They Say a Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
They Say a Girl Died Here is set in Harper’s Creek, a small farming community known for the murders of two young women, killed exactly three years apart. The presumed murderer was killed by the police as they tried to apprehend him. In local lore, he’s now known simply as the Farmhand.
Anna is new to town, moving there with her Mom and younger sister. They’re caring for her ailing Grandma, but even though Anna’s new, she’s heard all about the murders and the Farmhand.
As the three-year anniversary of the last murder approaches, Anna’s little sister is scared that the Farmhand could return, and because of a game she played with her new friends, she’s afraid she could be his next victim.
Anna, lacking in patience for anyone around her, insists to her sister that that’s ridiculous and she has nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, though, Anna does wonder if the police actually got their man.
Anna’s Grandma, who is starting to lose herself to dementia, has mentioned dead girls on a couple of different occasions in reference to their own home. These comments, though potentially meaningless, do help to further fuel Anna’s interest in the murders.
We follow Anna as she starts digging for the truth, both in the surrounding town and within their house. Anna’s not exactly a likable, or truly reliable narrator, so I wasn’t sure what the ultimate conclusion was going to be, but I did enjoy going along for the ride.
There are some great aspects to this book. I enjoyed the overriding mystery and the small town setting quite a bit.
Sadly, there were also things I didn’t like as much however, including Anna’s attitude. I did think she showed growth over the course of the story, but the 1st-half with her was pretty brutal. I don’t need to like characters, but I just found her personality so grating. It was almost unpleasant.
She was super negative and bit disrespectful to everyone around her, including her family, which tends to rub me the wrong way.
As mentioned above, I did like the overall vibes and mystery. The Farmhand had become an urban legend around Harper’s Creek, with the local kids using the story to scare one another. I thought that was fun and realistic to how a small town would be in the aftermath of something like that.
Pinborough never fails to capture my attention, so I did enjoy my time with the story for the most part. I just feel like in comparison to her other works, this won’t stand out as a favorite for me. It’s fairly forgettable.
Nevertheless, it’s still a very solid story, especially in comparison with a lot of others on the market. I’m a huge Pinborough fan and love to pick up new stories from her and will continue to do so in the future.
Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. The audiobook is narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, one of my faves, and she did a great job bringing the story to life.
I certainly felt like Maarleveld’s narration was a good fit for Anna’s character, and I would definitely recommend the audio format if you’re going to be picking this one up. It made the story even more engaging.