#BookReview-TheJuly Girls by Phoebe Locke

About the book…

Every year, on the same night in July, a woman is taken from the streets of London; snatched by a killer who moves through the city like a ghost. 

Addie has a secret. On the morning of her tenth birthday, four bombs were detonated across the capital. That night her dad came home covered in blood. She thought he was hurt in the attacks – but then her sister Jessie found a missing woman’s purse hidden in his room.

Jessie says they mustn’t tell. She says there’s nothing to worry about. But when she takes a job looking after the woman’s baby daughter, Addie starts to realise that her big sister doesn’t always tell her the whole story. And that the secrets they’re keeping may start costing lives…

Praise for the The July Girls:

“A gripping read and almost impossible to put down.” Jo Jakeman, author of Sticks and Stones

Praise for the work of Phoebe Locke:

‘This summer’s scariest thriller’ Stylist
‘What a creepy and compelling debut – fantastic!’ Fiona Cummins, author of Rattle
‘So creepy and chilling. Loved it!’ Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request

HUGE thanks are due to the lovely Antonia Whitton of Headline Books who kindly asked me to share my thoughts on ‘The July Girls’ which is out now in paperback as well as ebook formats, and the awesome Jenni Leech who kindly sent me my gifted review copy.

Reading this was a no brainer after the spine chilling ‘The Tall Man’, which I devoured overnight.

In contrast, this book really is a perfect summer read-again it looks at the fall from innocence that all teens go through when they become aware that the important people in their lives have feet of clay. And that urban myths are even scarier in the light of day when you realise that the monster you seek wears a human face….

This story is Addie’s , her narration spans her early teens to grownup years, her perspective and first hand narration bringing the reader in close to the action. You see through her eyes the devastation of the London bombings, the doubt in her mind about her father being the Magpie killer (who abducts and kills one woman every July) and how she substitutes her mother figure needs onto her older sister, Jessie.

As their roles grow and change, Jessie is thrust into being responsible way before she is able to comprehend the consequences of her actions, and as such, Addie gets to be the child that Jessie was not. Her memories of her mother are only good ones, she constructs a fantasy about her missing parent that Jessie and her dad do not disabuse her of. As a result, Addie has the best childhood that a grieving father and older sister can give her.There are snatched moments of joy, such as left over ice cream from the parlour where Jessie works are threaded through the story like gold weaved through sackcloth.

And underlying it all,the heat of the season,escalating fear combined with the oppressive nature of city life, all of which are so well realised and  are contributing factors to the claustrophobic nature of the story. Each July brings the weight of expectation that the Magpie will strike again-the fear and opportunity to catch him weighing heavy on the policeman who has dedicated himself to solving this case.

Underneath the traditional hunt for who the killer is, lays the theme of poverty, want, and theft . The poverty that this little family live in is contrasted with being in one of the richest cities in the world, Addie and Jessie’s father driving people around, like a chauffeur to other people’s biggr, better lives. Jessie and her stolen childhood, working and taking care of first her sister then the bereaved husband and daughter of one of the Magpie’s victims. And then there is Addie-her life overshadowed by her missing mother, her suspicions about her father and the realisation that Jessie won’t always be there to look after her.

‘The July Girls’ works on so many levels-it is the kind of book that you race through because you want that happy ending for these girls, you want them to escape this unscathed. And then, when you turn the last page, you kick yourself for not making it last longer.

The disposability and fragility of the life of young women is laid bare in the stories of the missing-they become synonymous with their killers moniker rather than existing  in their own rights.The Magpie doesn’t just steal their lives, he steals their identity and their family’s peace of mind . He steals Jessie and Addie’s childhoods by always being there, in the shadows. The contrast to the killer is policeman DS Jones who fulfils the parental role in watching out for the girls whilst also using them as bait to catch a killer.

Heartbreaking, suspense filled prose has never been so good.

This is the perfect summer read, I would recommend it to those who enjoy CJ Tudor and Alex North

About the author…

Phoebe Locke is a full-time writer, part-time doer of odd jobs. These jobs have included Christmas Elf, cocktail waitress, and childminder. Her first novel (written as Nicci Cloke), Someday Find Me, was published in 2012 and her second, Lay Me Down, in 2015. She has also written three novels for young adults: Follow Me Back (2016), Close Your Eyes (2017) and Toxic (2018).

She lives and writes in Cambridgeshire, and her debut psychological thriller is ‘The Tall Man’.

Twitter @phoebe_locke @Wildfirebks @headlinepg