Everyone’s heard of the girl from Widow Hills. She was lost for 3 days and then rescued while the world watched. Arden was only six when her sleepwalking took a dangerous turn. She managed to make it outside the house and get swept away in a flash flood. One of her shoes was found by a grate to the storm drain system, so the entire town spent days searching for little Arden while the entire world watched it all on television. By a miracle, a man saw her little hand holding onto a grate, and he held on to her until they could cut a hole in the concrete and get her out of the storm drains.
Her stunning rescue, shown live in television, was followed by a painful surgery on Arden’s shoulder, countless media appearances, a book by her mother, and years of her being recognized. Exhausted from it all, she changed her name to Olivia, went to college, and found a job far away in hospital administration. She has a whole new life.
But the past is never really gone.
As the twentieth anniversary of her rescue comes near, Olivia’s guard comes up. She starts looking around for journalists tracking her down. She knows that social media will replay the old stories and add new ones. And the stress of waiting for that shoe to fall causes it all to start happening again. The nightmares. The night terrors. The sleepwalking.
And when she wakes up outside of her house one night, stumbling over a dead body, she knows that the past she tried so desperately to get away from has shown back up, on her doorstep. And she has to stay vigilant, or she’ll get swept away by something she can’t understand.
Megan Miranda’s The Girl from Widow Hills is an exemplary thriller, with twists and secrets that come from nowhere and yet fit perfectly into the twisty puzzle of the story. Everything about this novel is beautiful—from the fully developed characters to the surprise at the end. The story spirals through questions and doubts in a way to keep you guessing, until that moment where it all falls into place near the end. The Girl from Widow Hills is as close to a perfect thriller as I’ve read in a really long time. If you’re a fan of thrillers or mysteries, move this one to the top of your list!
Egalleys for The Girl from Widow Hills were provided by Simon & Schuster through NetGalley, with many thanks.