so far reaching and touched my heart.
September 22, 2016
This one's not for me. I can see that James is a competent writer but the book is clearly aimed at women readers in their fifties who are reflecting on their lives, their marriages, their children, their careers. I'm well past that.
Cast as a family drama and a murder mystery, what I read of it seemed to be pushing the potential reader's buttons too obviously. This is a book where the writer knows what she wants to do and does it - but it lacks complexity and falls into cliché too often for me.
Not finished.
Cast as a family drama and a murder mystery, what I read of it seemed to be pushing the potential reader's buttons too obviously. This is a book where the writer knows what she wants to do and does it - but it lacks complexity and falls into cliché too often for me.
Not finished.
February 24, 2014
This latest release by award winning Australian author Wendy James is an insightful portrayal of love and loss, family and friendship and the indelible impact of murder.
In 1978 a teenage girl is found dead, devastating family ties and forever marking her cousins, the Griffins. Thirty years later, journalist Erin Fury arrives asking questions about the murder and its impact on the family. Each of the Griffins are drawn to the attractive and enigmatic Erin. As they open their past to her, a contrasting picture of Angie emerges. Was she the luminescent innocent they remember or someone more complex, and does that have any bearing on why she was singled out by a killer? And Erin has her own reasons for wanting to know what really happened during those lazy summer days in 1978.
Undoubtedly a crime story, The Lost Girls is not of the body-on-the-first-page genre. James explores the ripples of Angie’s murder and how these shape the lives of those who loved her. The disappearance, subsequent discovery and aftermath of her death are woven through the narrative in a way that builds tension which later gives way to rising dread as the events of that dreadful day in 1978 take shape. Angie’s presence, initially wraithlike in what little is revealed of her, materialises as Erin delves into the lives of the Griffin family and shakes the past lose. And as the true Angie emerges, so does the real Erin.
The use of interview transcripts, newspaper articles, multiple viewpoints and memories could have made this disjointed, but James stitches these together seamlessly, allowing a dimensional view of Angie and her life. We learn as much about the Griffins – their hopes, aspirations and regrets – as we do about Angie, and those who prefer a sirens-blazing ride to the resolution may not appreciate the depth this gives Angie’s story. Family relationships and the choices we make are as much a part of this tale as the why and who of Angie’s murder. It is how keenly we come to know this family that makes The Lost Girls such a delight.
NB: This review is based on an ARC provided by Penguin.
In 1978 a teenage girl is found dead, devastating family ties and forever marking her cousins, the Griffins. Thirty years later, journalist Erin Fury arrives asking questions about the murder and its impact on the family. Each of the Griffins are drawn to the attractive and enigmatic Erin. As they open their past to her, a contrasting picture of Angie emerges. Was she the luminescent innocent they remember or someone more complex, and does that have any bearing on why she was singled out by a killer? And Erin has her own reasons for wanting to know what really happened during those lazy summer days in 1978.
Undoubtedly a crime story, The Lost Girls is not of the body-on-the-first-page genre. James explores the ripples of Angie’s murder and how these shape the lives of those who loved her. The disappearance, subsequent discovery and aftermath of her death are woven through the narrative in a way that builds tension which later gives way to rising dread as the events of that dreadful day in 1978 take shape. Angie’s presence, initially wraithlike in what little is revealed of her, materialises as Erin delves into the lives of the Griffin family and shakes the past lose. And as the true Angie emerges, so does the real Erin.
The use of interview transcripts, newspaper articles, multiple viewpoints and memories could have made this disjointed, but James stitches these together seamlessly, allowing a dimensional view of Angie and her life. We learn as much about the Griffins – their hopes, aspirations and regrets – as we do about Angie, and those who prefer a sirens-blazing ride to the resolution may not appreciate the depth this gives Angie’s story. Family relationships and the choices we make are as much a part of this tale as the why and who of Angie’s murder. It is how keenly we come to know this family that makes The Lost Girls such a delight.
NB: This review is based on an ARC provided by Penguin.
February 25, 2014
My View:
What an incredible talent this author has that she can take you back thirty odd years, to a time of innocence, to a time of discovery, a time of burgeoning sexual awakening that is the adolescent in the ‘70s. With a stroke of a pen we are in that small country town, it is school holidays, we are watching TV; Sounds Unlimited, The Road Runner, Elvis re runs… going to the corner shop for mum and dad, happy to spend the change on lollies, listening to the radio, buying records of our favourite artists with Christmas money/pocket money, following our best friend and older cousin around, happy to be on the periphery of her golden aura.
But Angie is not content with hanging round with her younger cousin. She wants more; more admiration, more excitement, more experiences. Life suddenly changes when Angie goes missing. Her death haunts her family for the next thirty odd years. Innocence is buried with Angie at the cemetery. Life is never the same.
This is a complex narrative that straddles the two time frames with ease - the settings and the stories of the past, 1978, the year Angie died and the present 2010 when the family are forced to relive, remember and recount the days surrounding the disappearance and the discovery of Angie’s dead body a few days later. This is a story about memories, about families, about relationships, about how death and separation affects us and about the burden of secrets and lies that emotionally cripple a family until the truth is revealed. And a huge reveal it is.
James teases out the story using interviews, transcripts, multiple perspectives and recollections/memories – great devices to reveal the bigger picture. Wendy James creates characters that are warm, that are flawed, that are passionate, that are real; I can recognise people I know in her characters. James asks the question – how far would you go to protect the ones you love?
Brilliant settings, engaging characters, a murder and a thirty year old mystery and wonderful storytelling this book has it all.
What an incredible talent this author has that she can take you back thirty odd years, to a time of innocence, to a time of discovery, a time of burgeoning sexual awakening that is the adolescent in the ‘70s. With a stroke of a pen we are in that small country town, it is school holidays, we are watching TV; Sounds Unlimited, The Road Runner, Elvis re runs… going to the corner shop for mum and dad, happy to spend the change on lollies, listening to the radio, buying records of our favourite artists with Christmas money/pocket money, following our best friend and older cousin around, happy to be on the periphery of her golden aura.
But Angie is not content with hanging round with her younger cousin. She wants more; more admiration, more excitement, more experiences. Life suddenly changes when Angie goes missing. Her death haunts her family for the next thirty odd years. Innocence is buried with Angie at the cemetery. Life is never the same.
This is a complex narrative that straddles the two time frames with ease - the settings and the stories of the past, 1978, the year Angie died and the present 2010 when the family are forced to relive, remember and recount the days surrounding the disappearance and the discovery of Angie’s dead body a few days later. This is a story about memories, about families, about relationships, about how death and separation affects us and about the burden of secrets and lies that emotionally cripple a family until the truth is revealed. And a huge reveal it is.
James teases out the story using interviews, transcripts, multiple perspectives and recollections/memories – great devices to reveal the bigger picture. Wendy James creates characters that are warm, that are flawed, that are passionate, that are real; I can recognise people I know in her characters. James asks the question – how far would you go to protect the ones you love?
Brilliant settings, engaging characters, a murder and a thirty year old mystery and wonderful storytelling this book has it all.
February 3, 2015
If I could give 6 stars to The Lost Girls I would. I was completely taken in by this crime novel with its character driven plot and compelling story that kept me turning the pages. Wendy James focuses on what happens to the family members of murdered victims.
Two young girls are murdered at different times. One a knock-out; the other homeless and yet their deaths are related in a startling and unconventional manner. The novel is full of revealed secrets, twists, surprises and the intrigues between family generations - how they feel and are affected in different ways to the murder.
This is not your ordinary who dunnit. It is the why that is fascinating and how it is written that left me wanting to read more of James’ novels.
Two young girls are murdered at different times. One a knock-out; the other homeless and yet their deaths are related in a startling and unconventional manner. The novel is full of revealed secrets, twists, surprises and the intrigues between family generations - how they feel and are affected in different ways to the murder.
This is not your ordinary who dunnit. It is the why that is fascinating and how it is written that left me wanting to read more of James’ novels.
June 10, 2020
Very well done and intense story about two young women being strangled and all the family involved and the repercussions of the deaths. Not an easy read, but very well done. Having read Ms James books before, I knew what to expect, but engaging right up to the end.
May 1, 2014
Wendy James has once more taken a close up, and uncomfortable look at the reality of family secrets. Something that she's not only specialising in, she's particularly good at into the bargain.
We're programmed to think that the family unit is safe, staid, even boring (perhaps because the alternative is too confrontational). Certainly for most, it's not necessarily dangerous and most definitely not devious. But in James' hands, somehow the respectable, the normal, the supportive twists and turns into everything that's wrong, and frequently sinister.
Even knowing the tricks of this author's trade, THE LOST GIRLS is just as disconcerting as earlier books. Probably because the scenario here is so easy to identify with. A young family, summer holidays, in a Sydney beach-side suburb. The teenage son Mick, and his younger sister Jane, and Angie, the interloper - the slightly older female cousin. The girl that both siblings adored, and wanted to spend time with. The young girl on the verge of her teenage years, that years later, a sister and her brother remember slightly differently. Certainly differently to the memories of others in, and around the family.
All the more disconcerting as it's set in 1978, a timeframe that's not unfamiliar to many readers of these sorts of books. The sort of summer holidays that many of us will identify all too clearly with. Except that most haven't had to deal with the murder of our cousin. When Angie is found, strangled, her death, the suspicion, the blaming makes the life of this family implode. Even more so because Mick and Jane's dad is a cop himself. He knows only too well the reality of the search, the details of Angie's death. But the pressure is removed when a second death occurs, months later in King's Cross - in similar enough circumstances to make everyone think a serial killer is on the loose.
In 2010, Jane is happily married and their daughter is a live-wire. Her life seems pretty settled, even though she is closing down the shop that she took over from her grandfather. Her father, the cop, lives in a nursing home now with an odd form of dementia. Her brother Mick had also joined the police force, but was now suffering from PTSD, living with his mother again, divorced and drinking heavily.
On the one hand, a pretty normal family. Tension between children and aging, increasingly dependent parents. The obvious illness of Mick versus the seeming normality of Jane's life. A life that she's mostly content with, but unsettled at the same time. It might be the closing of the shop, but there's something that's making Jane question a lot.
Into this slightly off-kilter world walks a radio producer who is doing a documentary on the aftermath of murder on the families. As Jane, her mother Barbara and Mick eventually agree to talk to Erin Fury, it's more than just an opportunity to reflect on the aftermath, their conversations start to slowly reveal the circumstances of Angie's death.
The genie is, from then on, firmly out of the bottle and not going back until some hard, painful truths are aired. And Erin is not above a few secrets of her own.
It has to be admitted, there were points where a few elements of the plot seemed to be screaming aspects of the ultimate outcome. But THE LOST GIRLS isn't just about who or how, it's about why, and really, like Fury's own documentary purports to be, it's about the aftermath.
It's a pointed reminder that the aftermath of these events reverberate long after the press have moved on, the investigation has been boxed away, and a resolution achieved, or not, as is so often the case. The character portrayals in this book are really strong. The damage that radiates out from Angie's death is multi-generational and searing. There's guilt, regret, sadness, wonder and fear. There's love lost and childhood relationships that are so strong, and yet so fragile. There's the lies, and the half-truths, and the cruelty of some secrets. And there's heaps of doubt and personal recrimination into the bargain.
As hard as a book like THE LOST GIRLS is to read with such a chilling and claustrophobic feel, skewering that world that some of us feel safe within, it's a fabulous book. (Perhaps avoid the epilogue though - particularly if, like this reader, "happy ever after, despite the shovel loads of strife earlier on" makes you feel slightly bilious).
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
We're programmed to think that the family unit is safe, staid, even boring (perhaps because the alternative is too confrontational). Certainly for most, it's not necessarily dangerous and most definitely not devious. But in James' hands, somehow the respectable, the normal, the supportive twists and turns into everything that's wrong, and frequently sinister.
Even knowing the tricks of this author's trade, THE LOST GIRLS is just as disconcerting as earlier books. Probably because the scenario here is so easy to identify with. A young family, summer holidays, in a Sydney beach-side suburb. The teenage son Mick, and his younger sister Jane, and Angie, the interloper - the slightly older female cousin. The girl that both siblings adored, and wanted to spend time with. The young girl on the verge of her teenage years, that years later, a sister and her brother remember slightly differently. Certainly differently to the memories of others in, and around the family.
All the more disconcerting as it's set in 1978, a timeframe that's not unfamiliar to many readers of these sorts of books. The sort of summer holidays that many of us will identify all too clearly with. Except that most haven't had to deal with the murder of our cousin. When Angie is found, strangled, her death, the suspicion, the blaming makes the life of this family implode. Even more so because Mick and Jane's dad is a cop himself. He knows only too well the reality of the search, the details of Angie's death. But the pressure is removed when a second death occurs, months later in King's Cross - in similar enough circumstances to make everyone think a serial killer is on the loose.
In 2010, Jane is happily married and their daughter is a live-wire. Her life seems pretty settled, even though she is closing down the shop that she took over from her grandfather. Her father, the cop, lives in a nursing home now with an odd form of dementia. Her brother Mick had also joined the police force, but was now suffering from PTSD, living with his mother again, divorced and drinking heavily.
On the one hand, a pretty normal family. Tension between children and aging, increasingly dependent parents. The obvious illness of Mick versus the seeming normality of Jane's life. A life that she's mostly content with, but unsettled at the same time. It might be the closing of the shop, but there's something that's making Jane question a lot.
Into this slightly off-kilter world walks a radio producer who is doing a documentary on the aftermath of murder on the families. As Jane, her mother Barbara and Mick eventually agree to talk to Erin Fury, it's more than just an opportunity to reflect on the aftermath, their conversations start to slowly reveal the circumstances of Angie's death.
The genie is, from then on, firmly out of the bottle and not going back until some hard, painful truths are aired. And Erin is not above a few secrets of her own.
It has to be admitted, there were points where a few elements of the plot seemed to be screaming aspects of the ultimate outcome. But THE LOST GIRLS isn't just about who or how, it's about why, and really, like Fury's own documentary purports to be, it's about the aftermath.
It's a pointed reminder that the aftermath of these events reverberate long after the press have moved on, the investigation has been boxed away, and a resolution achieved, or not, as is so often the case. The character portrayals in this book are really strong. The damage that radiates out from Angie's death is multi-generational and searing. There's guilt, regret, sadness, wonder and fear. There's love lost and childhood relationships that are so strong, and yet so fragile. There's the lies, and the half-truths, and the cruelty of some secrets. And there's heaps of doubt and personal recrimination into the bargain.
As hard as a book like THE LOST GIRLS is to read with such a chilling and claustrophobic feel, skewering that world that some of us feel safe within, it's a fabulous book. (Perhaps avoid the epilogue though - particularly if, like this reader, "happy ever after, despite the shovel loads of strife earlier on" makes you feel slightly bilious).
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
February 8, 2018
The story was a bit slow and while I didn't get all the details of the ending it was a bit obvious where it was heading.
April 24, 2014
I don't normally read crime fiction but after hearing Wendy James speak at the Newcastle Writers Festival I couldn't resist! This is the sort of novel I really appreciate - several narratives strands from different characters and times. We really do find out how the death of Angie impacted on the family, which is of course Erin's cover to interview the Griffins.
By using the transcripts of each family member interviewed as a narrative thread and then switching to third person we discover that several of the characters did slightly twist the truth in their interviews with Erin. So much more is revealed when we see the story from several different angles and the transcripts definitely add another dimension.
We start with Jane and I did feel the closest to Jane. She is the only character that is partly shown in the first person. For me Jane is the one that the story revolves around. I felt that when the author switched to third person for Jane it wasn't confusing. These sections were set in 1978 and of course time adds distance, making the switch from first person to third very effective.
Gradually, through James's elegant and clean prose, more is revealed about Angie and more about the lives of each of the characters after her death - how it has defined each one in turn. As all the narrative threads begin to add up to the whole, the effect is very powerful and the truth behind Angie's death completely believable.
I will definitely be reading more of Wendy James! Highly recommended!
By using the transcripts of each family member interviewed as a narrative thread and then switching to third person we discover that several of the characters did slightly twist the truth in their interviews with Erin. So much more is revealed when we see the story from several different angles and the transcripts definitely add another dimension.
We start with Jane and I did feel the closest to Jane. She is the only character that is partly shown in the first person. For me Jane is the one that the story revolves around. I felt that when the author switched to third person for Jane it wasn't confusing. These sections were set in 1978 and of course time adds distance, making the switch from first person to third very effective.
Gradually, through James's elegant and clean prose, more is revealed about Angie and more about the lives of each of the characters after her death - how it has defined each one in turn. As all the narrative threads begin to add up to the whole, the effect is very powerful and the truth behind Angie's death completely believable.
I will definitely be reading more of Wendy James! Highly recommended!
February 20, 2016
**I received this book from Goodreads as giveaway. Thank you Goodreads!!**
4.5 stars. A great book. Written by a fabulous Aussie author and set in Sydney, Australia, this story follows the lives of a handful of people who are haunted by the tragic loss of a loved one - murdered by an unknown person who became dubbed as "The Sydney Strangler". The murders were never solved.
Told through multiple points of view, flashbacks, interview transcripts and newspaper articles, the reader slowly gains insight into what happened the fateful day that Angie went missing. After so many years of silence, many people are happy to speak out, but some can't speak of it at all.
A relatively slow, but riveting mystery that keeps the pages turning, and although the twist wasn't easy to guess, I did guess the person/s involved quite early on in the book.
I am interested to read more books by Wendy James.
4.5 stars. A great book. Written by a fabulous Aussie author and set in Sydney, Australia, this story follows the lives of a handful of people who are haunted by the tragic loss of a loved one - murdered by an unknown person who became dubbed as "The Sydney Strangler". The murders were never solved.
Told through multiple points of view, flashbacks, interview transcripts and newspaper articles, the reader slowly gains insight into what happened the fateful day that Angie went missing. After so many years of silence, many people are happy to speak out, but some can't speak of it at all.
A relatively slow, but riveting mystery that keeps the pages turning, and although the twist wasn't easy to guess, I did guess the person/s involved quite early on in the book.
I am interested to read more books by Wendy James.
January 25, 2015
This story reads like a true crime interview. Erin Fury is interviewing family members about the impact that a 40 year old unsolved murder of their cousin Angie has had on their lives. It's like an episode of cold case mixed with midsummer murders with an authentic 1970's Aussie coastal flavour. Delicious!
January 28, 2021
This started off really promising, with plenty of intrigue and weirdness. I enjoyed the different styles of storytelling, such as interview and flashbacks. Then it got all a bit too repetitive and dull.
Narration was done well, and loved the setting in Australia which made a nice change. It was just too long-winded for what turned out to be a mediocre reveal.
Narration was done well, and loved the setting in Australia which made a nice change. It was just too long-winded for what turned out to be a mediocre reveal.
October 23, 2019
Disappointing read. Started off well and with good potential, but became quite a chore to read as the character building was just too unbelievable and a very predictable ending.
March 10, 2014
In 1978, fourteen year old Angie is staying with her aunt and uncle in a quiet Sydney beachside suburb, spending her days lazing around with her two cousins, Mick and Jane. When Angie walks to the corner store one afternoon, she never returns, her body found strangled and discarded in nearby bushland.
Her murder changes the small town and puts everyone under suspicion. Her cousin, Mick, who obviously had a major crush on his beautiful cousin. Mick’s teenage mates, who are drawn to Angie like bees to a honey pot. But then a second body is found, another teen but this time a drug addicted prostitute in far away Kings Cross, miles from their small, previously safe suburban town.
The townspeople breathe a sigh of relief. It wasn’t one of their own but a serial killer – the Sydney Strangler. Life returns to normal, or as normal as it can following such a tragic death.
But thirty years later, old wounds are reopened when Erin Fury rocks into town, wanting to interview families of murder victims for a new documentary on survivors.
Is Erin’s cause as benign as it first appears or does she have a hidden agenda, another reason for digging into the past?
There were some fabulous things about this book, not least of which was the vivid recreation of my own childhood – minus the murdered cousin of course! Ms James nailed 1970s Australian suburbia as only one who lived through those years could have, painting it in colours so rich and vibrant, it was like staring back on a cherished photograph of yesteryear.
While my own lazy childhood summers took place in far away Warrnambool, there was definitely something vicarious about reading what could have just as easily been my own childhood, or my own cousin. The freedoms we enjoyed as children my children will never know, because those freedoms were made possible by the simple naivety of our parents that the world outside our front door could be brutal and cruel. The media has made us much more aware of those risks, and as a result, we have wrapped the next generation in cotton, insulating them as much as we possibly can from the cruelty of the outside world… But that’s a whole other topic.
As a parent, it was hard to read about Angie’s disappearance without at least some trace of fear, without wanting to rush into my teenage daughter’s bedroom and just double check she was still there, still safe, still alive…
Ms James masterfully switches between the present and the past, reliving those days immediately surrounding Angie’s disappearance from a number of very different perspectives, using memories, interview transcripts, and newspaper articles to relive the past, and snappy dialogue to show the past’s impact on their present.
Only twelve when Angie disappeared, Jane’s memories are clouded by slightly romanticised hero worship. She idolised her cousin, looked up to her, wanted to be her… While plain Jane spent her teen years under the shadow of her beautiful cousin, her adult life has perhaps been the most normal, and the least impacted by the fall out of her cousin’s death. But Erin’s arrival soon opens Jane’s eyes and impacts everything Jane knows.
At first, I thought the book was only going to be told from Jane’s point of view, and it was obvious pretty quickly that Jane didn’t know anything – that at twelve, she couldn’t know or remember anything important that would lead us to Angie’s killer. I began to worry that the book would lose my interest, but then Ms James introduced Mick, Jane’s older brother. At first, we just met Mick through Jane’s memories, and even then it was obvious he knew something. Then Ms James brought Mick into the narrative, having Erin Fury interview him for her documentary.
I loved reading Mick’s memories of Angie. They were so different to his little sisters, and showed a very different side to Angie than the one Jane had put up on a pedestal. Sure, Mick still saw Angie through the rose-coloured glasses of a boyhood crush, but Mick’s life has been the most impacted by her death. The spectre of Angie haunts his present as much as it did his past, and he’s unable to move beyond his memories of her. You just know that Mick knows something.
It was at this stage in the book that I started coming up with a number of theories as to what really happened to Angie. I was no longer convinced like the police and townspeople were, that Angie was just the innocent victim of the Sydney Strangler. I was pretty convinced someone who knew her killed her, and that the other death in Sydney was either a happy coincidence, or something more sinister.
I began to wonder if Mick had killed Angie in a jealous fit of rage because she did not return his affection.
Then we met Barbara (funny, I had an Aunty Barbara too – she was the one who lived in Warrnambool), who had to live with the guilt of ‘losing’ her brother’s child, of never being forgiven for Angie’s death. Her memories of Angie are not tainted by the romance of childhood. In fact, as Erin probes into the past, you get the distinct feeling Aunty Barb didn’t much like her niece and saw her for the trouble maker she was. Hmm, maybe Aunty Barb did not like the incestuous relationship between her son and Angie. Maybe she saw Angie as corrupting him. Maybe Aunty Barb had reason to feel guilty, to sink into an alcohol haze of oblivion in the months following Angie’s death…
But then in another twist, Jane’s husband Rob is interviewed – the Rob who Jane fell in love with simply because he didn’t see Angie as the perfect little ingenue the rest of the boys in town did. There’s just one problem; Rob wasn’t being exactly honest when he told Jane he never had feelings for Angie. Rob also never told Jane he was a suspect in her killing, that an earlier questionable sexual encounter made the police question whether perhaps Rob had raped and killed Angie…
By now, my earlier theories are dancing and tripping over each other as each new suspect is introduced.
And then there is Erin herself, who is more connected to the crime than she first lets on…
To tell any more would definitely ruin the delicious suspense Ms James builds in her storyline and spoil a book that I highly recommend you read. As for whether I managed to pick the killer… yes and no. Let’s just say I was right on one hand, that the Sydney Strangler definitely was closer to home than any of them thought but beyond that, you’ll just have to read The Lost Girls for yourself.
I rated this book 4.5 stars out of 5. If there was anything at all I didn't like about the book, it was feeling like the killer got off way too lightly. I would have liked something more to have been done there.
Her murder changes the small town and puts everyone under suspicion. Her cousin, Mick, who obviously had a major crush on his beautiful cousin. Mick’s teenage mates, who are drawn to Angie like bees to a honey pot. But then a second body is found, another teen but this time a drug addicted prostitute in far away Kings Cross, miles from their small, previously safe suburban town.
The townspeople breathe a sigh of relief. It wasn’t one of their own but a serial killer – the Sydney Strangler. Life returns to normal, or as normal as it can following such a tragic death.
But thirty years later, old wounds are reopened when Erin Fury rocks into town, wanting to interview families of murder victims for a new documentary on survivors.
Is Erin’s cause as benign as it first appears or does she have a hidden agenda, another reason for digging into the past?
There were some fabulous things about this book, not least of which was the vivid recreation of my own childhood – minus the murdered cousin of course! Ms James nailed 1970s Australian suburbia as only one who lived through those years could have, painting it in colours so rich and vibrant, it was like staring back on a cherished photograph of yesteryear.
While my own lazy childhood summers took place in far away Warrnambool, there was definitely something vicarious about reading what could have just as easily been my own childhood, or my own cousin. The freedoms we enjoyed as children my children will never know, because those freedoms were made possible by the simple naivety of our parents that the world outside our front door could be brutal and cruel. The media has made us much more aware of those risks, and as a result, we have wrapped the next generation in cotton, insulating them as much as we possibly can from the cruelty of the outside world… But that’s a whole other topic.
As a parent, it was hard to read about Angie’s disappearance without at least some trace of fear, without wanting to rush into my teenage daughter’s bedroom and just double check she was still there, still safe, still alive…
Ms James masterfully switches between the present and the past, reliving those days immediately surrounding Angie’s disappearance from a number of very different perspectives, using memories, interview transcripts, and newspaper articles to relive the past, and snappy dialogue to show the past’s impact on their present.
Only twelve when Angie disappeared, Jane’s memories are clouded by slightly romanticised hero worship. She idolised her cousin, looked up to her, wanted to be her… While plain Jane spent her teen years under the shadow of her beautiful cousin, her adult life has perhaps been the most normal, and the least impacted by the fall out of her cousin’s death. But Erin’s arrival soon opens Jane’s eyes and impacts everything Jane knows.
At first, I thought the book was only going to be told from Jane’s point of view, and it was obvious pretty quickly that Jane didn’t know anything – that at twelve, she couldn’t know or remember anything important that would lead us to Angie’s killer. I began to worry that the book would lose my interest, but then Ms James introduced Mick, Jane’s older brother. At first, we just met Mick through Jane’s memories, and even then it was obvious he knew something. Then Ms James brought Mick into the narrative, having Erin Fury interview him for her documentary.
I loved reading Mick’s memories of Angie. They were so different to his little sisters, and showed a very different side to Angie than the one Jane had put up on a pedestal. Sure, Mick still saw Angie through the rose-coloured glasses of a boyhood crush, but Mick’s life has been the most impacted by her death. The spectre of Angie haunts his present as much as it did his past, and he’s unable to move beyond his memories of her. You just know that Mick knows something.
It was at this stage in the book that I started coming up with a number of theories as to what really happened to Angie. I was no longer convinced like the police and townspeople were, that Angie was just the innocent victim of the Sydney Strangler. I was pretty convinced someone who knew her killed her, and that the other death in Sydney was either a happy coincidence, or something more sinister.
I began to wonder if Mick had killed Angie in a jealous fit of rage because she did not return his affection.
Then we met Barbara (funny, I had an Aunty Barbara too – she was the one who lived in Warrnambool), who had to live with the guilt of ‘losing’ her brother’s child, of never being forgiven for Angie’s death. Her memories of Angie are not tainted by the romance of childhood. In fact, as Erin probes into the past, you get the distinct feeling Aunty Barb didn’t much like her niece and saw her for the trouble maker she was. Hmm, maybe Aunty Barb did not like the incestuous relationship between her son and Angie. Maybe she saw Angie as corrupting him. Maybe Aunty Barb had reason to feel guilty, to sink into an alcohol haze of oblivion in the months following Angie’s death…
But then in another twist, Jane’s husband Rob is interviewed – the Rob who Jane fell in love with simply because he didn’t see Angie as the perfect little ingenue the rest of the boys in town did. There’s just one problem; Rob wasn’t being exactly honest when he told Jane he never had feelings for Angie. Rob also never told Jane he was a suspect in her killing, that an earlier questionable sexual encounter made the police question whether perhaps Rob had raped and killed Angie…
By now, my earlier theories are dancing and tripping over each other as each new suspect is introduced.
And then there is Erin herself, who is more connected to the crime than she first lets on…
To tell any more would definitely ruin the delicious suspense Ms James builds in her storyline and spoil a book that I highly recommend you read. As for whether I managed to pick the killer… yes and no. Let’s just say I was right on one hand, that the Sydney Strangler definitely was closer to home than any of them thought but beyond that, you’ll just have to read The Lost Girls for yourself.
I rated this book 4.5 stars out of 5. If there was anything at all I didn't like about the book, it was feeling like the killer got off way too lightly. I would have liked something more to have been done there.
February 6, 2018
4.5 stars. I really enjoyed the gradual way this unfolded and the well drawn details of suburban life in 1978 Australia, blended with the modern day consequences of those earlier events (the mention of Jatz crackers and pickled onions brought back vivid memories. Oh how I love reading Australian books!) There were a few surprise reveals to keep the mystery elements interesting. I loved how all characters saw the exact same events from entirely different POV. The mixture of mundane and murderous was masterful. Will be checking out this author's other work
January 15, 2022
3.5 stars
Too predictable, the characters not real, the audio version made it difficult sometimes to know who was narrating.
I guessed fairly early what happened, so there wasn't a lot of suspense. The characterisation for me was repetitive and I didn't really care about the characters. I actually was a bit annoyed about Erin, going out of her way so many years to solve the crime and then just fall into an ordinary 'happy end' in a way... I think the most interesting character would have been the dad or his relationship with his family but he was catatonic and barely mentioned.
Too predictable, the characters not real, the audio version made it difficult sometimes to know who was narrating.
I guessed fairly early what happened, so there wasn't a lot of suspense. The characterisation for me was repetitive and I didn't really care about the characters. I actually was a bit annoyed about Erin, going out of her way so many years to solve the crime and then just fall into an ordinary 'happy end' in a way... I think the most interesting character would have been the dad or his relationship with his family but he was catatonic and barely mentioned.
February 15, 2018
I wonder if guilt & regret really work as simply as they’re portrayed in this book. Not sure if you should have a happy ending after crimes that ensure others cannot have the same. Can’t say I loved this book.
December 24, 2018
Family, trust, lust, betrayal, lies.....it's all there, beginning in the late 70's in small-town Australia, and still affecting a family in the present day. It kept my interest all the way, as there is also a mystery to be solved.
February 13, 2021
(Via borrow box audio)
3.5 stars. For a while I wasn't sure where this story was going to take me. Thankfully it avoided the potential clichés and over dramatised routes it could have taken. What I did get was an interesting and human exploration of grief, loss and unsolved mystery...
3.5 stars. For a while I wasn't sure where this story was going to take me. Thankfully it avoided the potential clichés and over dramatised routes it could have taken. What I did get was an interesting and human exploration of grief, loss and unsolved mystery...
April 15, 2019
Interesting plot. I could tell early on who it was it was just a matter of how.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2020
This audiobook was incredibly gripping and had me wandering around the house with my headphones in long after I’d finished my commute home from work.
April 6, 2020
3.5 stars
July 6, 2020
Review to come.
July 14, 2020
Picked it up purely because the story is set in the local area that I grew up.
Read
March 31, 2021Loved it.
November 27, 2022
It started quite well, and was an interesting idea. The problem was, as in so many books, that it was far too long drawn out. What should have been suspense seemed to me to be simply tedious filling.
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