This book definitely held my attention. The main character, Heather, was likable, and I had no idea what was going on for most of the book. It wasn't predictable, like a lot of thrillers are these days, and I certainly wasn't expecting the final twist at the end. I also enjoy books where the foul language, violence, and sexuality aren't over-the-top, and this book fit the bill. The history of the Red Lady was very interesting and creepy. The Red Lady lore, in and of itself, would make a great book! My only complaint is that the ending felt a little rushed after so much build-up. But overall it was an enjoyable, quick read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wasn't initially impressed with this story, but about 2 chapters in, I was hooked. In some ways this reminds me of the "Slender Man" stories. But I really enjoy how the story goes back and forth between the present and past, and how you see Heather beginning to mentally unravel. I had a hard time putting this down and doing other things that I needed to take care of. Excellent story!
I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Heather was twelve, she and her friends would scare each other silly with ghost stories and serial killer factoids. Then Becca, whose real life was a horror show, started telling them about the Red Lady, a figure of bloody vengeance. When Becca died, her abusive mother was arrested for it, but she was innocent. Heather and Red Lady did it. Nearly thirty years later, someone sends Heather the necklace Becca was wearing when she died. This marks the beginning of a game of cat-and-mouse that threatens Heather's job, marriage, and sanity. Solid psychological suspense, though past-Heather is a much stronger character than present-Heather.

I've been wanting to read this book as soon as I came across it on Netgalley and I am so happy I got approved for a copy because wow it was good. I love ghost stories and this is definitely a ghost story but also a story about a character slowly going insane. Dead Girls Club was like one of those movies that you can't watch because you know something bad is going to happen. You can't stop so you end up watching through your fingers. I couldn't stop reading but at the same time I had to keep going because I needed to see what would happen. It really keeps you hooked until the last paragraph.

The only reason I didn't make this a five star read instead of a four star read was because of the turn of events in the ending(which I don't want to talk about too much because spoilers) and because although I was entertained, it was not something I would read again. Definitely a great read and something I will recommend in the future.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This was my first time reading a full length novel from Damien Angelica Walters and I am so glad I did! DEAD GIRLS CLUB is a thriller/horror novel about a group of girls who met regularly to discuss true crime and other things. Like it happens with all of us, things change, things...alter. We meet Heather as a grown up and for the rest of the novel we follow along with her as Walters takes us on a journey that travels between the now and the then. This is done skillfully and I was never left in confusion. We experience what Heather experiences, and as the book ramps up and the MC begins to wonder what is real and what is fiction, so do we.

I love that the characters all seem to behave in ways that are absolutely true to the characters that Walters has created. I could see myself in both the “now” and the “then”, and honestly, that is so important to me. Not that I can see myself in a character, but that the author’s skill set has allowed them to craft REAL people. People that could just as well be real because of how grounded in truth they are.

With well-crafted writing, believable characters, high stakes discovery, and a storyline that digs its claws in, DEAD GIRLS CLUB is a coming of age tale that makes us ponder truth and fiction, love and hatred.

Publisher's description: Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face...

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real—and she could prove it.

That belief got Becca killed.

It's been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night—that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She's done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn't seen since the night Becca died.

The night Heather killed her.

Now, someone else knows what she did . . . and they're determined to make Heather pay.

**********
I've always been pretty particular about my horror writers - Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub. Not that I won't read the occasional horror novel by someone else, but I won't usually seek them out. It is time to add Damien Angelica Walters to that list! I'll be adding her other books to my TBR list.

"The Dead Girls Club" made me think of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Alternating between Then and Now, the book is narrated by Heather, Then as a 12-year-old and Now at 42. Heather has it all...a great career, a loving husband, a beautiful home and life. And she has a secret that she's never told anyone. Suspenseful enough to make you want to keep reading and well-written enough that you aren't sure if Heather is really being tormented or if she's going crazy, this is one that you won't want to put down.

I won't give anything away, so you'll have to read this one for yourself. Make sure you do. It is fantastic!

Heather has done a very good job of pushing the memories of Becca and the mysterious serial killer stories that had been told during their school days. Stories that most know to be tales, urban legends and what not. Yet Becca had convinced Heather that the Red Lady was no legend. This leads to Becca's death.

Thirty years later Heather receives a necklace in the mail, one she has not seen in years. The one Becca had on that night she was killed.... by Heather.

A great mystery story that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

This book flips between the present and past. From the first page, you are wondering what happened in the past to lead the main character to now. I found it pretty eerie at times and overall an interesting, thrilling read. I would recommend this book.

Thank you to the publishers for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, unfortunately it didn't build enough interest for me to get past chapter 5.

Thanks again to the publishers for allowing me to read in advance!

Heather is a protagonist you will love to hate. We see everything through her eyes and her eyes are flawed. I promise this is not an unreliable narrator - if that's important to you.

While everything is falling apart you'll wonder if there is something supernatural going on or not. As the story vacillates between NOW and THEN Heather's grip on reality seems to be slipping.

This title keeps you engaged and wanting to know what happens all the way through.

Twelve-year-old Heather and her three best friends have a fascination with serial killers and horror stories.  They get together to discuss all things creepy as members of the Dead Girls Club.  Heather's BFF Becca begins a series of spooky stories about the spirit of a witch known as the Red Lady who seeks revenge on her killers.  What starts as nothing more than an entertaining story for thrills soon becomes much more sinister when Heather realizes that Becca actually believes the Red Lady is real.
That strong belief leads to traumatic uncertainty for Heather when Becca is killed and her mother is sentenced to thirty years in prison for her murder.

Heather is now a happily married child psychologist.  She's been harboring a terrible secret since Becca's death and her anixety grows when she learns Becca's mother has been released from prison.
Then a necklace arrives in the mail... a friendship necklace that Becca was wearing the night that she died.  Heather knows this because she was there.  She knows what happened---and now someone else does, too.

This was a creepy read perfect for the Halloween season.  I enjoyed the alternating timeline between 1991 and the present, especially the authentic dynamic of friendship between pre-teen girls and the atmosphere of the early 90's.
Present day Heather started mostly calm and collected but quickly spiraled. Readers begin to understand the evidence of trauma that is triggered only when the necklace arrives in the mail.  

This book really kept me guessing, I honestly had no clue what the twist was going to be!  One part of the twist felt ridiculous while the other was a nice touch.  Overall, The Dead Girls Club is a fun read with some spooky vibes and a couple surprises!

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  The Dead Girls Club is scheduled for release on December 10, 2019.

A genuinely frightening mystery (the sections about The Red Woman really tap into the kinds of primal fears embodied by childhood campfire stories and legitimately spooked me, and I don't spook easily) with a disappointingly convoluted and silly twist ending. Like others have mentioned, I felt the real strengths of The Dead Girls Club rested in the "Then" sections, which were more richly drawn, naturalistic, and intriguing than the "Now" plot, to the point that I wish there were no "Now" framework at all and the novel took place entirely in '91 and focused on the girls' club and the murder.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a serious page turner! It was unputdownable! It kept me up reading past my bedtime trying to find out what happened to Becca. What was the deal with the Red Lady?!

After loving Little Darlings by Melanie Golding, I was pumped to receive an email from Crooked Lane Books inviting me to take part in the Blog Tour for The Dead Girls Club. The Dead Girls Club was the perfectly creepy and compelling book for Spookathon.

› Heather, Becca, Rachel and Gia were the The Dead Girls Club - a book club where they talked about true crime, serial killers, and supernatural scary stories. One night, Becca tells them the story of The Red Lady, a woman who was accused of being a witch and buried alive. Becca claims The Red Lady is real, and promises to prove it.
Almost thirty years later, Heather is a Child psychologist. She's married with a good life...until - the other half of a "Best Friends Forever" charm she once shared with Becca mysteriously arrives at her office in an envelope. Becca was killed during the summer after seventh grade. Heather claims The Red Lady made her do it. Afraid that someone knows what she did, Heather tracks down Becca's mom, and the other members of The Dead Girls Club to try and figure out who knows the truth.

"You never knew who was secretly a monster."

• Told in first-person and two timelines, The Dead Girls Club seamlessly switches from 1991 to the present. I LOVE the writing style.
• Heather is a slightly-unreliable narrator and I'm so here for it. Sometimes I hated her, sometimes I cried for her...I felt every emotion possible. Her and Becca are the lead characters and jump off the page, however, the secondary characters did feel a little cookie-cutter.
• The juxtaposition between Heather's advice to her clients and what she does is fantastic and a clear indication that she hasn't dealt with her own childhood trauma.
• The pacing and plot are well-done, yet the ending felt a little rushed to me.

› Triggers
• self-harm, parental abuse, neglect, murder, anxiety, alcoholism

› Final Thoughts
• With a sinister atmosphere, The Dead Girls Club, is a supernatural page-turner about obsessions, secrets, friendship, mother-daughter relationships, loyalty and betrayal. If you liked Girl on the Train, Her Pretty Face, or Little Darlings, then I think you'll like The Dead Girls Club. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*

I received an advance digital copy of this book from the author, Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Dead Girls Club is a fast paced read that moves along like a film. Cinemagraphic in description and mood, the fear and confusion are palpable. I devoured this book in a day!!

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

This book was a definite page turner. I loved the story about four friends and their "Dead Girls Club" where they would discuss serial killers and the red lady. The red lady reminded me a lot of bloody Mary. Just reading about the red lady reminded me of all the spooky stories I use to talk about with my childhood friends.
The end of the book had some twists I did not see coming.
I would definitely recommend this book! I can't wait to get my preordered copy!

I read the first two chapters of this book and all I can really say about it is that it desperately wants to be a Riley Sager book when it grows up. Maybe if it was shorter I would have pushed my way through it and who knows it might turn out really good at the end, but I just can't read a book that is over 90,000 words long when I hate the main character pretty much from page one. I'm sure this will be an enjoyable read for many people but I know that if I continue to read it I'll just be comparing it to Sager's books the whole time and that's not really going to be fun for anyone.

Remember when you were a kid and you used to play the silly, scary games - Bloody Mary, using a ouija board, holding a seance? Well, Walters brings us Red Lady and a group of girls, more precisely two, that took it just a little too far.

I enjoy the then and now perspectives in alternating chapters. Heather is the main character and her adult self is spiraling after she starts getting clues that maybe her best friend, who disappeared, may not really be gone - but no one knows her secret but her... right? Her child self takes me back to those days where friendships easily collapse but the loyalty is still real and the sneaking out and doing creepy things are a part of the after school rituals. No one is just sitting at home on social media. But then, we are back in a different era during her childhood and I AM HERE FOR IT (yes, I'm showing age). There is definitely a little bit of a creepy factor when we're getting involved with the story of the Red Lady and after all is said and done - I see where the author was taking us in why this was SO important to Heather's best friend, Becca, and I applaud this reasoning.

The back and forth in timeline does give this book more of a YA than adult fiction feel (which I am not mad about). I do wish there maybe was a little more on them as kids and seeing through more than just Heather's view. Heather as an adult is madness. Paranoia reigns supreme. Some of her actions are extremely questionable but I am always ok with suspending some reality when reading a fiction novel.

I did feel a little bit let down by the ending. I expected more after everything that was built up and was maybe hoping for something that made me go more than, "Oh." I flew through the first half of this book and then was a little slower in ending as the feeling of the book shifted a little bit. If we are going to keep this in a horror category, then I'd say it's definitely more on the lighter horror side.

Still a very entertaining read and I certainly will be picking up more from this author.

I really enjoyed this book! There was a great atmoshere, and I loved that this was about a girl looking back on her childhood memories including the complicated relationship she had with her childhood friend who went missing. I also appreciated that Walters didn't lead us along. I really felt that she as the author delivered on what was promised in the book!

Damien is a master of a writer. I loved the creepy story telling and myth of "The Red Lady". A story not to be missed.