Read with Fern

It’s happening again…

Anna Maybourne feels trapped in Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town of dusty farmland plagued by drought, known for the murders of two young women who died exactly three years apart. The presumed murderer, killed as he tried to escape the police, was known as the Farmhand. But Anna, new in town and caring for her grandmother with dementia, wonders if the closed case is actually unsolved.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

As someone who’s lived in Nebraska for 8 years, and in the Midwest for almost two decades, I can only do so much to try to imbue the terror of a cornfield at night. Luckily, Pinborough captures the horror perfectly, with a trademark twist.

They Say a Girl Died Here follows Anna, a 22-year-old girl who’s recently moved to Harper’s Creek, Nebraska, with her mom, her younger 12-year-old sister, and their mom’s mother, who has early onset dementia. Their grandma is from the town, and after an incident in Boston, Anna’s whole family is ready for a change of scenery. Unfortunately, Harper’s Creek is a small farm town suffering from a season-long drought, so there’s absolutely nothing to do except lose your mind.

Anna’s younger sister comes home with a haunting story about teen girls killed every 3 years by a mysterious Farmhand. But when Anna starts asking more questions to the locals, she learns that the Farmhand isn’t some boogeyman in the night. He was a real man who was killed during a robbery years before. But Anna can’t shake the feeling that something’s still wrong in Harper’s Creek.

What follows is an atmospherically hopeless thriller that encapsulates the feeling of going in repeating circles. As Anna grapples with her desperation in several different areas, it almost begins to feel like the town itself is closing in on Anna and her readers.

And if you, like me, are one of the 228,000 people who’ve read Behind Her Eyes, let me assure you that this new book does have an insane twist, but it is totally new and unexpected! Unfortunately, while the plot twist for this book did surprise me, I felt like the plot lacked development, leaving the twists feeling out of place and simultaneously rushed and over-extended. But if you’re looking for a thriller to fully trip you out, this is still a solid pick!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the free advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review!