The Dead Girls Club

by Damien Angelica Walters

A supernatural thriller in the vein of A Head Full of Ghosts about two young girls, a scary story that becomes far too real, and the tragic--and terrifying--consequences that follow one of them into adulthood.

Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face...

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real--and she could prove it.

That belief got Becca killed.

It's been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night--that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She's done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn't seen since the night Becca died.

The night Heather killed her.

Now, someone else knows what she did...and they're determined to make Heather pay.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Adult Fiction

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 10, 2019

About the author

Damien Angelica Walters is the author of The Dead Girls Club, Cry Your Way Home, Paper Tigers, and Sing Me Your Scars, winner of the 2015 This is Horror Award for Short Story Collection of the Year. Her short fiction has been nominated twice for a Bram Stoker Award, reprinted in The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror and The Year's Best Weird Fiction, and published in various anthologies and magazines, including the Shirley Jackson Award Finalists Autumn Cthulhu and The Madness of Dr. Caligari, World Fantasy Award Finalist Cassilda’s Song, Nightmare Magazine, Black Static, and Apex Magazine. Until the magazine’s closing in 2013, she was an Associate Editor of the Hugo Award-winning Electric Velocipede, and she lives in Maryland with her husband and two rescued pit bulls.

Reviews

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up 3 mysterious, witch-y, reddish, mouth full of dirt-ish, supernatural, bloody but still not quite satisfying stars!

As soon as I read the blurb, I thought `Oh yes this is it! Rituals for conjuring a witch, little girls’ secret murder club, a story moving back and forth between four girls who are a little obsessed about spooky things from serial killers, murderers , horror stories and Heather’s grown up version who became a psychiatrist helps the troubled children. But at the beginning of the book , we may realize Heather needs more help for her well-being because she has killed her childhood friend Becca, got away with murder. But now her secret is about to reveal because somebody KNOWS what she did!!!

What I liked about this book is the little girls’ relationship dynamic. Rebecca is a quite demanding leader with her amazing imagination about telling horror stories ( If she didn’t die- or did she? We don’t know till the end of the book- she might compete with Stephen King and Joe Hill with her quite riveting storytelling). Her story is so heart wrenching, her obsession about Red Lady, her relationship with her abusive mother, her confusing mind who did not know how to differentiate the real or delusion.

I wish this story wasn’t about only Heather. Because her future-self really irritated me. She is mostly acting like paranoid, hysterical with her weird giggles, making herself bleed, hitting her punches on steering wheel, suspicious moods about her husband and best friend. It’s hard to empathize her ! At some parts, I thought maybe she deserved what was happening to her.

Maybe three little girls might have involved in Becca’s story and later, when somebody found out and threaten them about what they have done could be a better storyline. Because it’s obvious, the author is inspired of Stephen King’s story. And most of his early King stories, children suffer from traumatic experiences with supernatural things and then we see their future selves how could they fight against their childhood nightmares ( Like “It”, “Body”)
I love the pace of the story. I wanted to know who was chasing Heather! Is Becca still alive or is somebody acting like her? Is Red Woman real? So I kept turning pages to fill my void about learning the truth.

Well, did ending and all the revelations satisfy me? Not, too much! There are still so many unanswered questions and I think author decided to leave like this! Let us question what if the urban legends are true, what if our worst nightmares are real !
Writing is good, pacing and mystery is gripping, I couldn’t put it down! But the characters , their actions, way of talking , their development are the weakest parts they made me the cut the points and also I was expecting different ending maybe more surprise and twist. That’s what I felt!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for advance access to this book in exchange for my honest review!

blog
instagram
facebook
twitter

[megs_bookrack · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Heather Cole receives a necklace in the mail from an unknown sender, she can't believe her eyes.

It's one half of a 'Best Friends' pendant and Heather knows it well because it was on the neck of her best friend, Becca, the night she died. In fact, it went with her into her grave.



Heather rightly panics. She thought she was the only person who knew what happened to Becca on that night nearly 30-years ago, but the necklace seems to indicate otherwise.

She has to figure out who mailed this disturbing piece of her past to her and stop them before they possibly reveal the truth of Becca's untimely death.



By alternating between Then and Now perspectives, the reader slowly learns Becca's fate.

Following the girls' 12-year old perspectives, as they hang out discussing all things macabre, was the only most interesting part of this story for me.



Becca was obsessed with the story of a woman she called, The Red Lady. Think Bloody Mary.

She could not stop telling stories about her. So much so, that it begin to affect all of the girls within the friend group.



According to Becca's tales, The Red Lady was purportedly killed for being a witch and now seeks her revenge against a world that has wronged her.

Becca's storytelling is so vivid, the girls begin to believe it. Soon it is hard for them to decipher what is real and what is made up.



The Now perspective follows grown-up Heather, a child psychologist, as she tries to piece together who knows the truth about her, Becca and their final night together.

This part of the story was not enjoyable for me. Personally, I found adult Heather annoying AF and I could not understand the decisions she was making.



Her thought process and decisions were more like she was still 12-years old, as opposed to a functioning adult.



Because of my disconnect from the Now portions, the overall story felt uneven. I would rush through Now in order to get back to Then.

Due to this, it took me longer to get through this than similar books within the genre. The premise was interesting, but the execution fell short for me.



Also, I was disappointed with one of the big reveals and felt that some of the narrative didn't fully back it up. I know this sounds cryptic, but I don't want to risk giving anything away.

This being said, I think the writing shows a lot of promise. I would pick up more work from this author.



Thank you so much to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review.

I always appreciate the opportunity to provide my opinion and I know a lot of readers will really enjoy this one!

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there any crueler lie we tell kids? Regardless of what happens, of how deep the scars might run, we say they’ll be okay and they believe it. They trust us. But what else are we supposed to say? Hey, kid, childhood is a bitch and she leaves marks?

I may have done a monstrous thing, but I’m not a monster, I’m not. I believed that once. I wish I could believe it now.

Dr. Heather Cole has a pretty nice life, a thriving practice, offering psychological therapy to kids under 18, a beautiful river-front home, and a studly carpenter of a husband who runs his own business. But one day she receives an envelope with one half of a matched pair of necklaces, the half that had belonged to her friend Becca, her bff back when they were twelve, the bff whose disappearance had never been solved, the bff she had killed. Uh oh.

Damien Angelica Walters - image from her site – credit Justin Ashlye

Rebecca Lillian Thomas, Becca, had nearly-white hair and blue eyes. Nicknamed Ghost Girl by her peers, she had a home life that was less than stellar, featuring a mom who had issues with alcohol and self-control. Becca had the bruises to show for it. She had an invisible friend and a particular fixation on someone, or something, called The Red Lady. She was into true crime stories, serial killer stuff. Her bff was Heather, a fan of horror and science fiction. Becca’s mother worked in real estate, which allowed Becca surreptitious access to an empty for-sale house nearby. This is where Becca chilled her friends, Heather and two more of the Dead Girls Club, with tales of THE RED LADY, a local legend involving someone who was done dirt by torch-and-pitchfork sorts and vowed vengeance. Becca seemed pretty convinced that she was real, and that she spoke to her. Soooo, was Becca in need of anti-psychotic meds or was there any reality to her tales? And how gullible were her pals? Girls of that tender age are in a nether world between believing in fairy tales and knowing how to tell the difference between the real and the imaginary. Maybe they have a foot in both realms. Lean a bit this way, or turn back the other and you are in or out, with considerable consequences. What if they saw, heard, and felt things that suggested something supernatural? Can those things be explained materially? We know early on that this involvement ends badly. How did that come to be? Who was responsible?

The Dead Girls Club flips back and forth between today and the time of the killing, about 25-30 years give or take. Becca’s mother, Lauren, was convicted of killing her, although that seems a bit suspect, given that Becca’s body was never found. Nevertheless, Lauren has recently been released from prison, and seems the likeliest source of the items that keep turning up to remind Heather of her dark secret. Heather turns PI, and does all she can to track down Lauren and to see if any of the surviving DGC members might be up to no good. Her memories keep seeping into her consciousness as she goes about her gumshoe labors.

Her travails include her dealings with her husband, Ryan. He has a client who seems never to pay his bills, and Heather keeps interrupting phone calls he is on that cause him to hang up a bit too quickly. What’s up with that? They have a cute couples’ game that they play with each other, offering a cryptic one line summary of a movie, for the other to figure out. That offers a chance to toss in some nice filmic references. I wish there had been more of that.

There are some nice elements in the book that merit mention. Memory is given consideration.

…when you recall the event, you aren’t remembering the event itself, only the last recollection. A memory of a memory. And if the mind wants something to be real, it can rearrange facts and circumstances to suit. Sometimes we make up stories to explain things to ourselves; sometimes we do it to hide the truth.

This is actually pretty much the case. I have memories of concrete events in my past that I know to be completely false. Makes me wonder if memories have telomeres, like cells do. In cells, every regeneration takes off another telomere, until there are no more, at which point, the cell is no longer able to regenerate itself, definitely not a good thing, buh-bye cell, at least well-functioning cell. It may be that memories have a fixed number of repeats before they degrade, as well. This introduces the question of how truly Heather is recalling her experience as a twelve-year-old. There is also a question raised of how far would you go to hang on to a treasured friendship. These invest the novel with some real-world moral, and scientific concerns. Heather is also confronted with the cost of living a lie, which adds to the real-world perspective.

In reading a damaged woman-in-distress tale of this sort, it is important to feel a connection, to feel sympathy, maybe empathy. There is enough in here to like about Heather, particularly her choice of profession. But I did not feel for her the sort of interest that would raise the novel above the pack. Becca is presented only in the past tense, in a book divided between then and now, so she gets a lot fewer pages, but she is by far the most interesting character in the book, a very powerful presence. The portrayal of the relationship between Becca and Heather was a particularly strong element. The secondary characters remain just that. Heather’s husband, Ryan, seemed a plot device and was not much developed as a character. Nor were the other DGC members, or sundry supporting players. Of course, in a horror book, the main thing is whether it provides chills. For me, there were definitely some. While there is no question that there is creepiness aplenty here, both in the events of 1991 and in what Heather goes through as an adult, these didn’t cost me any shuteye. But take that with a shaker of sale. Few books do.

There is ambiguity throughout as to whether there was actual paranormal activity going on back in 1991. How much of what happened can be explained? Are there occurrences that cannot?

One thing about this book is that it is entirely about the females. Heather’s husband, Ryan, is a secondary character, uninvolved in, maybe even hostile to, her challenges as an adult. There are no males of note in the story of 1991, other than as back-story baddies. No white knights riding to the rescue to fret about. Heather is tough enough to take on her personal horrors on her own.

While I would not put this in the top tier of horror writing, I did enjoy reading The Dead Girls Club, looked forward to finding out what was going on and just what the hell had actually happened when Heather and Becca were kids. While it may not keep you up at night, this book certainly offers several hours of escapist entertainment, and if it creeps you out more than it did me, then so much the better.

“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.

Review posted – November 8, 2019

Publication date – December 10, 2019

I received an ARE from Crooked Lane. And I didn’t have to kill anyone to get it. (Well, I suppose if I had, I would probably not exactly fess up about it here, so, maybe I did and maybe I didn’t.) Thanks, folks.

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the Walters’ personal, Twitter, Instagram and FB pages

She is the author of the 2018 novel Cry Your Way Home, and two short story collections, Sing Me Your Scars (2015) and Paper Tigers (2016). Her work has been included in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror and The Year’s Best Weird Fiction, and many anthologies and magazines.

Interviews
-----Night Worms - The Dead Girls Club: On Inspiration and What's Hiding in the Dark with Author Damien Angelica Walters - by Ashley Sawyers
-----Ginger Nuts of Horror - DAMIEN ANGELICA WALTERS INVITES YOU TO THE DEAD GIRLS CLUB

Item of Interest
-----ABC News - Investigators in 'Slender Man' case discuss chilling interviews with 12-year-old attempted murderers - by Allie Yang and Sean Dooley

[Felicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is basically Goosebumps for grownups.

First and foremost, the description for this book gives away entirely too much of the plot. The only thing not covered in the summary is the ending.

Alright *clears throat* here it goes...
This was an exhausting read for me and I attribute this to the writing style.

The story is told in the popular Then/Now alternating chapter format, of which I'm a HUGE fan. The worst way this can go wrong is if one of those narratives is unbearable and in this case, it's the Now chapters, told via the adult version of the main character, Heather.

The MC is OVER-THE-TOP-UNBELIEVABLE in her actions and reactions. I couldn't skim through these chapters fast enough.

As for the Then chapters narrated by tween Heather, there is entirely TOO MUCH DIALOGUE. If I wanted to endure tween girls bickering incessantly I'd go hang out in a middle school cafeteria.

There's little to no character development of the four girls featured in this story. We're just kinda dropped into their lives and expected to connect with them.

The gratuitous pop culture references are annoying. It's the 90's, we get it.

The plotline led me to believe this would be a dark, creepy and foreboding read. Unfortunately that promise didn't pan out.



** I was provided an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. **

[MarilynW · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is told from the viewpoint of Heather, a child psychologist, who is the last person I would ever want to be treating my child or any child. Heather has a secret that she has repressed for thirty years and when she receives half of a friendship necklace in the mail, she knows her past has caught up to her. When she was twelve, she performed a ritual with her best friend, Becca, which left Becca dead and Heather not remembering how she got rid of the body.

Becca's mom went to prison for the murder and until now, Heather thought no one knew her role in Becca's death. With the appearance of Becca's half of the necklace she knows someone is telling her they know what she did. Heather's fragile world and psyche come crashing down as Heather tries to figure out who is targeting her and her past.

This isn't really a horror story unless you are an impressionable twelve year old with an very active imagination. In the THEN portions of the book, Becca, Heather, and two other girls like to tell each other very scary stories and Becca claims the stories she tells about the Red Lady are true. The other two girls believe Becca's claims but Heather is sure that Becca is making up the stories about the Red Lady. Eventually Becca goads Heather into proving that she believes the Red Lady is real, with disastrous consequences.

The NOW portions of the book consist of a hysterically paranoid Heather neglecting her patients. She doesn't even take notes during sessions because she totally zones out the children she is treating, IF she even shows up for appointments. Heather also proceeds to destroy friendships and her marriage as she won't tell anyone why she is going totally off the rails. Everybody is a potential enemy to her and it feels to me that Heather must have been stuck at her twelve year old emotional level even now as a forty year old woman.

The author does a great job of portraying a desperate woman who is out of her mind frantic but Heather is such an unlikeable character that it's hard to have any sympathy for her plight. Instead I was feeling sorry for all the people in her current life. I did want to get to the end of the book to find out who did what and when and why but if I'd had my way, Heather would be on some really strong chill pills while I read the story.

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

[Mary Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face...

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real--and she could prove it.

That belief got Becca killed.

It's been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night--that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She's done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn't seen since the night Becca died.

The night Heather killed her.

Now, someone else knows what she did...and they're determined to make Heather pay.

I love witchy creepy supernatural books and I also love thrillers, so I thought I would love this one. I did enjoy the first half of the book. The book goes back and forth in a Bow and Then format. I did enjoy the Then parts. I loved reading about The Red Lady. I loved the supernatural vibe. She was so creepy. I struggled through the Now parts.

I really struggled through the second half of the book. It just seemed like it dragged on. It lost its supernatural element and then turned into a thriller and it lost the thrill for me.

All the characters are unlikable and aren't fully well developed. I thought they lacked emotion. Heather got on my nerves. The only character that I thought was well developed was The Red Lady. I had a creepy vision of her. She surely had the creep factor going on. Eek! She was the best part of the book.
I didn't enjoy the ending when it came to the reveal part. I felt like it could be a lot better.

So I did enjoy some parts of the book and other parts not so much.
This book did bring some childhood memories of what we did during slumber parties. I remember doing Light as a feather stiff as a board and Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary. Have any of you remember doing this during slumber parties? Some scary stuff when you are a child.

If you love witchy supernatural books then you may enjoy this one.

This was a Traveling Sister Read and I loved the discussion.

I want to thank Crooked Lane Books for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Debra - can't post any comments on site today grrr · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Someone, please tell me how this is a supernatural thriller? So four 12-year-old girls form a Dead Girl's club and one tells a scary story about the "Red Lady" who is a witch in her story. Umm, that's a story. Did I miss anything supernatural happening besides story-telling?

That's my first beef with this book. My second beef is that I had a hard time connecting with or feeling for any of the characters in this book except for Ryan, the husband of Heather, a child psychologist. I mainly felt sorry for him. Heather has received a necklace in the mail. It is the other half of a necklace she had when she was twelve years old. The other half belonged to her best friend, Becca (Rebecca) who was murdered.

This book is told in Then and Now chapters and I have to say I only enjoyed the Then chapters. I enjoyed the Red Lady story and how Becca spooked her friends when she told the story to them. That was the best part of the book for me. I found that storytelling to be brilliant and engaging.

Otherwise, in the Now sections, Heather was mainly falling apart and becoming more paranoid. IS Becca still alive? Who mailed her the locket/necklace? Why is someone doing this to her? Plus, why isn't she telling her husband anything? Because she has a secret, a terrible dark secret...but still....As Heather begins to grow more desperate, those in her life begin to take notice, but can anyone save her from her past?

This one wasn't for me. But check out the other review. There are others who are really enjoying this book. I can't fault the writing, this just wasn't the book for me. Although this book did not work for me, I would be willing to read more of this Author's books in the future.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters will be published on December 10th, 2019 by Crooked Lane Books. It is a psychological thriller with a hint of fantasy thrown in to keep you on the edge of your seat. The story alternates from 1991 to present day, focusing on the friendship between two teenage girls, Heather and Becca. The tale reveals bit by bit, challenging readers to decide for themselves what information is missing and what could be happening. It's not possible that the Red Lady has come back to life after centuries to get revenge, is it?

Heather and Becca form a storytelling club, as the title suggests. They meet at an unoccupied house currently on the market with two other friends. All four girls love being scared, but one story seems all too real. Becca shares the history of the Red Lady, a woman scorned and out for vengeance. Dirt in victims mouth. Buried alive. Multiple random deaths. Did it really happen? In a teenager's mind, anything is possible... but this time, Becca has convinced them the woman is still alive today. The dilemma is set quite early on, yet the pertinent details seep out through the subsequent chapters. We don't know everything, and when we begin to see Heather break down in the current time period, we know something bad happened years ago.

The characters are smart and witty. I liked the relationships in the book, even when they were strained or awkward. Heather's mother wants her to forget the past. Heather's husband has no clue what's going on in his wife's life, but he is generally a doting and loving partner. She's just good at hiding things from him because she thinks what's happening around her isn't really happening. Yet... she's a child psychologist and should know better. The dynamics between the past and the present are well-presented, allowing us to continue to guess. Someone knows something, but we can't figure out who in Heather's life is keeping secrets too. Then again, we wonder if she's making it all up, or is it another case of an unreliable narrator who is the guilty party herself? I bounced around trying to guess, and even in the end, there's enough room for readers to summon their own interpretation.

On the whole, I really enjoyed the story. I found the plot captivating, and there were a bunch of red herrings and suspenseful moments where I kinda wanted to meet this Red Lady. If you haven't done anything wrong, she's not supposed to hurt you. I'd be okay to look her in the eyes without dying, right? Nonetheless, as an introduction to Walters work, this was great. It's well-written, concise but strongly descriptive, and full of lovely imagery. Minor concerns over plot points had me squinting from time to time, but only the kinds of things that you look the other way on, as it helps make the story more creepy. Heather was too relaxed at times; I would've called the cops or talked to someone else, rather than just try to solve the mystery myself. That's why people are different though... we do things our own way, so I'm sure someone else might follow Heather's path too.

I recommend this one. It's got bunches of creepy moments, a few laughs, and tons of head-shaking 'yikes, what's wrong with people' scenes. Around 4.5 stars for making me a little anxious and obsessive about solving the mystery of a serial killer.

[Kaceey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me just put this out there… I’m an unabashed, card carrying, scardy cat! Truly! That’s right, I admit it🙋🏻♀️ It takes very little to get my heart pounding and me heaving my kindle across the room to get it as far away from me as possible.

And after reading the first 50 pages… that’s exactly what I did. But... being a real trooper, I absolutely hate to DNF. So after dialing up an extra dose of courage, the lights on bright... and my puppy by my side I forged on.

Heather, a child psychologist receives an envelope containing a necklace. One that belonged to her friend Becca from her childhood. A friend she knows died. The logical question is, who would send her this token? And why?

Told in two timelines exclusively from Heather’s standpoint. The past - keeping me shivering from fright over Beccas’ telling of an old witch’s tale of The Red Lady!
I realize I may be the only reader that truly felt FEAR while reading this book. But as I mentioned earlier…I don’t do very well with anything remotely scary.

A lights on bright... buddy read with Susanne!👀

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for an ARC to read and review.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The below review originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

In the infancy of the internet, getting an email was a novel experience. These days, when emails seem to flood in by the second, the reverse is true. Receiving a piece of correspondence signed, sealed, and delivered by the postal system feels like the most thrilling part of the day. That is unless that coveted piece of snail mail contains only a trinket that once belonged to friend who was killed nearly three decades prior.

Though she may wish to return the creepy parcel to sender, Heather Cole, child psychologist and leading lady of “The Dead Girls Club,” the new thriller from Damien Angelica Walters, instead falls down a proverbial rabbit hole of haunting memories. The only thing keeping her mentally present is the current threat she knows she now faces. That’s because Heather knows for certain that the necklace — one half of a best friends heart — couldn’t have been sent by its original owner. How does she know this? Because Heather killed the girl herself, upon request. Whoever sent this necklace not only knows what she’s done, but must have been there the night that she did it.

Flashback scenes take us back to Baltimore in 1991 when Heather and her group of friends meet in a vacant house late at night to sate their spooky preteen fascinations with tales of murders and monsters. In these sessions, the necklace owner, Becca, begins to get increasingly pushy about her ghost of choice, insisting to the other girls that her beloved Red Lady is no story, but a presence in the room with them. Shackled to a rough home situation, Becca seems to need this spirit to be real as she craves help the living don’t seem willing to provide.

Heather, in the present day sections, makes no secret that her history with Becca, from the sisterly closeness in the beginning, through the teenage spats in between, to the eventual guilt over Becca’s tragic end by her own hands, drove her as an adult to a career within child psychology; in many ways, her choice of work seems to be scratching a deeply rooted psychological itch to save other children where she couldn’t save Becca, even from herself. Her constantly present, aching remorse has the power to force the reader to question their own allegiance: Are we really empathizing with the character we’ve known has been the killer since the first chapter?

Such an internally conflicted reading experience nicely suits the book’s tone. Though the meat of the book is the search for the identity of this long-dormant witness, the true reckoning is within Heather’s mind. Lulled into a 20-plus year sense that the threat has passed, in an instant she is transported back to the worst day of her life. The looming threat of being exposed as a killer shakes her foundation.

“The Dead Girls Club” is especially eerie thanks to the exposure of the threatening within the doldrums of suburban normalcy. Heather’s hunt for this mysterious witness turns sinister. Heather’s breakdown gives the reader the scary sense that a descent into desperation may not be as self-evident as one would like to think.

Stepping into Heather’s shoes for the duration of this book is to associate with an admitted killer, but she’s not the dead-eyed type of sociopath one may expect or crave. In Heather’s narrative, readers will recognize enough of their own challenges within marriages and careers yet will feel their own desperation to uncover the real story behind her teenage crime. In “The Dead Girls Club,” Walters has written a modern tale destined to pull thriller lovers through cold winter nights. Although, it must be said, those same readers will likely never look at their mailboxes the same way again.

[Brenda ~The Sisters~Book Witch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paranormal fiction, Supernatural thriller, suspense thriller, women fiction all in one. That all went to hell in a handbasket for me.

That's pretty ambition in my option for an author to take on and not something I think is easy to pull off and unfortunately, I didn't think it was here with this one. Separately I thought the elements were there for each genre but didn't really come together so well. The suspense to the story took the hit for that for me. I just wasn't feeling it. There is some teenage drama and the main character can be annoying with their drama.

The story starts off with some really great supernatural elements to the story and I was loving the red lady. She became an interesting character at first however near the end, I thought things switched to more of a thriller. I enjoyed the twists and even picked up on a few clues. I liked the final reveal but in a whole, it didn't come together for me.

Even though My Grammarly is giving me a disapproving emoji on my tone for this review I don't want to sway anyone not to read a book because that's just not cool. So even though this one didn't work for me, I still suggest giving it a try if you are looking for more of a thriller with some creepy elements and don't mind some drama to your story.

I received a copy from the publisher.

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I did not hate this.

Back in the early 90's a group of girls formed a club. They loved the stories about serial killers and anything gross. Then one named Becca comes up with the story of the Red Lady.

The girls start playing around with the story and the Red Lady starts seeming way too real.


Fast forward to the present time and one of the girls has grown up to be a successful therapist that is living the dream. But then that nasty past has a way of coming back.


I didn't like present day Heather so much but I loved the flashbacks of the girls club meetings. Some of it made my eyes roll but it was a pretty decent way to spend the rainy afternoon.
I just do not want the Red Lady popping in to see me.


Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

[Gabby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could’ve been so good! This book has a really interesting premise which drew me in. We follow a group of young girls in the 90’s who tell the story of this creepy “Red Lady” and then in alternating chapters we follow Heather, one of the girls from the 90’s who is now an adult as her past is seemingly coming back to haunt her.

This main character drove me nuts. The present day chapters were incredibly boring in my opinion and I was skimming through them to get to the chapters when they were younger. The best part of this book for me personally is easily the Red Lady stories. I was reading this book alone in my room really late at night and a couple of the Red Lady stories really spooked me. I don’t get scared easily, but some of the visuals from those stories I thought were pretty disturbing (in a good way, that is what I wanted from this book).

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s predictable and underwhelming. I found myself skimming the ending just to see how it ended, and it wasn’t worth it. I really would’ve liked more about the Red Lady, that was the only aspect of this book that interested me.

[Suzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars! ⭐️⭐️

And the boring thrillers continue folks!

Damn this was a struggle to get through. The 4 and 5 star reviews are just mind-boggling!

First off, I love this stunning book cover. Between that and the blurb, I just knew I was in for a treat. Boy, I was waaaaay off!

Second, the blurb: A supernatural (really??) thriller about a group of teenage girls who form The Dead Girls Club. They are obsessed with talking about serial killers and telling stories about the Red Lady - a vengeful witch killed centuries ago. Sounds pretty good, huh? Nope. There are no supernatural vibes happening at all in this book. The characters are super unlikeable and Heather - the main character - could not be more annoying.

Finally, as much as I love the “here” and “then” format, this just didn’t work for me. The “now” chapters, which focused on Heather, got so tedious that I simply lost interest in caring what happened to her, her friends, her marriage and the end of the book. The “then” chapters grated on my last nerve. Besides the serial killer talk and the Red Lady talk (which I loved), this overly written teenage bickering and banter was just too much. Hello junior high!

I had the pleasure of reading and chatting about this book with some of my Traveling Sisters. I think it’s safe to say we all pretty much felt the same about it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Damien Angelica Walters for my advanced copy to read and review.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

Four Friends. Obsessed with ghost stories and serial killers. Their favorite story to tell was that of “The Red Lady.” She might just give you the chills, but then again, she might make you feel like you’re eating dirt. If you talk about her, chances are, you won’t survive to talk about her again.

Just ask Becca.

Now, Heather is a Child Psychologist who treats children who have undergone severe trauma, something she knows a lot about. Her life with her husband Ryan seems quite fulfilled until she receives half of a familiar old necklace in the mail. The half belonging to Becca, her former best friend. What happened to Becca was a secret. Heather’s secret and yet someone knows and someone is out to either scare her or threaten her. Whichever it is.. Heather is definitely scared and she better be.

“The Dead Girls Club” is one weird, wild, macabre tale. I survived to read it. Will you? Only time will tell!

This was a scary buddy read with Kaceey! She survived too (barely!).

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Damien Angelica Walters for the arc.

Published on Goodreads on 10.27.19.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/

[Ivana - Diary of Difference · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters left me unprepared for what I was about to read.

A perfect blend of mystery, spookiness, friendship and psychological trauma. This book will keep you away from social events until you are finished. And a few days after…

Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face…

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real – and she could prove it.

That belief got Becca killed.

It’s been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night–that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She’s done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn’t seen since the night Becca died.

The night Heather killed her.

Now, someone else knows what she did…and they’re determined to make Heather pay.

From the beginning of the book, you can feel the intensity, the guilt and the mystery behind it, which was something I very much enjoy in my books. We get to see the life of Heather 30 years after the death of Becca, and we know from the very first chapter that Heather killed her.

But they were best friends. And Heather loves Becca, even now, with every atom of her body. They were those BFFs that were always together, and knew each other’s secrets. They both loved mystery and talking about serial killers. And then things somehow start to go wrong. They are slipping from the friendship slide, and they can’t do anything to stop it…

The heart, the other half of which once hung around my neck, even after, is a cheap thing of nickel, stainless steel, or some inexpensive alloy. Originally affixed to a cardboard square and purchased by two girls who saved their allowance. Best Friends Forever. We meant it, she and I. We meant it with every bone in our bodies and every true and good thing in our souls. We didn’t know forever didn’t always last that long.

This is one of the few stories where I rooted for a killer. I know how horrible it sounds, but I loved that perspective. The innocence behind a terrible act. The belief that what you did might have been wrong, but you still did it for the right reasons. The ultimate friendship and the boundaries.
I loved Heather, and I also loved Becca. I hated all the things that were standing between them, driving them further away from each other.

This is a book about a murder, and about a scary story becoming real. But this book is also about friendship, about psychological trauma, and about the force a person needs to get trough it. The crucial support this person requires to get through the rainy days. Heather was struggling, and there was no one beside her to help her. Everyone she knew and trusted suddenly abandoned her, and this tells a sad and realistic story about the reality people with mental health issues are facing. No one wants a damaged person in their lives, I get that. But when this person is your friend for life, when this person is your life companion, you know. You know how they were before it, and you should always be there to support them, and get them to become their healthy selves again. We all need a person in life that will push our boundaries and be there for us when we are not able to be there for ourselves.

The Dead Girls Club covers so many topics that warm and crush my heart. And I love it for it. If your book taste is similar to mine, I am sure you will love this book too, and I recommend it!

Huge thanks to Melissa and the team at Crooked Lane Books in the US, for sending me a paperback ARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

Wishlist | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

[Erin Clemence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

As young girls on the brink of adolescence, Heather and her friends bond over their mutual obsession with serial killers and the urban legend known as “The Red Lady”. The four girls, who now call themselves “The Dead Girls Club”, share stories and try and summon “The Red Lady”, a vengeful spirit who was, supposedly, brutally murdered centuries before. Heather knows that these are just stories, but her best friend Becca soon becomes obsessed, convinced the stories are real and that The Red Lady has made contact with her. Becca sets out to prove that the Red Lady is real- and ends up dead.

Years later, Heather is a child psychologist, helping troubled children overcome their demons. When she starts to receive cryptic messages in the mail she initially brushes it off. But when the messages become more macabre, and she starts being followed, Heather begins to wonder if somehow, somewhere, there is someone who knows Heather’s secret- that Becca is dead because of her.

Damien Angelica Walters has several award-winning short stories under her belt, stories acclaimed for being “weird” and “gothic”. “The Dead Girls Club” is set to be released in December 2019.

“The Dead Girls Club” is formed as a result of four close friends who share an obsession and meet to perform séances and tell stories. As a pre-adolescent girl, I was always forming “clubs” and “secret groups” with my friends, desperate to have something we could share with just us, away from the outside world (too bad I didn’t have friends obsessed with serial killers. I would’ve been ALL OVER a “Dead Girls Club” of my own). That part of the novel is relatable and charming, as the friendships are challenged by angst-ridden problems and hormones, typical of any female group of outsiders.

The story alternates between THEN and NOW, each chapter narrated by Heather as a young girl and as an adult. The secrets of the novel are slowly revealed, with just enough suspense in each chapter to keep you hooked.

When the ending is revealed, and the truth comes out, I was slightly disappointed. The twist has been done before, in movies and books both, and it was almost unbelievable and far-fetched. That being said, there was a definitive ending which provided answers to questions that form throughout the novel. I questioned the behaviours and actions of “Adult Heather” a few times, as she seemed to sabotage her adult life and relationships more than she needed to, all to hide a childhood secret.

“The Dead Girls Club” is definitely unique and creative, with relatable characters. Walters definitely has a thing for the macabre (which I appreciate, of course) and this novel is well written, compete with a spooky abandoned house and a mysterious could-be-true urban legend. Definitely worth checking out for those who are looking for a nostalgic, gothic read.

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pleased to receive an ARC for this book, and wish to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for a chance to read it in return for an honest review. Unfortunately, it just didn’t appeal to me, although after seeing the synopsis I was eager to read it. I found the characters extremely unpleasant, especially Heather, who was the protagonist and narrator.

The pace was slow and disjointed at first, and I thought Heather was unwinding emotionally in the present time, becoming paranoid and dwelling on unfortunate events when she was aged 12. She was frantic to discover the truth of what occurred when she belonged to a group with three other girls called the Dead Girls Club. They liked to discuss serial killers, and Becca, her best friend was obsessed with telling a folk story about the Red Woman who was a witch. Becca is killed mysteriously, and the girls parted ways.

Thirty years later, Heather is a psychologist, which defies belief. She has gaps in her memory about what happened when Becca died. After receiving a couple of mementos that belonged to Becca decades ago, Heather makes a lot of wrong decisions, neglects her patients and alienates her husband and friends. Her behaviour becomes frenzied.

The last section of the book was too dramatic and the revelations were far too over the top for my liking. By the finale, I no longer cared what had happened to Becca, and certainly was not invested in the outcome for Heather. Due to my annoyance with Heather and other characters, I failed to feel the suspense and thrills as intended. I notice that many readers enjoyed the story, so prospective readers should read the positive reviews and not be dissuaded by my opinion.
1.5 Stars.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four childhood friends, now tweens, get together regularly in the basement of an empty old house to talk about serial killers and other stuff. Heather loves horror novels, her BFF Becca true crime. All four enjoy a good scare, even better with a side of gore.

Becca named them The Dead Girls Club after a novel Heather was reading. Becca, who has an alcoholic mother who abuses her, is the most intense of the four. It is she who tells the story of The Red Lady, who Damien Angelica Walters has given a creative, creepy backstory. Is she real, is she an urban legend or an invention of Becca's troubled mind? Becca becomes increasingly obsessed with The Red Lady and begins conducting rituals for the four friends to summon her. And from the beginning, present-day Heather tells us that she killed Becca. Did the Red Lady make her do it?

I don't usually prefer first-person present tense but here it's the best choice to tell the story. In the present someone knows what Heather did and they're tormenting her. In the chapters that take place in the past Heather unspools the story of what led to her killing her best friend, for which Becca's mother went to prison. And now Heather, who is married and a child psychologist, becomes increasingly unglued as the menace escalates and she's not sure if she's being taunted by a ghost or gaslighted.

There's more mystery than horror but the atmosphere is chilling. Although the title is perfect it could have been called I Know What Heather Did That Summer. It's a quick read and very enjoyable. The Red Lady is a great new scary character and if Walter writes a series about her, I'm in. I won't say more about "The Dead Girls Club" because of spoilers, only that at young Heather's age it's a book I would have devoured and now that I'm older I had lots of fun reading it.

[Luvtoread (Trying to catch up) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heather is a child psychologist and one day receives a letter in the mail which contains a fine chain and a pendant with half of a heart which brings on gruesome and heartbreaking memories crashing down upon her. Heather had thought she had buried her tortured childhood memories of the death of her best friend Becca and the part she played in it, especially the Red Lady who the girl's believed in when they were twelve years old. Strange occurrences begin happening and Heather is becoming paranoid with wondering who could be behind the secrets that have been hidden for over twenty years. Why Now?

I found the storyline intriguing and enjoyed going back in the past when the girl's were young and how the Dead Girl's Club evolved. The story does a good job of showing how vulnerable and naive children can be at twelve years of age and oh, how secretive and gullible and so open to the peer pressure true around them. I really enjoyed the legend of the Red Lady, which had me guessing whether she was imaginary or real up until the end of the book. This story takes on many twists and turns and also messages of right and wrong throughout the book. By the end of the book I was stymied by the true events that has taken place in Heather's life as well as Becca''s. Do not miss reading this novel if you enjoy horror blended in with a psychological thriller!

I want to thank the publisher "Crooked Lane Books" and Netgalley for the opportunity of reading this very CREEPY and fascinating book!

I highly recommend to all horror and dark mystery lovers and have given a rating of 4 Horrifying 🌟🌟🌟🌟. Stars!!

[Sheyla ✎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

1991 and Baby, Baby is playing on the radio when the life of two best friends start to change.

Heather and Becca are best friends forever. They even buy the half-necklaces to prove it.

Heather is loved and cared for by her family while Becca is having trouble at home. Her mother is drinking and becoming violent.

Heather and Becca have two other friends, Gia and Rachel. The four of them form the Dead Girls Club. They have a love for the macabre. Reading about serial killers is something engrossing for them. Then, Becca begins telling the story of the Red Lady. A witch wrongly accused and murdered. When the girls perform a ritual to bring the Red Lady into their lives, death follows.

Fast forward three decades, and now Heather is a child psychologist. She's married and happy with her life. Then, she receives a package with Becca's necklace. Heather knows someone is behind this but could it be that the Red Lady is involved?

The Dead Girls Club failed to entertain me. I don't know if it was because I couldn't believe the choices the main character was taking. She went off the rails in 2.3 seconds and did a very poor job as a psychologist too. I just couldn't like her or believe her motives.

The ending wasn't rewarding either. It was just not for me.

Cliffhanger: No

2/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Crooked Lane Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

[Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dead Girls Club has everything I love in a good solid mystery. From heart pounding scenes to a protagonist that isn't quite trustworthy, it truly was a wonderful story that will keep you turning the pages and wanting to know more about what happened and who the Red Lady is.

Never knowing who could be trusted, what memories and scenes really happened and if things were all that they appeared to be, Dead Girls Club was an interesting story where twists and turns and darkness always liked to lurk around every corner and you never knew quite what to expect next.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Heather, Rachel, Gia, and Becca are just your average American girls. They love to laugh, hangout, and talk about serial killers. But most importantly of all is that the girls love when Becca tells them about the Red Lady. A woman who will do favors but always takes what she is owed. But it's just a story, right?

Alternating between the past and present, it becomes clear that Heather is haunted by childhood memories and someone out there wants her to confess.

This was a mesmerizing tale that consumed my attention on Sunday afternoon. A little bit Are you Afraid of the Dark? with a healthy tug of I Know What You Did Last Summer , this was a delicious read.

My 2019 nominee for gorgeous cover








Goodreads review published 04/11/19
Publication Date 10/12/19

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) In 1991, teenage BFFs Heather and Becca started the Dead Girls Club. The two of them, plus their friends Gia and Rachel, were true crime fans, and the club was supposed to be a discussion group focused on their favourite topic: serial killers. Until Becca hijacked it with a gory folk tale about the 'Red Lady', a vengeful witch. As time went on, she grew more and more obsessed with the Red Lady, who she always insisted was real. By the end of that summer, the Club had disbanded and Becca had disappeared.

In the present day, Heather is a child psychologist who's tried hard to move on from her memories of Becca, around which she has plenty of guilt. That's jeopardised when (in tried-and-tested psychological thriller style) someone starts sending her strange objects in the post. As she digs into her past, Heather is increasingly drawn in several strange directions – including, once again, the mystery of the Red Lady.

The Dead Girls Club reads very much as a love letter to Stephen King's work, with numerous King books directly referenced within the story. I can imagine it appealing to fans of the two recent It films – take the dynamic between the younger girls, add the palpable terror of the supernatural threat, and you have a very similar story in terms of general vibe, if not in exact details. It's a consistently compelling yarn, with cliffhangers in every other chapter. I'm not sure which storyline worked best for me, but I'm leaning towards the 1991 strand simply because the characterisation has such depth. The teens are believable teens – jealous, competitive and kind of disgusting – and the last part feels particularly notable because I think it's often forgotten (or deliberately left out) in stories about teenage girls.

Adult Heather's behaviour gets annoying at times; the present-day plot is so fast-paced, it's difficult not to focus on how negligent she's being at work. And some of the description, in aiming for more interesting language, becomes vaguely ludicrous. (Two instances in which Heather putting her hand to her face is expressed bizarrely: 'I fingertip a temple' and 'I knuckle a cheekbone'. Obviously they're very brief lines, but even so, they stood out to me as so ridiculous that I couldn't stop thinking about them for days. What other parts of hands and faces could you put into those sentences? I nail an eyelid? I fist a nostril?) It reminded me of The Dark Net and John Dies at the End – that pulpy genre style that somehow always results in physical actions being over-described.

My overall impression of The Dead Girls Club, though, was as a purely fun and gripping book, perfect for winter nights – and especially Halloween. Walters balances the horror and thriller elements really well, ensuring there's always an unnerving haze of uncertainty around the question of whether the Red Lady is real, while maintaining the snappy pace.

I received an advance review copy of The Dead Girls Club from the publisher through NetGalley.

TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr

[Scarlett Readz and Runz....Through Novel Time & Distance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A high wire novel. This story kept its creepy tension vibe throughout the entirety of the book. An eery mystery that will have you turn the pages engrossingly, setting the path for a twisty end.

Heather is a child therapist, married and leads a relatively normal life. No one knows, she carries a secret deeply buried within her from her youth that seems like another lifetime ago.

The novel is set in the 'Now' and 'Then' format, telling about Heather today and what lead up to a dramatic event in her childhood that will begin to haunt her today.

THEN:
Becca is Heather's best friend but doesn't enjoy the same family upbringing with an intact family dynamic as Heather. The two of them have always been close, but one summer, Heather can't spend as much time with her and Becca turns to two other girls for friendship. Though Heather feels partially ousted, the four of them hang out and start these witchy rituals lead by Becca. They call themselves the 'Dead Girls Club' and slowly, Heather feels she is losing her friend to these made-up stories of the ‘Red Lady'. They seem to consume Becca. To not lose her friend, Heather continues to support her and holds up to a promise that Becca requests of her.... a deadly one, that will haunt her later on.

NOW:
A parcel in the mail has Heather all shook up. In it is one of the friendship necklaces she used to have with Becca. A time long forgotten is creeping into her present as she is trying to not think about it too much, but is wondering who sent it and what it means of someone possibly knowing her 'secret'? Logically, she is collecting some facts on the whereabouts of everyone from the 'Dead Girls Club' and begins a little investigation for her peace of mind. But the peace she won't find. Someone is beginning to taunt her leaving hints and reminders and going as far as chasing her off the road. It begins to affect her personal as well as her professional life and she becomes undone.

The novel culminates in an intensely twisted end full of action. How far will someone go to expose or protect this secret? A thriller worth reading to find out.

***

Oh, I really dug this novel. The entirety of Heather's NOW kept an eery tension and the author added some nice little distractions and sidelines to the plot. The flashbacks into the THEN often stopped in a little cliffhanger leaving me reeling for more.
I thought the built-up and the conclusion to the mystery were well done. The ending definitely kept me at the edge of my seat. My enjoyment was high and my crept-out-o-meter even higher :)

I highly recommend this fast-paced horror mystery/thriller.

Enjoy!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you!

More of my reviews here:
Through Novel Time & Distance

[Tucker Almengor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Wow! That was great. This thriller that combined two storylines (the classic Then and Now) that perfectly blended with one another. This was creepy, engrossing, and very well written! Highly recommended.

Happy reading!

---------

sounds like a very exclusive club

| Goodreads | Blog | Pinterest | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

[Frank Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good scary story / mystery that bordered YA, which I was engrossed with throughout. The pacing was incredibly fast and I didn't want to put this book down anytime I picked it up! This story gave me a great sense of nostalgia as it reminded me of me and my own group of friends when I was a teenager, and how we loved sharing scary stories with each other, to the point of not being able to sleep at night sometimes because of the nightmares. I felt myself in Heather's place, and vividly imagined the Red Lady, sitting in the corner of my room in the shadows watching me as I slept. This gave me a creepy feeling to say the least! I was at the edge of my seat as the story built up to the final reveal, anxiously needing to know if this was more of a mystery, or indeed a tale of horror. I would have given this five stars had I enjoyed the ending a little bit more, but sadly felt a little unsatisfied. I'll chalk this up to the fact that I and incredibly hard to please when it comes to this genre anymore and it takes a rare book indeed to impress me. Don't get me wrong, this book was very very good! I cannot wait to see the follow up to this book, and would recommend this to anyone looking for a riveting, fast-paced creeeepy read!

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rip-roaring 5 star for me!

Who didn't have friends when they were little? Even if they turned out to be shitty friends, if you knew them all your life, there was a bond there. And your best friend, wouldn't you do anything for them? That deserves a star.

Did you have a club, team, or gang or did one of you stand out and the rest were the posse? It was fun to belong. Add a star.

Who likes scary tales, especially around the campfire? It is always extra creepy when your back is to the dark woods.  Another star.

What is real and what isn't? Not knowing makes it all the scarier. Ding! Another star.

An ending that makes you get up and stretch those arms and legs that  have fallen asleep because you couldn't put that book down, and now you say, "Damn, that was good!" and maybe rereading those last few pages again. Ding-a-ling-a-ling!

But it didn't start out that way. Let me get a little off my chest. My opinion of time jumping back and forth to tell widely spaced events to me is a cheap way of adding a lot of filler material. If I had not taken an interest in the characters I would have lost interest in the story. My other grip is reading many, many pages of "What's wrong? - I can't tell you." They seem to do that in every movie and book. Okay, now I feel better.

[Danielle (The Blonde Likes Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

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. 

I'd like to thank Crooked Lane Books for my copy of the novel. It was my pleasure to provide an honest review!