 Ten teens are blackmailed to meet at an abandoned pier in this Since Karen McManus’s mega-hit One of us is Lying (2017) there has been a major resurgence in YA thrillers and although the American releases are undoubtedly the trendiest, there are some great British novels in the mix which are worthy of a teenager’s attention. Most of these titles play it straight, however, Kathryn Foxfield’s Good Girls Die First adds an ambitious supernatural twist onto her twisty and very entertaining debut. The packaging and blurb places in the same ballpark as popular thrillers such as Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or Chelsea Pitcher’s This Lie Will Kill You before morphing into horror novel territory as the plot thickens. I hope traditional thriller readers will not disappointed by the way it moves into horror territory as the audiences can be different. Good Girls Die First is a fast paced, eventually supernatural, spin on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None involving a group of ten teenagers who are lured to the derelict carnival on Portgrave Pier. As this is England, refreshingly, there is not a cheerleader or jock in sight! Each are given a flier which implies blackmail, or the revealing of deep and dark secrets, should they fail to turn up at the pier. The novel is told in the third person from sixteen-year-old Ava’s point of view and the ten characters have varying connections to each other and part of the fun of Good Girls Die First is finding out what they are. As those involved are all sixteen expect bitchiness, fallouts, failed relationships, sexual encounters, drunken moments, half-truths, and out-and-out lies. In a nutshell: a bunch of relatively normal teens! All ten characters each have a big secret they are desperate to protect and this was the most convincing aspect of the novel which leads to intense interactions between the characters, name calling and blaming. But what do they all have to hide? Ava is our central character, whose hobby (and potential career) is photography who loves snapping ruined buildings and desolate urban landscapes. After the ten have made their way onto the pier and abandoned amusement arcade disaster strikes and the construction crumbles and their only way back to dry land disappears and they are stranded on the pier. Soon fog rolls in and a storm approaches, they are well and truly stranded, and the fun begins. These sections were very well described and abandoned pier was a terrific setting, especially when the lights and old amusements are mysteriously switched on. The novel was strongest when it hedged bets on whether it was supernatural or not; whispering, weird sounds, and the teenagers unsure exactly about what was going on. Soon, however, there is an unexplained death (the first of many), the discovery of an ancient body and strange connections to the fair, back in its heyday materialise. As a YA mystery or thriller this was an entertaining back and forth between the various teenagers, who all have something to hide and will go to any lengths to protect it, including murder. The author endnotes mention that Kathryn Foxfield was a fan of the Point Horror novels which were most popular in the early 1990s and it shows. Her supernatural entity would have been right at home in that series, a being which feeds on fears and lies. Ultimately though, did not feel that the supernatural element of the story worked as well as in the thriller part. Before I read it myself I gave it to my fourteen-year-old daughter for a test run (who reads both thriller and horror) but she lost interest as soon as she realised it was supernatural and failed to finish the book. But she was still interested enough to find out what the individual ‘secrets’ were once she realised, I had finished it! My concern is that readers who do not like supernatural stories will find this turn of events slightly disappointing and feel cheated out of discovering who the true murderer was. Reworking And Then There Were None is nothing new and although this is a very readable attempt it falls short of another YA novel Gretchen McNeil’s Ten which also spins the same Agatha Christie novel. Why? McNeil plays it straight, my daughter was gagging to uncover the killer, this element of ‘mystery’ disappears as soon as the reader knows it is otherworldly. Of course, traditional horror fans may not feel the same way, with the final third of the book more likely to rock their boat.  Adults reviewing YA novels must attempt to put themselves into the heads of their fourteen-year-old self and in that respect Good Girls Die First has a lot to offer. It was edgy, pacey, and written with convincing dialogue, it was also refreshing to read a thriller set in the UK that does not particularly play to the stereotypes you might find in an American equivalent. Also, the YA market desperately needs more page-turners, there are more than enough books dealing with real life ‘issues’ kicking around, and Good Girls Die First delivers old-fashioned entertainment in spades and it was very easy to get lost in for a few hours. Lots of young teenagers are going to enjoy this novel and even though I have donated my review copy to my school library I have already reserved a second copy as this should be a very easy book to sell to kids. Review by Tony Jones read KATHRYN's guest post on how she discovered horror here  THE HEART ASND SOUL OF YA HORROR FICTION REVIEWS |
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