About the Book
From debut
author Amy K. Green comes a devastating tale of psychological suspense: a teen
pageant queen is found murdered in a small New England town, and her sister’s
search for answers unearths more than she bargained for.
Days after a young pageant queen named Jenny is found
murdered, her small town grieves the loss alongside her picture-perfect
parents. At first glance, Jenny’s tragic death appears clear-cut for
investigators. The most obvious suspect is one of her fans, an older man who
may have gotten too close for comfort. But Jenny’s half-sister, Virginia—the
sarcastic black sheep of the family—isn’t so sure of his guilt and takes
matters into her own hands to find the killer.
But for Jenny’s case and Virginia’s investigation, there’s
more to the story. Virginia, still living in town and haunted by her own
troubled teenage years, suspects that a similar darkness lay beneath the
sparkling veneer of Jenny’s life. Alternating between Jenny’s final days and
Virginia’s determined search for the truth, the sisters’ dual narratives follow
a harrowing trail of suspects, with surprising turns that race toward a
shocking finale.
Infused with dark humor and driven by two captivating young
women, The Prized Girl tells a heartbreaking story of missed connections, a
complicated family, and a town’s disturbing secrets.
My Review
My, my, there is a lot to unpack with this novel. Really, a lot of the characters are quite sad when you get to know them. Stolen childhoods, abuse, manipulation – Virginia and Jenny didn’t seem to stand much of chance, whether it came to their home life or school life. When I really sit back and think of their stories, they had no one protecting them, even as small children. That’s unsettling, but I’m sure a sad reality for some. Jenny’s murder is the main focus of the novel, switching from past to present POV, and so many people become suspects. I really didn’t start to get an inkling of the real killer until closer to the end, but the actual ending has a pretty intense plot twist that even I couldn’t have predicated. It left me more unsettled though, because I think it showed the true mental instability of the characters, and I felt very hopeless for a lot of them involved. This story is pretty disturbing and I don’t think everyone would enjoy the topics, but I read all the way through and it did keep me on the edge of my seat as I tried to piece everything together.
4 stars
