Release Date: June 13th 2023
Publisher: Titan Books
Pages: 384
Find it on: Goodreads. Waterstones.
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis

A chilling and eerie tale of monsters, teen angst and small-town America for fans of Stranger Things, The Thing, and the 1990s

Three girls went into the woods. Only two came back, covered in blood and with no memory of what happened. Or did they?

Being fifteen is tough, tougher when you live in a boring-ass small town like Little Hope, California (population 8,302) in 1996. Donna, Rae and Kat keep each other sane with the fervour of teen girl friendships, zine-making and some amateur sleuthing into the town’s most enduring mysteries: a lost gold mine, and why little Ronnie Gaskins burned his parents alive a decade ago.

Their hunt will lead them to a hidden cave from which only two of them return alive. Donna the troublemaker can’t remember anything. Rae seems to be trying to escape her memories of what happened, while her close-minded religious family presses her for answers. And Kat? Sweet, wannabe writer Kat who rebelled against her mom’s beauty pageant dreams by getting fat? She’s missing. Dead. Or terribly traumatised, out there in the woods, alone.

As the police circle and Kat’s frantic mother Marybeth starts doing some investigating of her own, Rae and Donna will have to return to the cave where they discover a secret so shattering that no-one who encounters it will ever be the same.

Review

Girls of Little Hope is the dark and gripping tale of three friends who go missing in the woods. As police and the public begin to mount a search for girls, two of them – Donna and Rae – are found. When questioned about the whereabouts of their friend – Kat, the two girls say they can’t remember what happened to them. Plagued with questions, the missing girl’s mother decides to launch her own investigation to discover what happened to her daughter. Donna doesn’t remember what happened, but she’s determined to find out what happened to Kat. Returning the woods and the cave they entered, Donna uncovers a secret so much darker than she ever thought possible.

Girls of Little Hope is a wild ride of a tale. I never in a million years would have guessed where this story was going and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Eerie and full of mystery, this is definitely a horror book that keeps you guessing. The story is fairly quick paced and I really liked the way the authors included some mixed media in the story with zines and newspaper articles.

Girls of Little Hope is certainly creepy and there is plenty of atmosphere as the girls explore the isolated woods and cave. The story sort of gives a Stranger Things in the 90s vibe and overall this was a compelling and entertaining story. There are a few gruesome moments, so be sure to check content warnings.

The story very much centres around these three girls and their friendship and I loved the way this was portrayed. It also explores the mother-daughter relationship in a really fascinating way too. Donna, Rae and Kat are all very different people but despite that stick with each other through thick and thin. The characters felt well developed and I was definitely rooting for them throughout the book.

If you’re looking for an eerie horror tale that will keep you gripped until you turn the very last page, Girls of Little Hope is definitely a book worth picking up.