ONE ISLAND
Beautiful, wild, and strange—Meroe Island is a desolate spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. It’s the perfect destination for the most adventurous traveler to escape everything… except the truth.
SIX VISITORS
Six stunning twentysomethings are about to embark on a blissful, free-spirited journey—one filled with sun-drenched days and intoxicating nights. But as it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in, sending them on a dangerous spiral of discovery.
COUNTLESS SECRETS
When one person goes missing and another turns up dead, the remaining friends wonder what dark currents lie beneath this impenetrable paradise—and who else will be swept under its secluded chaos. With its island gothic sensibility, sexy suspense, and spine-tingling reimagining of an Agatha Christie classic, Reckless Girls will wreck you.
Advanced Praise for Reckless Girls
Indie Next Pick and LibraryReads pick
“It started as a romantic idyll. It ended with a stack of corpses. In “Reckless Girls,” a vacation on a remote atoll in the South Pacific goes very, very wrong…the ending feels like that great moment in “Body Heat” when the camera swoops down to reveal the identity of the last person standing at the end of all the mayhem. Who will it be?”––The New York Times
“A literary piña colada…Hawkins merges pitch-black comedy and wicked, gasp-inducing thrills, surprising at every turn as she uses the genre to comment on vengeance and femininity…Irresistible.”––Entertainment Weekly
“This diabolically plotted nail-biter makes for dangerously addictive reading”––Publishers Weekly
“Evocative prose and a palpably foreboding atmosphere complement Lux’s present-tense narration, which Hawkins studs with flashbacks exposing the secrets, lies, and betrayals that brought each character to this point. Danger and interpersonal drama abound, with a slew of outrageous twists adding to the fun. A soapy, claustrophobic page-turner.”––Kirkus
“Hawkins twists revenge, madness, and an increasingly menacing setting into a cleverly plotted nightmare in paradise. A must-read for fans of Ruth Ware.”––Booklist (starred)
“With a gothic sense of foreboding and plenty of dark secrets…the plot builds to an explosive conclusion. Hawkins uses the tensions among her young, beautiful characters to take a look at the intersections of class and gender, but there are no innocent people in this treacherous paradise. Fans of the film The Beach and television’s Lost will be enthralled.”––Shelf Awareness
“After reinventing Jane Eyre in The Wife Upstairs, Rachel Hawkins is giving Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None a modern twist in Reckless Girls.”––PopSugar
My Review:
If there was ever a book to read on a beach, Reckless Girls is that book. It has it all. It has suspense, betrayal, lies, friendship, murder and of course, a completely gorgeous setting. The only consolation I have for having to read it under a blanket on my couch in January is that Hawkins transported me to that remote Hawaiian Island, if only for a little bit.
Nico and Lux are in love. They’re living paycheck to paycheck living in Hawaii, Nico as a bartender and Lux as a hotel maid. They’re trying to scrape by while saving enough money to fix up Nico’s boat and sail around the world. When Brittany and Amma approach Nico, offering to pay him $50k to take them on his boat to a remote island, Meroe, for two weeks of paradise, he can’t refuse. Even better, they like Lux and want her to tag along.
Once there, they meet up with Eliza and Jake. While they are at first annoyed there is someone else on the island, it actually works in their favor. Jake is loaded and has enough food, drugs and booze to carry all six of them through the two weeks. It’s a never-ending party.
Of course, inevitably, all good things do come to an end. True intentions and true stories come out. There are betrayals, and there are casualties. It’s just a delicious read from cover to cover and I highly recommend you check it out.
Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out now! Get your copy:
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