Review: Lost its way a bit
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 31, 2013
Lost Girls has much to commend it. There's a real sense of originality about the book and the dialogue's fairly snappy.There are also some issues:WARNING - spoilers ahead.Maudie drinks far too much yet she doesn't seem to really exhibit the habits or symptoms of an alcoholic. From the ending, it's clear why she's allowed to booze herself to oblivion yet nothing picks up on this along the way. At the end, it seems like she's just able to switch off this addiction - I bet a lot of alcoholics wish it were so easy.She's worried about being charged with murder yet she's a) got an excellent self-defence plea and b) she'd have to have been arrested, charged and then allowed out on bail in order to swan off to Cornwall. You don't just turn up in a criminal court to face the music.Jessica appears after an absence of several decades yet her childhood friend (who's still fixated on her) lets her disappear without having really tried to find out where she's been or what happened to her. That's implausible.The editing is very slack in places. Some phrases are repeated in quick succession (without being for emphasis) and there are some careless spelling and grammar mistakes. Not a big deal but an irritation.I'm not marking it down for this but the story meanders between crime and supernatural genres and that's something which might well alienate some readers.Lost Girls hasn't quite got it but it definitely shows promise. Without the errors, 4 stars.