Name: The New Girl
Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
ISBN: 9781984819970

Harriet Walker

"Random House book club"--Page 4 of cover.

The New Girl

Cindy

Margot Jones is about to go on Maternity leave from fashion magazine Haute and has handpicked her replacement, Maggie, a freelance journalist. Margot has picked Maggie thinking that Maggie could never stand in her shoes and be as successful a fashion editor as she is. Meanwhile, Margot's best friend Winnie has suffered a tragic loss and is acting distant towards her. Combine these three elements and we have one heck of a story.

I quickly became immersed in this tale told from the alternating viewpoints of Margot, Maggie, and Winnie. With Margot's due date coming closer Margot becomes more paranoid and insecure than ever before. Maggie is handling her new position at Haute much better than Margot anticipated. and Winnie has completely abandoned their friendship. Maggie is not as innocent as Margot thought and is she trying to permanently replace her? Winnie seems to be scheming against Margot and is holding a terrible secret over Margot's head. With every new social media post Margot's paranoia spirals.

I was completely caught up in this tale of secrets, betrayal and hidden agendas. With the surprise ending and well-crafted plotline I highly recommend this book.This review was originally posted on Cindy’s Book Stacks

Anika | @chaptersofmay

TW: child loss

The New Girl is slow burn mystery, with a dazzling setting and fascinating characters. The story is told from the perspective of three neurotic women: Margot, Maggie, and Winnie. Margot is the fashion editor of Haute magazine and pregnant with her first child. Maggie is a freelance journalist, who covers for Margot as she goes on maternity leave. And Winnie is Margot’s friend from school who sadly loses her baby shortly after birth. As a result, her friendship with Margot begins to deteriorate. With big changes all moving at once, Margot falls into a spiral of distrust and paranoia in this thrillingly trendy tale. 

If you were to split the book into three parts, the first two feel dramatically slower than the third, which does affect the overall pace. The build-up is good, and has a great level of intensity, but does feel a tad uneven. However, I do like the way Walker unravels certain elements of the story and her style is easy to follow. The tension in her writing is well-layered, which kept me engaged, even when the chapter felt slow.

The book exposes insecurities, grief, motherhood, and cyber bullying, all with the fickle world of fashion. I like that the author gives the reader a warm look into female friendship, and the alternating POVs really round out the narrative. The reader gets to know the characters, their backstories, and their relationships well enough to make this thriller exciting. The New Girl isn’t a heart-pounding read, so I enjoyed the levity of the character development mixed with suspenseful moments as the account moved along.

Sadly, I wasn’t a fan of the ending of The New Girl – I think it let the book down. After so many pages building up to a climax, I wanted the final chapters to keep up some level of ferocity, but it seemed to settle. I don’t read thrillers for happily ever afters, so I would have liked an ending that matched the rest of the book’s tone. Still, I really enjoyed reading The New Girl. The debut has been described as “The Devil Wears Prada meets Gone Girl”, and I’d say that’s brilliantly accurate. It’s an absorbing mystery, with a very timely theme and a glamorous backdrop.

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Manon van Heumen

Afyer much thought, I decided to give this book 4 stars. It started out slow, and I was a bit afraid that I wasn't going to like it. But then, after 100 pages or so, it got really interesting as the characters started to interwine with each other. The ending had me on the edge of my seat, and I flew through it. Can highly recommend!

The New Girl

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