The Girl Who Survived by Lisa Jackson

EXCERPT: She was seven again, unlocking the attic door and running down the stairs that curved around and around, spiraling downward to the sound of music – Christmas music. It was faint and there was conversation. Her father arguing with someone. A door slamming. Her mother’s screaming. Marlie’s warnings insisting that she keep quiet and stay in the attic. Faster and faster Kara ran, always downward along the never-ending staircase, her bare feet stumbling on the wetness, her fingers grazing the rail that was slick. “Mama,” she called. “Daddy . . .”

But her voice was muffled over the sound of thuds and shouts and shrieks and that song, that carol echoing loudly as the grandfather clock resounded up the staircase.

Bong, bong, bong.

She lifted her hand from the rail. It was red with blood.

And her feet? They, too, were red, slipping in the blood that dripped from one step to the next.

“Mama!” she cried as the clock’s tolling and the horrid Christmas Carol echoed through her brain.

“Sleep in heavenly peace . . .”

ABOUT ‘THE GIRL WHO SURVIVED’: All her life, she’s been the girl who survived. Orphaned at age seven after a horrific killing spree at her family’s Oregon cabin, Kara McIntyre is still searching for some kind of normal. But now, twenty years later, the past has come thundering back. Her brother, Jonas, who was convicted of the murders has unexpectedly been released from prison. The press is in a frenzy again. And suddenly, Kara is receiving cryptic messages from her big sister, Marlie—who hasn’t been seen or heard from since that deadly Christmas Eve when she hid little Kara in a closet with a haunting, life-saving command: Don’t make a sound.

As people close to her start to die horrible deaths, Kara, who is slowly and surely unraveling, believes she is the killer’s ultimate target.

Kara survived once. But will she survive again? How many times can she be the girl who survived?

MY THOUGHTS: If you’re looking for a read to make your heart race, pick up a copy of The Girl Who Survived. My heart beat at an accelerated rate from beginning to end. This was a read that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout, never knowing until the big reveal, just who really was behind the gruesome killings.

This is a twisty and twisted tale. There is a lot of enmity between the various factions of the extended and blended McIntyre family. Lust, jealousy and greed combine to form a maelstrom that many don’t survive. But the burning question is ‘Did Jonas do it?’

Kara is a complex character. She has been in therapy for the twenty years since the massacre. She suffers from anxiety (no surprise there!) and paranoia, always feeling as though she is being watched. She still has nightmares. She has anger and trust issues, and drinks more than is good for her to try and keep her demons at bay. She feels guilty about an off duty policeman having lost his life while saving hers, but is resistant to the efforts of his son to connect with her. And all the time in the background is Aunty Fai, the woman entrusted with her care and the administration of her parents estate, badgering her, and trying to make money from the family tragedy. No wonder Kara hides from the world!

Although this is a pulse pounding read, it does have a few faults. Just how many times do we need to have the massacre described in full? It became repetitious, and was unnecessary. The ending felt rushed and just a little OTT, BUT I loved the scene with the turntable. Maximum points for that Lisa Jackson! I think the chapter at the end with the police recapping exactly what they thought had happened and Kara and Wesley doing the same, was unnecessary and overkill. We got what really happened. It would have been much better to have cut straight to the epilogue.

But overall, I enjoyed this. And next time I want a prolonged period with an elevated heart rate, I will be picking up another Lisa Jackson thriller.

The Girl Who Survived by Lisa Jackson is due for publication 28 June 2022.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.2

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THE AUTHOR: Before she became a nationally bestselling author, Lisa Jackson was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping against hope that someone would pay her for them. Today, neck deep in murder, her books appear on The New York Times, the USA Today, and the Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists.

With over thirty bestsellers to her name, Lisa Jackson is a master of taking readers to the edge of sanity – and back – in novels that buzz with dangerous secrets and deadly passions. She continues to be fascinated by the minds and motives of both her killers and their pursuers—the personal, the professional and downright twisted. As she builds the puzzle of relationships, actions, clues, lies and personal histories that haunt her protagonists, she must also confront the fear and terror faced by her victims, and the harsh and enduring truth that, in the real world, terror and madness touch far too many lives and families. Before she became a nationally bestselling author, Lisa Jackson was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping against hope that someone would pay her for them. Today, neck deep in murder, her books appear on The New York Times, the USA Today, and the Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Kensington Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Girl Who Survived by Lisa Jackson for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

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