The Girl From Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: June 23, 2020
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
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Book Review

I’m not sure what’s more addicting about Megan Miranda’s novels: the gorgeous three-dimensional covers or her twisty, propulsive writing style. After reading and loving The Last Guest House, I knew I needed to read The Girl From Widow Hills. So when I received an advanced copy from Simon & Schuster, I was totally over the moon!

Arden Maynor was six-years-old when she famously slept walked her way into a storm drain and was lost for three days. As if by some kind of miracle, she was rescued. Twenty years later, Arden has changed her name to Olivia and moved to rural North Carolina to distance herself from her past. But when someone from her previous life is found dead in her backyard, Arden can no longer hide the truth about her identity.

I found The Girl From Widow Hills slightly hard to get into, but once I did, I didn’t want to put it down. I think part of it was that there was no real prologue, it picks up as present-day Arden is waking up from a sleep-walking episode. There’s a decent amount of setup before the story gets really interesting.

I loved Arden as a character. You just want her to find out what really happened to her. The story is told entirely in the first person from Arden’s perspective.

So many books claim to be “the next Gone Girl”, but this one gave me serious Gone Girl vibes. I think a big part of that was the publicity aspect. The media plays a big part in this story. In between the chapters there are news articles from when Arden went missing, was found, and over the years.