For over forty years Carol Cage has been living as a recluse in her mansion, Oaktree House. Fear is her constant companion. She’s been keeping a secret – and it’s about to be unearthed.
When she receives a compulsory purchase order for her home, she knows that everyone is going to find out what she did to survive her darkest weeks in 1970. She writes her confession so that we can understand what happened because she wasn’t the only one living a lie. The events that turned her fairy-tale life into a living hell were not all they seemed.
She’s determined not to pay for the mistakes of others; if she has to face justice, then they will too.
Carol Cage has a terrible secret … and she’s about to exact retribution on everyone who had abandoned her.
My review:
"Maybe we all need an unattainable lover to keep us tortured but alive."
This is the story of Carol (the girl), a naive teenager who in 1970 falls in love for the first time with an older playboy. Obsessed with Frankie, Carol goes out of her way to impress him and show him she's worthy of his love. Even after she learns of his reprehensible behavior, Carol willingly remains in Frankie's clutches. That bodes well for Frankie, for a time, because what's most important to him is money, and with Carol by his side, he can weasel his way into her newfound inheritance.
Forty years later, Carol tells her story in the form of a diary, a confession she expects to be read when her home is torn down to make way for new roads. When Oaktree House comes down, so too will Carol's decades-long charade.
Killing the Girl is about lies and their consequences. It is about deep, dark secrets, murder and coverups, family and the relationships that feel like family. It is about defining happiness when we have no idea what is most important in life.
With a small-town backdrop and rich, fully-developed characters, Elizabeth Hill weaves a tale that is impossible to stop thinking about long after the story is done. Five well-deserved stars for Killing the Girl.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and BookSirens for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Killing the Girl by Elizabeth Hill was published April 14, 2019. Available here.
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