The Fourth Girl (four stars)-This one was a slow burn of a mystery that I really enjoyed and thought that Staub did a great job of shifting characters/timelines to an almost satisfying ending. The Fourth Girl follows three women (Midge, Talia, and Kelly) who used to be best friends when they were children/teenagers. They drifted apart because of a secret that they kept for 25 years for one of their friends (Caroline). When they all start to receive messages though, they wonder if the friend they thought they lost, is finally coming home.
I thought that Staub showing the three women as teens in the 90s and then the present day was really good. They all sounded different as teens compared to as they were as older women. Some of the cultural references (Britney Spears, “Baby One More Time”) definitely had me feeling nostalgic too. You can sense all three of the women (as teens) frustration with what was going on with their friend Caroline. And when Caroline’s older sister leaves, they start to wonder if something dark is going on with her family. And you can definitely see why Midge and Talia want to move on from the whole thing, while Kelly feels stuck about what happened and can’t.
There are additional POVs, a man whose name we don’t know and someone else that appears to be a woman.
The setting of Mulberry which at the time that all three were teenagers was a dying town, to a now prosperous town overrun with tourists and summer owners was definitely jarring. I which that Staub had explained that better since it rarely seems to go that way in towns in America these days. Also there seems to be a very cultish religious group in the town that seems barely touched upon when all three women are adults, but was definitely thought of/discussed when they were teens.
The ending I thought was a surprise (to me at least) but some of the plot elements dealing with Caroline I definitely saw coming. There were a lot of loose threads left in this book though which was the only reason why I went ahead and got/read the next book in the series, The Lost Summer.
The Lost Summer (1 star)-Taking place a few months after The Fourth Girl, you have Midge, Talia, and Kelly facing what they uncovered in the last book. They finally got an answer on what happened to their friend. And there is now a deeper mystery going on with missing girls in the area. When Talia returns with her family to stay with Kelly and reconnect with her two friend’s it seems as if someone is watching them and ready to pounce.
Although I really enjoyed the first book in the series, I have to say this one was a dud. There were way too many points of view in this one. Outside of Midge, Talia, and Kelly. We get Talia’s 12 year old daughter, Caroline’s sister, a mystery man, etc. And I really don’t buy what was the why behind the missing girls in the area. It was so convoluted it made zero sense. I just think that Staub wanted a way to bring Caroline back into things and it didn’t really work. And unlike in the first book, Midge, Talia, and Kelly started to run together in my mind. I think because the mysteries that were being revealed were not really working at all.
The ending leaves us with more loose threads and I assume Staub is going to come back to this series eventually. I think though it would have been better to end it with the first book, with questions answered.
