A Book A Week

"The world's an evil place, my darlings. . ."

Author Minka Kent has been on my radar for several years now. Many of my bookish buddies seem to enjoy her penchant for twisty, fast-paced thrillers, so I've been eager to read her works. Enter The Stillwater Girls, Kent's latest novel. The summary promised, "a chilling novel of psychological suspense," the exact kind of book that sends me into a fervor of reading through the night until I finish. And so when I got the opportunity to read an advance copy from the publisher, I settled into a comfy spot and started reading.

Wren and Sage are starting to get worried. The teenage sisters have lived a life of careful seclusion in their cabin in the woods along with their mother and youngest sister Evie. For their entire lives, their mother has warned them of the dangers of the outside world. "You're safe here. With me. I'll never let anything happen to you," their mother says. But then Evie gets gravely ill, and their mother has no choice but to take Evie from the security of their cabin. It has been several months since the pair left, leaving Wren and Sage to fend for themselves. Food is getting scarce and the chill of winter threatens to take over any day now. One night there is a knock on their cabin door, and everything changes.

Nicolette's dream life is starting to crumble. She's married to the man of her dreams and has a family fortune that ensures she'll never have to worry financially, but her life is far from perfect. Her infertility has left her desperate to have a child and put a strain on her marriage. Nicolette thinks becoming a foster parent might be the cure to her marital woes, but her husband Brant seems uninterested. When she finds the picture hidden amongst his personal belongings, she's almost certain he has given up on their relationship. What else could possibly go wrong?

For 80% of The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent, I was completely enthralled with the characters and mystery, breathlessly flipping through the pages to read what would happen next. Kent alternates the separate plots, ending each chapter with a small cliffhanger that keeps the reader wanting more. I kept telling myself, "just one more page!" Then the twist happened. Every review I've read of the book says the same thing, but it warrants a retread here. Up until the big reveal toward the end of the novel, The Stillwater Girls is nearly flawless. It's not that I wasn't expecting some grand unveiling of information that would somehow make sense of the two seemingly disparate narratives. It's just that the reveal wasn't believable. Worse, the twist seemed to sully all the great buildup that preceded it. All the careful plotting and character development were eschewed for a quick revelation that simply didn't work. And just like that, The Stillwater Girls went from being a superb novel of psychological suspense to an average thriller with an absurd ending.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2019, 13)