The Island of Lost Girls by Alex Marwood is a recommended novel that tackles current headlines involving wealthy, corrupt, evil individuals and lost innocence.

Set on the fictional Mediterranean island of La Kastellana the narrative follows two timelines set in 1985 and 2016. London-based multimillionaire Matthew Meade arrives in La Kastellana in 1985 with the new Duke and plans to develop the island into a destination for the rich and powerful. This is when twelve-year old Mercedes Delia meets thirteen-year-old Tatiana Meade. The Meades secure Mercedes as a companion for Tatiana, which is the beginning of a life of serving the Meades.

In 2016 Robin arrives on the island looking for her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma who has been missing for over a year. She had clues that Gemma was heading to the island, but once Robin arrives there she realizes that finding people willing to help her is going to be hard on this island controlled by the wealthy. At the same time an undercover Europol investigation of human trafficking is secretly working with Mercedes to gather evidence about the disturbing activities on the island.

This is a slow-moving and slow-to-build suspense novel that requires time and attention to details in order for readers to become immersed in the plot. However, once you stick with the story about half way through the book you will know the dark hidden truth and exactly the direction the narrative is taking. The plot clearly took inspiration from news stories about the wealthy and powerful using their positions to do exactly what they please and the cost their nefarious desires extracts from others. The details are dark and gruesome.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon

Don’t let the word “island” or the descriptions of an exotic locale populated by the uber-rich fool you into thinking this is prime beach reading material. It definitely is not. Unless you enjoy being thoroughly depressed at the beach. No, this book is much darker and heavier in subject and tone than anything that would make a good beach companion.

The story unfolds over two timelines - 1985 where young Mercedes is pulled into the orbit of the Meades, an extremely wealthy family looking to turn her homeland into their own playground, and 2016, where Mercedes is still indebted to the Meades and begins to uncover their true awfulness.

This book is a rough sit, mostly because it’s pretty clear what's happening on this island from page one, yet we must sit through 400+ pages being told in horrifying detail that it's exactly what we suspected in the worst possible way. It’s well-written, but everything was too obvious (and awful) to enjoy.

Read if you like: Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter, Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin, Jeffery Epstein: Filthy Rich on Netflix (also, these comps should cover trigger warnings)

So guess who didn't do a good job of reading the publisher's blurb and went in to this expecting a somewhat lighter read? ME!! (Well, and I saw that Jenny Colgan gave it a comment. I mean, she is all cupcakes and cuteness, right?) And dang, this book gets dark! Good twisty suspensey dark. Good thing I like twisty suspensey dark! You have this old fashioned island with families who have lived under a Duke for centuries. It is a quiet insular paradise. No one is financially rich but they are all happy. When the old Duke dies and the new Duke moves in, another wealthy man moves to the island and begins to basically gentrify the island. Sure the residents benefit from the extra income from the yacht people, but there is a dark side. Mercedes is at the center of everything when the wealthy family's spoiled daughter decides she is her pet. This relationship is central to the entire book. There were a couple characters I would have liked a bit more development on, but the story was strong and I loved the interweaving of timelines.

I had really high hopes for this one, it seemed like it would be so good! However, it was very hard to get into this book and I had to force myself to finish it. It started to get more interesting about 70% through but by that point I just wanted to get it over with. I gave 3 stars because the ending was pretty good.

I love a dual timeline story, especially when they come together unexpectedly. However, this book gave me more of The Villa (Rachel Hawkins) vibes where the stories coming together just felt forced. Almost like you're reading two short stories that just so happen to take place in the same area. There was a lot happening. I'm not mad that I read it, but it won't be on my list of favorite books from 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Paperbacks for the eARC of The Island of Lost Girls in exchange for an honest review!

This was marketed as a thriller but it definitely doesn’t seem to fit into that category for me. This seems to be more of a contemporary fiction than anything else. It is a fictionalized version of the Epstein and Maxwell story. The evil people are almost cartoonishly so, there are so many plot holes. This could have been deep or interesting, but it just ended up feeling like the author didn’t know where to take it.

I went into this book completely blind and to be honest mainly requested the galley because I saw it was set in the Mediterranean.

it’s set between two timelines on the island of La Kastellana - a pristine island where the locals are isolated from current culture and the ultra-rich visitors play patron to it.

this was a dark, twisted, thriller focused on uncovering a mystery around missing girls who have become playthings for vile, bored, wealthy men.

I read this book in one sitting and I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives and timelines. The characters were all unique and intriguing in their own way - each with complex motives and traits.

this would be a great summer thriller add do your dock-side reading list!

I really wanted to love this book, but it wasn't a fit for me. I struggle to engage with multiple perspectives/timelines, and while sometimes it works, this wasn't one of those cases. The pacing was much slower than I anticipated for a thriller, which also made it challenging to stay interested. One thing I do want to call out is what a beautiful job the author did describing the island. It's so easy to picture the landscape and scenery.

This is my first book by Alex Marwood and I'll definitely read more when I'm in the mood for a twisty, disturbing thriller. This opens up with young Mercedes diving for lobster cages one day in the 80s and instead finding her older sister's drowned body, and it doesn't get any less intense from there. The story has dual timelines, both featuring Mercedes. One is in the 80s, when the small Mediterranean island of La Kastellana gets a new local duke who brings in a bunch of rich friends from Europe who are looking for a new place to build expensive summer homes. One of these "boat people" is millionaire Matthew Meade, whose extremely spoiled daughter Tatiana is around Mercedes' age. Tatiana wants a companion, but Mercedes works in her family's restaurant until Matthew Meade essentially buys her out for the summer in a pretty messed up deal with her father. In the 1980s storyline, we learn more about La Kastellana, including some extremely disturbing cultural traditions that target young women who are seen as sinners. Meanwhile, in 2016, Mercedes is all grown up but still working for Tatiana, as a housekeeper in the Meade house who has to be on call constantly for when Tatiana or her father decides to come to the island. Also in 2016, Robin is an English mother who has just come to La Kastellana because her teenaged daughter has been missing for nearly a year and she gets a tip from one of her friends that she might be heading to the island soon. No one seems particularly interested in helping Robin find Gemma, especially the authorities on La Kastellana who are all clearly on the payroll of the wealthy elite. There are some pretty intense reveals as these two stories play out, and content warning for some super disturbing stuff (sexual assault, trafficking, and a lot of gender-based violence). The mysteries wrapped up in a way that was satisfying (but terrible), but wow, this was intense.

This book was a train wreck to me. I had no clue what was happening until closer to the end, and by the time it hit me I couldn't look away. The story flashes back and forth between way too many time periods and people's POVs. I understand that to connect Robin and Jemma's story with Mercedes' story it was sort of necessary, but at the same time it was confusing. The history of things wasn't very well explained, and all I could think about was a tiktok I saw recently where a woman from Hawaii was talking about the damage that tourists have done to the islands. There was a lot of that going on in this book as well. I will say, the end saved it for me, but it took everything I had not to DNF.

This was engaging and should be a solid hit in the thriller genre. The middle fell a little flat for me but the ending made up for it.

This book was just ok for me fairly slow in parts, lots of people to keep track of, disappearances in the past, 40 yrs ago and current time. Interesting premise, but if it had been shorter it would have worked better for me.

Too many characters made this a miss for me. It was hard for me to connect with that many characters. I like the premise and I wanted to like the story, but I just couldn’t get there. It also spans several years, so it makes sense that there are many characters, but I still just didn’t really get into the story the way I thought I would. Just another case of “it’s not the book, it’s me!” because The Island of Lost Girls seems like it will check a lot of boxes for some readers, but it’s just not for me.

Robin is searching for her teenage daughter, Gemma, who has been missing. Her search leads her to the island of La Kastellana; an island that has its own past of missing girls.

This story has a lot to it. I think many will be fans of it, especially if you enjoy complex tales involving dual timelines. I loved the current, newer timeline. The past timeline was a little slow for me and harder to get through. I was really interested in Gemma’s plight and wanted to see how that ended but had to plough through the parts with Mercedes and Donatella as children.. it just wasn’t as enjoyable for me. I often have this problem with dual timelines. If you like dual timelines and don’t have an issue with that, I strongly suggest you try this one because it was a great tale.

The Island of Lost Girls comes out on paperback 6/13.

This was so good and entertaining! Thrilling and kept me turning the pages. I love a book like this! Highly recommend.

3.5 stars. Got off to a slow start, but the payoff was worth it. Mercedes is a sympathetic character struggling to keep her family together and the traditions of her small, once-isolated island alive. Switching between the present and the mid-1980s, secrets are revealed about her long-time employer, the death of her sister over 30 years ago, and the very foundation of the island. The author does a wonderful job bringing the island of Kastellana to life-you will be transported to the summer heat of the plaza outside the Delia family restaurant with sweeping views of the harbor and sea, as well as the row of yachts that bring the noveau riche and their problems to the island.

I am a sucker for a great title...

The Island of Lost Girls, is just that, I was instantly intrigued and had to know more.

I read every day, at least one book but sometimes two, don't even get me started on my weekend reading, its quite shameful. What I am getting at, is when you read as much as I do, you need to find books that stand out. The Island of Lost Girls, instantly grabbed my attention not only with the title but also with the cover and synopsis as well.

I was not disappointed, nope, not one bit.

If you are looking for an easy read, chapters that flow and a plot that will shake you to the core, this is the book for you. This was my first by Alex Marwood but after concluding, I instantly ran on over to Amazon to see if I missed any previous publications. I purchased both The Wicked Girls AND The Darkest Secret.

Gahhhh, I think I just found another auto-buy author and I am not complaining about it.

The Island of Lost Girls is sure to be a hit amongst readers. Big congratulations to Alex Marwood on another show stopping publication and thank you to Harper for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review.

Due out June 13, 2023 you do not want to miss this one!

Teaser :

It's paradise for the super-rich, but hell for the girls whose lives they've stolen

1985

To twelve-year-old Mercedes, La Kastellana is home, an island with deep-rooted traditions untouched by the modern world. But this secluded paradise is upended with the arrival of multimillionaire Matthew Meade and his pampered young daughter, Tatiana. While the Meades lavishly spread unimaginable wealth around La Kastellana, the price Mercedes and the rest of the islanders will pay is more than they could ever have imagined.

2016

Robin has been desperately searching for her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma, who’s been missing for more than a year. Finding herself on La Kastellana, an island playground for the international jet set, Robin quickly realizes she’s out of her depth. No one is willing to help and Robin fears she’s running out of time to find her child.

But someone has been watching, silently waiting for the moment to expose the dark truth of what really happens on the island of lost girls.

I’ve read and enjoyed books by Alex Marwood in the past, but I just couldn’t get into this one. The premise was interesting, but reading it felt like a chore. It was a DNF for me at 30%.

When a wealthy family moves to a beautiful island they hire a child to be a playmate for their daughter. Flashforward thirty one years and said playmate is still working for the family and with their daughter back on the island, she is at the young woman’s beck and call.

Add in a mother who is looking for her young daughter who disappears more than a year ago and she heads to the island looking for her daughter, whom she believed was attending a party on the island. While Robin is looking for answers, the islanders are not very talkative and it leaves the question of what is going on on this island and who may have the information she needs on her own daughter?

While this was a n interesting read, it was rather slow to get into it and I struggled a little to truly get into the rhythm. Once I did, it went a bit better, but I saw through the plot and had figured out the ending midway through. Still a fair read, but the first I have read by this author, so maybe it was more a matter of me adjusting to the writing style the first time. I would definitely try another book from the author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of The Island of Lost Girls in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

In 1985, multimillionaire Matthew Meade & his daughter Tatiana arrive on the island of La Kastellana. Meade spreads his wealth around the island, but his price is very sinister. Jump forward to 2016, same island – Robin is searching for her daughter, Gemma, who has been missing for more than a year. She is trying to get answers and find Gemma, but the islanders are less than helpful. She tries to figure things out on her own, but will she figure out what happened to the lost girls before it’s too late?

I had sooooooooo much hope for this novel. Just the description sounded amazing, but it was a bit underwhelming. Not horrible, but not great either.

The pacing was extremely slow. Every time I tried to read this at bed time, it very quickly put me to sleep, which – yay for sleep, but not so good from a suspense/thriller. And the characters were just very lacking & boring as well. It was just a hard read for me. And I know I’m in the minority on this one.

I wouldn’t turn anyone away from this one, but I won’t offer it up as a recommendation either.

I rated this one 3 Stars