“The Dead Girls Club” is a slow-paced, riveting horror novel that keeps readers on their toes from start to finish.

The novel is told in dual timelines. In the past, twelve-year-old Heather and her friends were members of “The Dead Girls Club”, where they shared their interest in the macabre, from telling ghost stories to talking about true crime. It’s just harmless fun, but when Heather’s friend, Becca, becomes obsessed with the story of the “Red Lady”, things become a lot more sinister. Is the Red Lady embellished fact or pure fiction? The lines begin to blur for both Heather and the reader. The present day timeline is set decades later, where Becca has been missing for years and Heather has become a child psychologist. One day in the office, Heather receives a mysterious message from someone who might just know what happened to Becca years ago. But how does Heather know that these messages aren’t coming from Becca herself? Because she killed her.

This book is compelling, and while we know the outcome of the past timeline right away, it is still unputdownable. How Becca’s death happens is unknown to the reader, and there are a few startling twists along the way.

Heather is a sympathetic protagonist, and it’s clear that the guilt from what she did has been weighing on her all these years. The anxiety that she feels is almost palpable in the writing. Little things, like the way that she picks at her cuticles until they bleed, are realistic, disturbing, and incite higher stress levels in the reader.

The book is gruesome at parts, and the tension never truly lets up. As the book progresses, Heather grows more and more obsessed with figuring out who’s reaching out to her, and her own sanity starts to come into question.

All in all, this is an enjoyable read, but not for the faint of heart!

It took me a very long time to read this novel because the beginning just didn’t catch me like most novels that I like. The Dead Girls Club did eventually capture my attention due to its ability to encapsulate dread and emotion in a way that feels unique. I recommend that you pick this book up even if it takes a few tries to commit to reading it.

The Dead Girls Club is a suspenseful psychological thriller that will keep you up at night!

The story takes us back to 1991 when Heather and her friends were members of a club called the Dead Girls Club. Disturbing to say the least, the girls were obsessed with serial killers and the whole macabre.

One of those stories was about the "Red Lady" a vengeful spirit. One of Heather's friend - Becca insisted this particular story was real and that got her killed.

It's been 30 years and now a package in the mail brings everything back including the knowledge that the Red Lady is real - something she had tried to put behind her.

Overall the story was one of the best thrillers I have read in awhile. Great job.

I have trouble with "then and now" storylines usually, but this book surprised me. As much as I disliked the narrator, I loved the story more.

Loved this creepy witchy read! Perfect for spooky season! I loved the eerie atmosphere of this story.

Damien Angelica Walter’s shows that your past always catches up to you, one way or another:

During 1991, Heather and her friends were all part of the Dead Girls Club, where they talked about serial killer, horror books and anything scary that they could find either in the news or in books. When Becca introduces The Red Lady, they all become obsessed with her, but as more time goes along Heather, does not like the stories of the Red Lady any more or the rituals they are doing for her, it feels like the Red Lady is there each time and Becca was determined to prove she was real, but Becca ends up dead instead. Nearly 30 years later, The Red Lady forgotten, Heather has moved on with her life. But the Red Lady is not something to be buried and forgotten about and someone wants to make sure that what happened all those years ago comes out.

I liked this book, as it every has you questioning if the Red Lady is really there, she was really great at creating a creepy atmosphere when the girls were younger and calling for the Red Lady. The Red Lady is really the star of this book and the time line where she is featured is where Walter shines. It also brought back memories from when I was younger and watching The Craft for the first time and light as a feather stiff as board, can anyone else relate, lol.

I felt the book was a bit long and dragged out a bit in the second half, there could have been a little less on the most recent timeline of events, as they were boring verging on repetitive, and I felt like Walter didn't add anything new to the Stalking aspect. Personally I just became more and more annoyed with Heather. And as i stated before I found the time with girls when they were Teens with the Red Lady interesting and creepy.

I was able to figure out one of the twists but not the other, and the one twist I wish that it would have been something different, I don’t know just didn’t seem that twisty for the ending if that makes sense.

Heather's choices annoyed me most of the time. I sometimes understood why she did what she did, but at the same time I did not. Like I did not understand why she didn't tell Ryan or any of her best friends about what was happening to her. I don't think what she did when she was a teenager would have come out, she simply could have said someone was stalking her. She had several times to make a difference in what was happening to her and each time she chose the dumb choice.

I like that Walters left some things to the imagination in end and I enjoyed the overall story that she told, but really she could have written one just for in 1991.

Enjoy!!!

3.5 stars_When Heather Cole receives a necklace in the mail from an unknown sender, she can't believe her eyes.
It's one-half of a 'Best Friends' pendant and Heather knows it well because it was on the neck of her best friend, Becca, the night she died. In fact, it went with her into her grave.

Heather is definitely confused; she then starts to investigate why she received this necklace.
The narration goes back and forth from Present to Past; so we understand what happened 30 years ago.

Let’s just say this wasn’t my favorite book...as with most people on Goodreads, I couldn’t stand Heather, one of the main characters. This book was also too slow-paced for my liking, too much pointless dialogue, and no character development.

I initially thought this would be a creepy and dark story, but I was disappointed.

The summary already gives out too much of the story, so I shall leave it at this for now. Maybe this is a story you will enjoy but I could have easily skipped this read.

I mostly enjoyed The Dead Girls Club. I was, however, disappointed that it felt typical of its genre. I kept waiting for something unexpected to happen and it never did.

3.5/5 stars.

Thank you, Netgalley, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I downloaded this book in 2019 and then promptly got wrapped up in grad school and didn't get around to it for 2 years. That was a mistake. This book is everything you want from a thriller (that tells the story from two different times in the protagonist's life) and I very much enjoyed it.

Heather is not a sympathetic character and the book makes no secret of the fact that she killed her best friend. I loved the twists and turns the story took, and although I thought I had the ending figured out way in advance, I was completely wrong. I also enjoyed all the references to Towson and Annapolis. Overall, this is a book that is absolutely worth reading.

I was obsessed with wanting to read this book. However, it was a huge disappointment. I DNF'ed it about 100 pages in, because I had a hard time connecting with the characters and the storyline. There was such potential with this thriller, but sadly fell flat.

1.5 stars rounded up to 2 because I finished it.

Heather is just another woman going about her life with her nice house and cushy job, and decent husband when she receives a envelope in the mail. In the envelope is a 30(?) year old necklace that she last saw on her best friend's neck when they were 12. It was also the last time Heather saw Becca. Because she killed her. DUN DUN DUN!!! Since then, Becca has been treated as deceased, thanks to her own mother confessing to killing her. But Heather knows the truth, and so does somebody else, if the old necklace showing up has any bearing on the matter. It's up to Heather to uncover who keeps sending her mysterious letters and items, and who keeps following her, before it's too late.

...

OR YOU COULD CALL THE POLICE!!! I'm sorry, but this thriller totally did not hit the mark for me. The only mystery is that someone ~out there~ knows what Heather did and is stalking Heather. This leads Heather to, frankly, go crazy. She does not make one single smart decision as an adult. Considering she's a CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST you would think she could do that! But no! Every single thing she does is stupid. She's also a terrible psychologist in the way that 1) she lets her own personal life dictate her patients care, 2) leads to an altercation between 2 teenage girls because she's too in her own world to pay attention to them in session, 3) steals information from a colleague, 4) does other illegal things that I can't even remember.

Heather as a 12 year old was also kinda stupid, but she was 12!! It's hard being 12 so I let that slide. I would have preferred the whole novel be set in that time, with there being no mystery but instead a thriller. I think it would've been better with kids as protagonists, just like some of the old Stephen King novels that Heather reads during it.

Here are my issues laid out in a handy dandy list (in no particular order):
1. The loose plot lines still floating around. All the weird stuff that happened in the past, was that real? Why was there no closure about that? Or even a mention of why we wouldn't get closure?
2. Every plot line with her husband. Boring and dumb, only there to create tension except it created nothing but me being annoyed
3. How obvious her mother was (vague, but makes sense if you've read it!)
4. It bears repeating that Heather is a registered child psychologist who cancels sessions with her very young patients (to go follow a woman who was just released from prison after 30ish years!!) How she doesn't lose her job by the end of the novel is beyond me.
5. The writing itself was choppy, it didn't flow at all, and the sentence structure was formed super weirdly.
6. The person that sent her the necklace... What? It comes out of left field! Sometimes those are fun in thrillers/mysteries, but in this one it was just.... dumb. I rolled my eyes when it was revealed! How is that good for a story?

Okay, that's it. Skip this one. Bye.

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. It was a very entertaining and fast paced thriller. I enjoyed the story and characters and recommend it to all thriller lovers. The writing was amazing and I really loved the book cover. I will be looking out for more books from this author in the future. Thanks again to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book, my deepest apologies for not being able to upload my review. I was unable to post this due to being locked out of my account for the past 2 years.

Eh. I wasn't enamored of this as much as others seemed to be. It wasn't really that scary and I guessed the ending long before I was done the book.

THE DEAD GIRLS CLUB brings together the supernatural and suspense in a way that is both spellbinding as well as disturbing. Horror fans will no doubt devour this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm kind of split on this book. On one hand, I loved the suspense and it is well written. The split narrative of alternating chapters we between past and present works well with building the mystery and sense of dread.

However, I can't say I liked the main character very much. During the chapters where she is 12, she makes decisions like an 8 year old; and in the chapters where she is an adult, she makes decisions like a 12 year old. I guess that could be a commentary on how emotionally immature she has always been, or how the trauma of her past caused her emotional development to just stop on some level.

The conclusion of the book is rushed and more tell than show. It felt like the author was coming up on a deadline or page limit and had to speed though the end.

This story started out promising from the synopsis alone. A mysterious Red Lady, a young girl murdered, and a blackmail plot? All pretty exciting things! The problem for me was with the way it was written and the character development (or is this case lack thereof).

The story is split into then/now sections which is something I love. The then stories take place in the 90’s and focus on Heather and her group of friends that are obsessed with all things murder and supernatural. That’s super cool. I bet I would I have done something like that as a kid haha. This group is obsessed with the Red Lady (akin to Bloody Mary) who Rebecca (a member of the group) says is real. There was not a whole lot of character growth among these girls. It was really kind of just like this is a snapshot of their life, unfortunately a lot is happening so someone’s got to change and evolve along the way.

The Now chapters feature Heather as an adult and a child psychiatrist. Interesting twist which I think is pretty cool. What I don’t think is pretty cool is her being so in her head that she isn’t focusing on the kids in front of her. Part of the training for positions like that is to learn to check your stuff at the door so you can focus on your patient. And these are kids! They are already experiencing trouble in the world and most likely with adults, they need support! That really bugged me, I’m sorry. Beyond that, Heather is a bit too dramatic and over the top for me. She just acted more like a young teenager than a fully formed adult. It was a struggle to read through those chapters.

I wanted to have a better experienced because the Then chapters were captivating and frankly I cared about that storyline more. I think there’s a good foundation for this author and I would not mind picking something up from them in the future.

The blurb and the cover of The Dead Girls Club got me very excited. However, I found the execution to not really live up to the expectation set. First of all, the book read more as a YA to me. I also found that the story was not really grasping my attention throughout the entire book. I found some of the decisions made too distracting and I didn't really feel connected to the characters. The ending left me feeling kind of empty, I didn't feel like I gained anything from the book or feel any specific way about it either.

Really enjoyed the mystery of this book and all the twists and turns. It drew me in and really had my brain working to try to solve the mystery before I finished the book.

This was a very unique thriller because there was a sense of horror/magic element with the presence of the Red Lady character. The story also shifts from past to present, which I’ve always liked. The story only gives us one perspective, but it allows us to see the deterioration of the character’s mental state; even though I didn’t like the MC, I thought this was done quite well. The tension helped make plot elements of the story work (even if they were quite far-fetched). The ending did let me down because the motive just wasn’t that strong for me. However, I still enjoyed reading this novel, so I’m giving it 3/5 stars!