Sunday, March 30, 2025

The Fourth Girl by Wendi Corsi Staub Book Review

About the Book:


On prom night, Caroline Winterfield walked away from the ruins of an abandoned mansion called Haven Cliff and into the woods…never to be seen again. Only her three best friends know what really happened. But a secret is a secret, and a promise is a promise―even when it shatters lifelong friendships.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of that night, Midge, Kelly, and Talia reunite at Haven Cliff, now a gleaming architectural jewel. But they aren’t alone. Someone is watching. Someone who knows what really happened to Caroline―and to the man who now lies dead a stone’s throw from where she was last seen.

Police detective Midge knows she’s dealing with a murder the moment she sees the item clutched in his lifeless hand. Only three other people in the world would grasp its significance. That means Kelly and Talia are either involved or in danger, because Caroline is long gone…or is she?


My Review:

This novel does not start off with a clear explanation of the past. We readers come to know what happened 25 years ago little by little. I felt that made the present action have less of an impact for the first part of the book. The narrative does jump around as background material is given to help explain current events. That made the plot development feel a little disjointed. And I felt like I never did get the information I needed to understand what happened then and what was happening in the current time. The ending did not wrap up all the questions. Staub's writing style is good in that she is skilled at building suspense, weaving it into the plot. In the end, however, this was not a totally satisfying read.

My rating: 4/5 stars.


About the Author:


Wendy Corsi Staub is the New York Times bestselling author of more than ninety novels, including WindfallThe Other Family, and Dying Breath. She is also the author of the Lily Dale Mystery series, the Foundlings trilogy, the Mundy’s Landing trilogy, the Nightwatcher trilogy, and the Live to Tell trilogy. Wendy is a three-time finalist for the Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award and has won an RWA RITA Award, an RT Award for Career Achievement in Suspense, the 2007 RWA/NYC Golden Apple Award for Lifetime Achievement, and five WLA Washington Irving Prizes for Fiction. Wendy lives in the New York suburbs with her husband, their sons, and three rescue cats. For more information, visit www.wendycorsistaub.com.

Thomas & Mercer, 396 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)

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