The Perfect Girl By Gilly MacMillan

[amazon_link id=”0349406421″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The Perfect Girl’ is the latest book by Gilly MacMillan.

To everyone who knows her now, Zoe Maisey – child genius, musical sensation – is perfect. Yet several years ago Zoe caused the death of three teenagers. She served her time, and now she’s free. Her story begins with her giving the performance of her life. By midnight, her mother is dead.

‘The Perfect Girl’ is another great book from Gilly, i fell in love with Gilly’s writing after reading her debut ‘Burnt Paper Sky’, a wonderfully bleak and atmospheric story and her new book is just as dark.

The story starts right at the moment child prodigy Zoe starts to perform a recital with her stepbrother Lucas when her past comes back to haunt her, stirring up old memories, hidden ghosts and the life that she had hoped to left behind. The father of one of the three teenagers that she killed has found her and wants her to pay for his daughters untimely death and before the night is over Zoe’s mother, Maria is found dead and everyone is a suspect particularly Zoe. The story is seen through the troubled eyes of Zoe, her aunt Tessa and her solicitor Sam, who helped her many years ago when the crime was committed.

Following through the past and present tenses, the story is told through a sequence of events that brings the story to the present point of Zoe about to begin her recital.

As the story is told through the eyes of three characters, it gives interesting insights into how people react and deal with a particularly times. Zoe is an intense character, her life is troubled and she has caused much upheaval in her life and is desperately trying to keep her mother happy and not crumble under pressure. She is burdened with the guilt of her actions and feels that she will forever be punished. Her aunt is a kind woman, her husband is an alcoholic and she finds herself leaning to Sam for support, a quiet and strong character, he is intrigued by Zoe and often wonders about her.

As the story continues and the characters begin to share their versions of events, the truth and secrets begin to unravel and the perfect life that Maria tried to create for her new family is revealed. Throughout the story, there is tension as suspicions mount and the finger of blame is pointed. The story is cleverly written with creative narrative and dialogue where everyone seems to be a suspect, particularly Zoe as her past is revealed in more detail.

A compelling story about guilt and family violence, ‘The Perfect Girl’ is a dark and haunting tale that explores family secrets and complicated relationships and has an explosive ending that will leave the reader speechless.

You can pre-order [amazon_link id=”0349406421″ target=”_blank” ]The Perfect Girl from Amazon [/amazon_link] and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 22nd September 2016.