Editorial Content for They Say a Girl Died Here
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
I have been following Sarah Pinborough for decades. I fondly remember being introduced to her through the US releases of her early horror work via Leisure Books before her rise as a mainstream bestselling thriller writer.
Pinborough’s latest effort, THEY SAY A GIRL DIED HERE, is a welcome return to her horror/dark thriller roots. Brilliantly conceived and designed from start to finish, it may be her most complex and surprising novel since BEHIND HER EYES (which became a compelling series on Netflix). In a creepy prologue, a corpse has been left on a Midwest farm located in the town of Harper’s Creek. But the story behind this morbid occurrence has yet to be explained and will be well worth the wait.
"There is not a single moment that does not ring authentic, and you will root for Anna throughout, even when it might seem that she is not the most reliable narrator."
Anna Maybourne and her family have recently moved to Harper’s Creek, and she cannot miss the postings that seem to be up everywhere with titles like 6 Years since Lila, 3 Years since Bonnie. Who will be next? This makes her naturally curious, and she quietly learns about the murders of 16-year-old Lila Clarke and 19-year-old Bonnie Buchanan. The man who police insisted committed the crime was killed in an act that many believe was done to prevent him from identifying the actual culprit.
These mysteries are enough to make Anna wish to seek out the truth. She lives in a bizarre household where she has a strained relationship with her mother and little interaction with her younger sister. The most interesting character is Anna’s grandmother, Evelyn, who lives with them and bounces between bouts of dementia and moments of strange cognition where she seems to be urging Anna to do something and keeps referring to the fact that, in her own words, “they say a girl died here.”
Evelyn also mentions a “clown” somehow being involved, which drives Anna to find answers. She becomes instantly suspicious of everyone in town, from the sheriff to the pastor, and befriends Jamie, a known junkie who has been hanging the postings all over town. Otherwise, she has made very few friends and is looked upon as a boat rocker who even scares off the handyman who is interested in her mother. She blackmails him after she considers him to be a potential murder suspect.
The beauty of this novel is what we are not being told. There are references to what happened with Anna when she was in college that may have caused her family to move to Harper’s Creek in the first place. Then there are the cryptic lucid ramblings from Evelyn that will make more sense during the highly unexpected reveal, which is probably the best twist from Pinborough since BEHIND HER EYES.
THEY SAY A GIRL DIED HERE is full of suspense and scares that border on the supernatural and is incredibly enjoyable. There is not a single moment that does not ring authentic, and you will root for Anna throughout, even when it might seem that she is not the most reliable narrator.
Teaser
Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It’s supposed to be a new start for her and her family. But after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place --- working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia. It seems that the only interesting thing about her new town is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman. Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town’s darkest curiosity. But even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears.
Promo
Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It’s supposed to be a new start for her and her family. But after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place --- working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia. It seems that the only interesting thing about her new town is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman. Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town’s darkest curiosity. But even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears.
About the Book
Two murdered girls. A town with dark secrets. A race to break a deadly cycle.
Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It’s supposed to be a new start for her and her family, but after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place --- working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia, whose paranoid episodes have started to unnerve her. The only interesting thing about her new town, it seems, is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman --- and the clue she discovers that reveals the case is yet unsolved.
Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town’s darkest curiosity --- but even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears. Tension is building in Harper’s Creek, and everyone can feel it. The house is becoming more claustrophobic by the day and her grandmother is growing stranger. Anna begins to wonder if her delusional moments are somehow the key to discovering the truth about the murders, and if the old house, and her new start, is haunted by its own bloody baggage.
With a devastating mystery at its core, THEY SAY A GIRL DIED HERE is a novel of thrilling and terrifying secrets, with a mind-bending twist that could only come from Sarah Pinborough.
Audiobook available, read by Saskia Maarleveld
