The Wild Girls: A Novel

Setting and characterization are keys to the take on a locked room mystery. Phoebe Morgan’s novel, The Wild Girls , is set in Deception Valley, Botswana and London, England. It features four women who were close until two years ago when events unraveled years of friendship. When Grace, Alice, and Hannah get invitations from Phoebe to an all-expenses paid birthday bash at a luxury safari lodge in Botswana, they decide to accept the invitation. This will give them the opportunity to rekindle their friendship. Upon arrival, there’s no sign of the party and limited cell phone service. Then things go awry.The author did a good job of showing the characters’ natures and backstories. Grace came through as the main character for me. She’s a homebody who finds strangers frightening and it’s hard for her to leave her flat. Alice is a teacher and living with Tom. They’ve recently purchased their flat, and that cleaned out her bank account. Hannah and her husband Chris have a new baby boy. She’s jealous of others’ opportunities to interact with adults. She’s always been the sensible one and the one to take care of everyone else. Felicity, the fun and popular one, kept them all together, until she stopped.This story is mainly told from the points of view of Grace, Alice, and Hannah. However, there are a few chapters where Phoebe’s point of view is given. While this gave insights into the character’s pasts and present situations, it also adversely affected the flow due to the frequency of change. Points of view change within chapters, not just between chapters. Part two of the book also flashes back in time.The book is set in a unique location and will thrill fans of locked-room style mysteries. The prologue is set after most of the events in the novel. After that, the story gradually builds momentum, with the unknowns continually moving the story forward until it reaches an action-filled and startling conclusion. When readers think about the ending of the book, they will likely wonder what will unfold in the next few months.The premise and setting are fantastic. Trying to understand the fallout from the event two years ago is only part of the puzzle readers will need to understand. Themes include friendship, domestic violence, secrets, betrayal, relationships, lack of belief in other’s statements, assault, and much more.Overall, this is novel was engaging, atmospheric, and thought-provoking. If you enjoy locked-room thrillers, then this may be the book for you.All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was April 26, 2022. The premise and setting are fantastic. This review was previously posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

It is interesting that a complaint I see in these reviews is that the plot is not feasible. Well....I don't read Stephen King for a feasible plot. Just saying.It was a great, fast easy read. My life is busy enough that I am lucky to get 15 minutes reading time a day, so any book that is a fast read and has just enough twists and turns to keep it interesting is worth my time and money. I am not looking for plausible or feasible. I want an escape. The relationships between the women are interesting and really, remind me of the group of friend I had growing up, that seem like friends, but everyone has some sort of thing going on, that they didn't want the others to know. We all had our secrets and our sins we wouldn't share, even with our closest friends.Best of all, it never got tedious with fluff.

I didn't care for the back and forth. Just tell the story from the beginning to the end. Hated the abrupt ending

This turned out to be a fast-paced quick read. I couldn't put it down. I was slightly disappointed by the ending as I saw it coming and wanted another twist.

Liked this book very much, had some great twists, I enjoyed the setting of this book and characters, though I wished the author would have included more of the outside/ contryside setting of Botswana in it's story.

Oh dear, for me this book had two many twists and turns and quite a few holes! Just too many unlikely happenings - too many contrived plots and definitely very little authenticity in the Botswana safari experience. It just didn’t work for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 3 starsWhen I was looking for a new thriller to read I came across this one set in the wilds of Africa and my interest was immediately piqued.Four friends are reuniting after years apart to celebrate a birthday and it all seems like the trip of a lifetime.Things quickly take a turn though and the opulent accommodations that were a welcome escape from mundane lives will soon feel like the last place they want to be.There's lots of tension among the friends and you get a sense that the last time they were all together they didn't part on the most pleasant of terms.It was a bit predictable; I didn't find myself blown away by any of the reveals and I wanted more involvement of the African setting, but overall it was a good read with pacing that kept my attention.

The four “wild girls” Grace, Felicity, Alice, and Hannah, haven’t been together since a horrible night two years before until Felicity invites the on an all-expenses paid trip to a luxury safari lodge in Botswana. When they arrive Felicity is no where to be found. They are isolated and eerie things start to happen. The narrative alternates between Grace, Alice, and Hannah and gradually the events of the past night are revealed. The book is fast-moving and I kept reading to find out what happened in the past and in their I’ll-fated stay in Botswana. However, having experienced a safari in Botswana, I was looking forward to local color that would give impressions of the wildlife and people of Botswana, but that was totally lacking. The novel could have been set anywhere. Also,the ending was disappointing and improbable.

Should appeal to keen readers of the likes of Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley & C.L. TaylorRating: 3.5/5I had previously read Phoebe Morgan's debut novel, "The Doll House", but have to admit to having not been particularly impressed by it. It struck me as being pretty standard fare for the genre and I felt that the plotting was loose with a storyline that meandered around as a consequence. It was enough to put me off trying this author's next two books. However, the synopsis for this, her fourth novel, appealed to me enough to sample her work once again."The Wild Girls" refers to the nickname that four firm friends, Alice, Felicity, Grace and Hannah had earned for themselves during their schooldays. However, something dramatically went awry and their group friendship was torn apart as a result. For years they have been living completely separate lives, when, out of the blue, the other three girls (or women, as they now are) are invited by Felicity to an expenses paid break in Botswana to celebrate her birthday. As they jet off to Africa, the former "Wild Girls" are looking forward to putting the past behind them and rekindling their friendship ... but events are soon to take an unexpected turn.This is a far better read than "The Doll House". Phoebe Morgan has clearly matured as a writer in the four years since her debut was published. The plotting is tighter and the storyline has clearer, more controlled direction. Whereas "The Doll House" was more reminiscent of the style of psychological thriller that someone like B.A. Paris might produce, "The Wild Girls" more closely resembles the type of thriller you might expect from a writer such as Ruth Ware. In fact, there are elements of this "The Wild Girls" that put me in mind of two of Ruth Ware's novels, "In A Dark, Dark Wood" and "The Lying Game".I liked the effort that Phoebe Morgan has made to find a location for the action that is fresh and different. Safari lodges in Botswana certainly make a pleasant change, from remote islands, isolated woodland hotels and alpine chalets. That said, I still don't think that her writing quite matches up to the finesse of her contemporaries such as Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley and C.L. Taylor. They are not only adept at selecting appealing, authentic settings for their novels, but they also develop credible, relatable characters and scenarios around them too. Much as I enjoyed "The Wild Girls", events do stretch credulity a little far on occasion and Phoebe Morgan's style is prone to being unnecessarily melodramatic in parts. Sometimes it is more effective to let the reader's imagination fill in the blanks rather than taking the spoon-feeding approach.Nonetheless, this is an enjoyable read, with its share of twists and turns that will keep most readers happily guessing at the eventual outcome.

I really wanted to like this after getting swept up in the Twitter hype, but it’s just ludicrous. Nothing about the plot line worked for me.Four ‘best’ friends, though none of them trust each other?Birthday party in Botswana, that you go to, on your own, trusting nobodyThe three guests who don’t even know the location of where they are goingI could go on, those are just the basics. None of the characters have any redeeming quality so ultimately you really don’t care what happens to any of them. I have learned a lesson from this Twitter hype is just that - massive exaggeration of the product.

This was an ok read. It hardly set my imagination, or my Kindle alight.I've read other books with a similar plot line, that involves estranged friends who receive an invitation to a birthday party that involves an expensive location, the promise of a luxury break/unusual location for a reunion and revenge by a deranged 'friend'.The characters are cliched, even the plot is a cliche,even if this one was a bit different, involving a luxurious lodge in deepest, darkest Botswana.While I'm happy to willing suspend my disbelief if the plot is good and tight, this one is a bit OTT, in my opinion.Would someone seeking vengeance really spend £££££ to get the satisfaction of seeing someone get their comeuppance, pay for flights and a luxury lodge in order to get revenge, when it would be cheaper to get it closer to home?And would one accept an invitation from someone that you fell out with and havent seen for years?!Ok, we wouldn't have a story without that. I get that, but I found it all a bit implausible.

What could have been a good plot decended into complete silliness. The four main characters had no endearing features, which didn't help. Frankly, it was hard to care what happened to any if them.The author should also realise that, if you're going to write about an exotic location it's best to do some VERY basic research. The various references to Botswana were laughingly inaccurate, she couldn't even get the name for the "bush" correct and kept references "plains". Botswana airport, which incidentally has no direct flights from London, being described as slightly smaller than Heathrow is hilarious - it's smaller than any regional UK airport!! Neither is the heat sticky in Botswana, it's very dry.I can't believe that this book got all the hype that it did as it's a weak story, badly researched.

Four friends all very close until one night one of them Felicity decides to introduce her new boyfriend Nate that she has been keeping to herself. Well for one of the girls Grace the meeting is a complete nightmare after a horrific event 2 years earlier. One of the girls Hannah is new mum but needs a break. One if them Alice is in a relationship but in a rut. This meeting causes a rift and felicity chooses love over her friends and the others drift apart.One day after 2 years of being apart Felicity decides to invite the girls to Botswana all expenses paid and the drama begins to unfold, who will return as more secrets are revealed. One of them is hiding the biggest secret of them all and we find out more details of her past and why she has a twisted self justification for what she does