My Girl by Jack Jordan. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) via Netgalley included. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Paige Dawson’s addiction to alcohol and prescription painkillers is slowly killing her. But it’s the only way Paige can deal with her grief. Ten years ago her 14-year-old daughter, Chloe, was murdered. All they found was her arm. And now Paige is a widow, her husband having died by suicide.

During her moments of lucidity Paige notices that strange things are happening. Someone has put her husband’s things away and then they disappear completely. All his belongings are gone and his face has been scratched out of every photo. Paige confronts her mother-in-law, the only other person with a key, who insists it wasn’t her. Paige must have done it while drunk and high, right? But surely she would remember doing something so important. She would remember, wouldn’t she?

I’m a fan of unreliable narrators. I enjoy second guessing what a character has told me. In this instance, there is a lot of second guessing as Paige seems to further lose her grip on reality.

Judging by the reviews I’ve seen so far, I’m in the minority but I much preferred the first section of My Girl. Instead of being the psychological thriller about one woman’s struggle to get over the murder of her daughter and the subsequent death of her husband, My Girl became much more shock and awe.

There are elements of the storyline that do not require nuance. Things become pretty clear cut, in terms of who the perpetrator is. That doesn’t make it any easier to read, content wise and it doesn’t make it any less one dimensional in places. The depth I loved in the initial section disappears completely.

My Girl is a thriller with potential. Jack Jordan’s writing is clear and concise. Jordan has shown he can write with incredible depth. While My Girl lost its way in parts, Jack Jordan is definitely a writer to keep an eye on.

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