The Perfect Girl

A Novel

By: Gilly Macmillan

Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

Zoe Maisey is a 17-year-old musical prodigy with a genius IQ. Three years ago she was involved in a tragic incident that left three classmates dead. She served her time, and now her mother, Maria, is resolved to keep that devastating fact tucked far away from their new beginning, hiding the past even from her new husband and demanding Zoe do the same.

Tonight Zoe is giving a recital that Maria has been planning for months. It needs to be the performance of her life. But instead, by the end of the evening Maria is dead.

In the aftermath everyone - police, family, Zoe's former solicitor, and Zoe herself - tries to piece together what happened. But as Zoe knows all too well, the truth is rarely straightforward, and the closer we are to someone, the less we may see.

©2016 Gilly Macmillan (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

This is NOT a new book. This book was previously released. Deceitful!

How frustrating to purchase a book that sounds so familiar once it starts but the release date says it is new. Waste of time!!

Pretty good narrators, ok story

There was nothing wrong with the narrators, they were more than adequate, but I feel like the story was misrepresented. It was pitched as being more suspense, but it was mostly just a look inside one traumatized family. If I had known that beforehand I might have enjoyed it more, but I mostly felt that nothing really HAPPENED in the book. Not terrible, but not great.

Excellence

What I thought was a great ride in a really good story turn into one of those mind blowing adventures you completely didn't expect to be on and are so grateful you happened to become swept up in. I loved this book! It was my first by this author and I am so excited to see there are more for me to devour. The narrator deserves a mention as well, as she was excellent. Definitely recommend and hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Do not buy. Same book was released March 2016. Very disappointed.

Do not buy. Same book was released March 2016. Very disappointed. This release is September 2016. Same book

Accidents and Second Chances

Zoe Guerin, child prodigy and genius, is living her Second Chance life after accidentally killing three students in a DWI accident and spending 18 months in "the unit" for murder. Now her mother, Maria, her step-brother Lucas, step-father Chris and new baby sister Grace all live in the big Second Chance house and appear to be the perfect family; because Chris and Lucas don't know what about Zoe's secret past, because Maria says they don't talk about that in the Second Chance family.

As we learn more about the Second Chance family we meet Zoe's solicitor, Sam, Aunt Tessa and Uncle Richard and how they intertwine into the lives of Zoe's family. The characters develop as the story unfolds with murder, infidelity, alcoholism, secrets, abuse, and some very hard decisions.

I struggled with mixed feelings about Zoe, because we're told how smart she is but then perpetually see her do stupid things, and it's difficult to rationalize, which I think specifically is related to poor character development, although the other characters seemed fully developed, and didn't have any staggering inconsistencies.

The narrators did an excellent job, and it was easy to distinguish between characters. I found the story to be a little anti-climactic for me, which is why I only gave it 3 stars, but the performance helped make up for it. I still overall liked the book, and it was still a credit well spent.

Good Mystery, Hard to Put Down

The Perfect Girl tells the story of Zoe, who is living her second life. Years ago she got into a car accident while driving intoxicated which resulted in the deaths of three of her friends. She had to serve time as a juvenile delinquent, however her mother remarries away from their home town and hopes that no one finds out about Zoe's past.

A talented musician, Zoe gives a piano recital and one of the parents of the deceased girls shows up and causes a commotion. Her secret is out, her step father is angry, and her mother is devastated. But the worst part is, her mother ends up dead that very evening.

The Perfect Girl is full of suspense as we try to unravel the hours of the evening of Zoe's mother's death and what could have happened to leave the poor woman stabbed to death in the back alley of their home. Zoe is the prime suspect, but things are not as they appear.

This book was gripping and intense. I love Zoe's character- a brilliant kid who made a mistake and deals with her problems in a very unique way. The ending was a surprise and although there were clues throughout the book, it was still hard to figure out and very fast paced and exciting. I would recommend 'The Perfect Girl' to anyone who likes a good psychological thriller. Well done, Gilly MacMillan!

-Wendi

Intriguing story well performed

Liked the twists in this drama, and the good and bad of each characters personality. Excellent narration helps differentiate who is who.

great read!

loved it. tremendously. there are so many takeaways from this book. it was written well.

great read/listen

great story line, some of the voices were great, others not so much. overall great read though! would recommend to others

not her best but good

this book was way too predictable I knew exactly how it was going to go within a matter of minutes. Although it was good writing the storyline could have used a lot of work better luck next time...