“The Girls In The Garden” by Lisa Jewell

Genre: Murder Mystery/Psychological Thriller
Publisher:  Atria Books
Pub. Date:  2016

Due to a recent injury, this mini-review is being written via voice to text. Please forgive errors and a review that is not up to par.

I enjoyed this character-driven murder mystery. I thought the storyline reads more literary than the genre, something that isn’t too easy to pull off when writing a psychological thriller. Jewell nails adolescent anguish. The novel revolves around a few dysfunctional/offbeat families with young teenage kids. Their homes share a common garden park, which is the communal backyard. There is a “gang” of young teens who hang out in the yard. Think the movie “Mean Girls” mixed with “The Breakfast Club.”

The mystery part of the story is that the reader learns that years before a teenage girl died in that park. No one knows if her death was an accident or a murder. In the present, during the boozy annual summer party thrown by the adults, something bad happens to another girl. The author gives us many characters with persuasive motivations. It could’ve gone in many directions. Unfortunately, I can’t say I like the one Jewell picked.

I could not figure out exactly what happened. Maybe this was the author’s intention. Or maybe it’s simply that I am having trouble concentrating lately. Either way, I probably did not mind as much as other readers might, because it wasn’t the mystery that caught my interest. It was the families’ dynamics written with very good character development. There isn’t much suspense in “Girls.” What you get is an insight into what makes the author’s characters tick. That was good enough for me.

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