Loved this story! I want to see FBI agent Nell Flynn have a series. She is a great damaged character. I got vibes of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone. I enjoyed the dark, gritty feel of the setting conjured up from Ms. Alger's descriptive writing. This town in Suffolk County New York, where there's a real divide between the wealthy and the working class. The cops, the restaurant workers, housekeepers, struggle to fit in, it's their town too, and the town cannot survive without them. This was another book that I did not put down and finished over the course of a weekend. I am looking forward to seeing The Banker's Wife on the screen and I think this character of Nell Flynn can have her own Netflix series. Bravo!

Girls Like Us was my second Cristina Alger book. It was intense with some crazy twists! When Nell returns home for her father’s funeral, she becomes involved in the investigation of two young women. As she continues to dig deeper, she starts to uncover more and more that makes her question her father. Now she doesn’t know who to trust because her father was a detective. Nell is FBI, but does that mean she can trust the other detectives or cops in Suffolk County? I did figure out the twist in this one pretty quickly, but I thought it was well written and couldn’t put it down. I think I finished it in two days!

When I first started the book, I wasn't sure what to expect. Before actually reading I hadn't re-read the summary so everything was a shock, which is exactly what I wanted.

Let's start at the beginning... Nell goes home to Long Island after her father dies and she gets more than she bargained for. The reader gets more than they bargained for as well because I didn't expect this to turn into more than a typical murder mystery. This is so much more than a domestic thriller, in so many ways. Aren't those the best books, though? The ones that start off as one thing and quickly become something else?

Throughout the book, you are taken on this journey with Nell as she is brought in on this serial killer case, but then you see everything start to unravel; Nell discovers that this isn't just a typical serial killer mystery but something deeper, with powerful men, sex workers, and a hidden secret about her father.

Nell wavers off on her own to solve the case, without the help of anyone because she can't trust anyone besides herself. What she finds out about the place she's lived her entire life, the men she grew up with, and the murder of her mother is not what she expected and truthfully not what I expected either.

There were times throughout the book where I thought I knew what was going on or what would happen but then Alger pulled the rug out from under me. This book is a true journey and you're constantly rooting for Nell to figure things out.

There are multiple endings to "Girls Like Us"; what I mean by that is that when you think the book is over and everything is calm, something else explosive happens. Then, after that ending, something else is revealed that ties everything up in a neat little bow.

One of the things I liked most about this book was the setting. That definitely won't be true for everyone but I live in Queens, right on the border of Long Island and I'm there all the time/grew up going there frequently. While I'm not 100% sure if all the places mentioned in the book are real, a lot of the locations are and it was interesting to hear a story that takes place so close to my home.

I loved the character development of Nell and everyone around her, especially because it made everything that happens so much more exciting and unexpected. As I mentioned before, I was truly addicted to this book. I was about 10 chapters in and then just finished the rest in one sitting over the weekend. I couldn't move until I knew how this story ended and I finished the book feeling totally satisfied.

I'm confident in saying "Girls Like Us" is going to be one of my top books of the year and I highly advise you all to read it!

I loved this thriller! It was great to see a mixed-race Latina lead and undocumented Latina victims treated with respect. Great mystery and I genuinely didn't see the ending coming, which is rare for the number of thrillers I read!

I must confess, I wasn't expecting very much from this novel because I'd read so little about it. However, Girls Like Us is outstanding! Very, very highly recommended.

I have recently been able to catch up on a few books that are long overdue for a review on my shelf! This one, “Girls Like Us” by Christina Alger is one I truly enjoyed. Our strong main character, Nell, is an FBI agent who returns home after the unexpected death of her semi-estranged father. Amidst the Good Ol Boys club of the local police station, Nell finds memories flooding back from her childhood surrounding the brutal death of her mother. When she is drawn further into a local investigation of two young women found dead she is forced to consider that maybe her father was involved in all three women’s deaths. How long until they decide she knows too much? I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger is a G.P. Putnam's Sons publication.

Another winner for Christina Alger!!

FBI agent, Nell Flynn is having a hard go of it, lately. Her career is teetering on the edge because she is avoiding the necessary therapy required to return to work after killing a man and taking a bullet in the line of duty. Then her father, from whom she is estranged, dies in a motorcycle accident, forcing her to return home to plan his funeral and get his estate in order.

But, when an old friend, who happens to be a homicide detective, asks Nell to quietly advise him with the investigation of two murdered women, she agrees to help. However, the case takes a twisted, horrifying turn when the evidence points to her own father as the prime suspect.

Wow. This book is a real mind-bender. The atmosphere is thick enough to slice with a knife, creating a palpable sense of dread. The murder investigation delves into topics that feel like an eerie premonition of current headlines. The author did an amazing job bringing key issues to the forefront in a realistic, eye-opening manner. Nell’s character is extremely well-drawn and her first -person narrative is haunting and quite effective.

I was sucked into the story immediately and sat on pins and needles from beginning to end. Although one can see where the story is probably headed, there are some truly shocking twists and big reveals that took me completely by surprise. The suspense builds to a near fever pitch, then hits you with a gut-wrenching sucker punch to the emotions. I love it when a book holds me firmly in its grip the way this one did.

Overall, this is a soli

A quick and easy read with lots of twists and turns that keeps the reader's attention. The end wrapped up a little to quickly and was a bit jarring, but otherwise a good read.

When FBI Agent Nell finds out about her father's death she has no idea that a web of lies and scandal are about to be unleashed. Nell and her father, a police officer, hadn't been close- especially in the last several years- so as she sets out to tie up loose ends, including a case he had been working on, she begins to question if she really knew him at all. This gripping story dives into a dark world of crime and corruption and keeps you on the edge of your seat. You won't see the ending coming!

Cristina Alger is a genius at whiplash fast twists in her thrillers! She managed to leave me totally reeling yet again with this book she never fails to leave you breathless and filled with anticipation reading her stories you just stay in a sense of what's next? The creepy factor was a lot more heightened in Girls like us then in the bankers wife and it had a lot more of a dark vibe to it it would be a perfect read for around fall time it kept me intrigued from beginning to end and truly surprised me with its plot twists what more can you ask for in a thriller!

Girls Like Us is a well written and nicely plotted thriller. I didn't really connect to the characters, so this wasn't a huge standout mystery for me, but overall, an entertaining read.

I got a free copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thanks, Netgalley!

Wow! I loved this book. I got sucked in right away and couldn't put it down. I found the lead character, Nell, to be very likeable. When she returns home for her policeman father's funeral and tries to tie up his last unfinished investigation, she stumbles across some things that make her believe her dad may have been involved in the murders. I raced through, trying to untangle the mystery before the end! Super fun read. I didn't *dislike* her first title, but in my opinion this one was much better and more suspenseful. I also really like the cover.

Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger was published under Penguin Group Putnam on July 2, 2019. This was the second book of hers I've read (first was The Banker's Wife).

Synopsis: When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father's ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father's partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect--and that his friends on the police force are covering his tracks. Plagued by doubts about her mother's murder--and her own role in exonerating her father in that case--Nell can't help but ask questions about who killed Ria Ruiz and Adriana Marques and why. But she may not like the answers she finds--not just about those she loves, but about herself.

This book was slow to take off for me, which was the opposite of Banker's Wife. I totally understood the dread Nell felt upon returning home to deal with the loss of her father...a man she really hadn't liked in the past several years. The case really seems open and shut, until she starts to dig. At that point, it read like an episode of Criminal Minds or SVU for me. The risk and danger surrounding Nell once she started to investigate was truly interesting. She finds an unlikely assistant within the police department, and that relationship made this book feel so real. The ending was nicely tied up and interesting enough. Honestly, I felt a little bummed after finishing this book because it didn't give me the same feeling Banker's Wife did. I know they are separate books and can't really be compared, but I feel like I would have enjoyed this one more if I had read it first.

Don't let my opinion sway you from this book-I really have enjoyed her writing and plot twists. For me, it's a solid 4 star rating. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars

I didn’t quite manage to read this book in one sitting, but I sure wanted to! Very well written, excellent character development, a few twists & turns and a good deal of suspense. This is my first Christina Alger book, and it certainly won’t be my last!

I thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. This author was new to me and I was not let down. It was a great story and very well written. The characters were easy to relate to and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend this to everyone!!

I was bored by this police procedural, didn’t care for the protagonist and I am not a fan of first person present tense narration. The book just wasn’t for me. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I started reading this book and couldn't put it down. It's a twisting turning thriller that started out slowly but picked up and then never let up until the end. The characters are complex and the writing absorbing.

I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Christina Alger, author of The Banker's Wife, follows up that bestseller with an exhilarating thriller featuring a strong female protagonist in an untenable predicament.

In Girls Like Us, Nell, an FBI agent on leave following a work-related injury, has reached a crossroads in her life. She has never been confident that the right man was brought to justice for her mother's murder, even though she provided an alibi for her father. He has supposedly died in a motorcycle accident, but the more questions Nell asks, the more she finds the circumstances suspicious.

Alger's thriller never compromises its authenticity and credulity. At the outset, Nell is comforted by her father's fellow detective and best friend, Glenn Dorsey. But his last partner, Lee Davis, one of Nell's classmates, asks her to serve as a consultant as he investigates two grisly murders of young women that no one seems to care much about. Both women were poor, undocumented Latinas and became sex workers in order to survive. Nell is put off when Dorsey and other members of the force seem convinced that they know the killer's identity, even though crucial pieces of evidence simply don't fit.

Nell -- determined and relentless in her commitment to the investigation -- discovers evidence that is at odds with the father she knew, an alcoholic with a temper who lived modestly on a detective's salary, by a strict code of honor. Nell's first-person narrative is extremely effective in not only revealing her inner struggle, but propelling the story forward at an unrelenting pace. His usually tidy house is a mess, his bills unpaid. Details about her father's estate and recent activities are shocking. Unable to reconcile her findings, Nell fears that not only could her father have been a serial killer . . . but he may have murdered her own mother.

Alger cleverly makes several characters suspects not just in the murder investigation, but the underlying web of relationships and interests that motivated them. She expertly injects surprising plot twists and red herrings to keep readers interested. Nell is a sympathetic character -- a loner who has enjoyed career success solely on her own merits and has convinced herself that she can work through her emotions without assistance or support. She has been running from her emotions for a decade. Most importantly, she is a committed agent who is repulsed by the indifference shown by the local police to the murder victims and their families, relentless in her drive to find their killer.

Girls Like Us is an intricately constructed, eerily timely story about a tenacious young woman who refuses to permit the murders of two young women, in which she glimpses aspects of herself, remain unsolved. It is a story about lost chances -- not just for the murder victims, but for Nell and her father, as well. Alger proves again that she is capable of creating an engrossing, fast-paced thriller with emotional depth. Girls Like Us is one of 2019's must-read thrillers.

Exceptional writing, a unique setting, and a strong female protagonist combine to make this crime thriller one to savor though it's more fun to devour it in a single sitting!

What it's about: Nell Flynn, a 28-year old FBI agent who works in the BAU, returns to Long Island to scatter her father's ashes. Martin Flynn was a Suffolk County detective and only 52 years old when he skidded off the highway while riding his motorcycle. Though they were estranged and Nell hadn't been back for over 10 years, she is there to settle his debts, sell his house, and relive the memories of her childhood near Hamptom Bays. After she and her father's fellow detectives take care of putting Martin to rest, her father's partner, Lee Davis asks Nell for her help with an investigation he and Martin were conducting. Two young Latina women have been found, dismembered and buried in shallow graves in public preserve parks and they've not had any luck finding the perpetrator. When they start talking to various local people and run down some clues, they find surprising information that has Nell worried. Was her father the killer? NO SPOILERS

Why you should read it: Nell Flynn is a great character. She's full of contradictions and it's quite easy to like her and find her believable. The narrative is filled with descriptive prose that captures the feeling of the landscape and the area so well that it makes me want to visit that place. There's a great build of tension as Nell makes her discoveries and starts piecing things together. It was very hard to put this book down as I wanted answers just as much as she did! The backstory about Nell's mother was intriguing and the resolution was appropriate and rewarding. Here's another book that would make a great miniseries and I hope I haven't seen the last of Nell as I think this could be the start of a great series. This is the first book by this author that I've read, but it won't be the last!

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the e-book ARC to read and review.

I loved this 'book. Christina Alger knows how to develop characters and a story line. The Bankers Wife was one of my favorites from last year and Girls Like Us w'ill be Favorite for this year for sure.