She Treads Softly: The Prized Girl

Thursday, December 26, 2019

The Prized Girl

The Prized Girl by Amy K. Green
Penguin Random House: 1/14/20
eBook review copy; 384 pages
ISBN-13: 9781524745103

The Prized Girl by Amy K. Green is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

Twenty-six year old Virginia Kennedy is the black sheep of the family and an ongoing disappointment to her father. When her half-sister, 13-year-old beauty queen Jenny Kennedy was found raped and murdered, Virginia becomes obsessed with finding out who is guilty. Although she wasn't close to her half-sister, she is determined to find justice for her. As Detective Brandon Colsen works the case, Virginia stays in contact with him and shares clues she finds.

There is more going on than the police know. The main suspect is a developmentally disabled man, Benjy Lincoln, who followed Jenny when she was in beauty pageants, but Virginia knows there could be other suspects in the small town where they live. Virginia also doesn't have a problem with looking into suspects or snooping around on her own. Her teenage years in this small town were troubled, and resulted in the mess she has made of her life to date. Every Saturday night she allows herself to take pills and drink until she passes out, but she also knows the secrets no one is mentioning.

The chapters alternate between events leading up to Jenny's final days and Virginia's present day search for the truth. It becomes clear immediately that Jenny was not living the charmed life everyone thought and Virginia has a reason to be a mess. There are several suspects presented in the novel that could all be equally culpable in Jenny's demise. As Virginia works with Detective Colsen, he makes clear he is interested in her beyond the case.

I enjoyed this thriller and liked the assortment of potential suspects. Green does a good job introducing several suspects that could all equally be guilty. Choosing to alternate between the point-of-view of the two sisters in the two different timelines is an effective way to tell the story. Everyone is keeping secrets and holding back the truth. The pace picks up as the novel progresses and I was actually surprised at the final denouement. I quite enjoyed this psychological thriller.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.