Review of "The Perfect Girl: A Novel of Suspense" by Gilly Macmillan

 

Zoe Guerin is a piano prodigy who got into a posh high school in Devon, England on a music scholarship.



The snobby rich students had little use for Zoe......



.....and to fit in, 14-year-old Zoe did things she shouldn't - like get behind the wheel of a car and drive drunk classmates around. The car crashed, three students died, and Zoe was sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile secure unit.



The incident devastated Zoe's parents and ruptured their marriage. When Zoe was released, her mother Maria moved Zoe and herself to Bristol, changed their last name to Maisey, and told no one about Zoe's accident. Maria met and married a rich widower called Chris.....



.....whose teenage son Lucas is also a talented pianist.



A baby girl named Grace came along soon afterwards, and the knit-together family now seems to be doing well in what Zoe calls her 'second chance life.'



Maria and Chris want to assist the careers of their gifted children and arrange for Zoe and Lucas, both now 17-years-old, to give a piano recital in a Bristol church.



As the teens start playing a disturbance leads to the exposure of the tragic incident in Zoe's past, which was largely a secret until now. The revelation has unexpected repercussions, and before the next morning, Maria is dead. The rest of the novel explores how and why this happened.



The story alternates back and forth between the past and present, and is told from the rotating points of view of Zoe;



Aunt Tessa (Maria's sister) - who was assigned the task of filming the recital;



and Sam - the lawyer who represented Zoe after the car accident.



We read about Zoe's version of the car crash and Zoe's time in the secure unit, where she learned the past will follow her forever. We also see what happens at Zoe's home after the piano concert, where everyone is anxious and on edge.

There's a small, but rich array of characters in the book, who have issues like infidelity; alcoholism; irresponsiblilty; dishonesty; health worries; violent tendencies; and more. Secrets are revealed as the story unfolds, leading to a dramatic denouement.

The book is a page-turner that held my attention from the beginning to the end, which I found quite satisfying.

Rating: 3.5 stars