The Girl From Widow Hills is a recent thriller by Megan Miranda, author of the bestseller The Last House Guest.
This fits into the current wave of ‘domestic suspense’ (so called ‘grip-lit’), in which a woman discovers a shocking truth about friends or neighbours, and while thrown into a mystery of deadly secrets confronts her own repressed past. The possible instigator for this wave could be Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train. Titles such as The Couple Between Us, The Couple Next Door, The Wife Between Us, or The Woman In The Window, that are not really thrilling, not really mysterious, with simple characters and simple writing - a slick package that teases a reveal of societal and psychological flaws but for me usually wind up just mediocre. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo spurred a trend of Nordic thrillers, so maybe we are tired of the killer torturing the girl, and are happy to be challenged by something lighter and closer to home, possibly right next door.
I did enjoy The Girl From Widow Hills. A clever and mildly puzzling premise kept me turning the pages to the end. Arden Maynor was the six-year-old girl who made national headlines when she disappeared one night in a Kentucky rainstorm. A three-day-search finally located her, followed by talk shows and a book deal. After the 5th and 10th anniversaries, Arden wanted to escape the publicity and changed her name to Olivia, working hard to become a hospital administrator. When she was young, sleepwalking plagued her but she seems to have overcome it. Publicity returns now at the 20th anniversary, compounded by the news her estranged mother passed away. When she receives a box of her Mom’s belongings, the blackouts and psychological trauma return.
Dr. Cal offers sleep aides, her colleagues Bennett and Elyse commiserate, and her neighbour Rick is supportive. Rick even runs to her aide when she wakes up in the dark night on the rural property outside her house, evidently sleepwalking, her hand covered in blood, next to a dead man. Detective Rigby investigates - oddly, he was the the man who found Arden in the drainage ditch 20 years ago. When his son Nathan arrives in town they begin to unravel the past.
Did Olivia kill him while sleepwalking? Each character has their own secrets, and Miranda weaves them together well, but I found them one dimensional. There is another death by overdose, but could it be murder? The Detective's son Nathan seems more like a stalker than a helper. And sleep specialist Dr. Cal is highlighted as being extremely handsome, but that’s literally it for his character. Overall, I found the characters attributes were not explored fully, leaving them flat and me uninvolved. The mystery of Olivia/Arden, however, did have me turning the pages until, my first guess, right at the beginning, was proven correct.
No real thrills, surprises, or mystery, but I still recommend it for what it is, a light unchallenging read.
2020 / Tradeback / 323 pages
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