Friday 23 September 2016

The American Girl by Kate Horsley



Quinn is a seventeen year old exchange student who is spending the summer in France with her host family the Blavette's. Everything seems fine at first, but then as Quinn starts to realize all is not as it seems with the Blavette family and longs to be back home in America, events take a sinister twist.

Quinn is discovered in a confused and bloodied state after being knocked down one night, fleeing the woods. Taken to hospital Quinn doesn't know who she is or what happened that night to cause her to run blindly into the road. Most disturbing of all, the Blavette's have disappeared without trace and no-one in the small French town appears to know what has happened to them.

In steps Molly Swift, an undercover journalist who soon forms a bond with Quinn, as they both try to find out the truth of what happened that fateful night. While the police believe Quinn is not what she seems and appear to suspect her of murder, Molly fully believes Quinn is telling the truth, and is prepared to sacrifice her fledgling romance with the handsome French police detective, in order to prove Quinn's innocence.

This was a great read. I really enjoyed it. A real psychological thriller, that had me gripped from the start. Full of twists and turns, it was hard to know who to believe as everyone seemed to have secrets they wanted to hide.

I especially enjoyed the character of Molly Swift and would love to see this book as the first in a series with Molly as the protagonist, investigating crime in her unconventional way.

Kate Horsley is definitely an author I will be watching out for. I can't wait to read her next novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher HarperCollins UK for my free e-ARC in return for an honest review.