Review: The Girl from Widow Hills

Title: The Girl from Widow Hills
Author: Megan Miranda
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 23, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Everyone knows the story of “the girl from Widow Hills.”

Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and held vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.

Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.

And now, the girl from Widow Hills is about to become the center of the story, once again, in this propulsive page-turner from suspense master Megan Miranda. 

Review:

Twenty years ago, six-year-old Arden Maynor disappeared from her home after sleepwalking. She was found three days later. Now, she has moved away and changed her name to Olivia Meyer, so no one knows she’s “the girl from widow hills.” Her past is brought up again when she starts sleepwalking outside her house. One night, when she wakes up outside of her house, she is standing over the body of a man. Olivia’s past of the sleepwalking girl becomes news again during this murder investigation.

It’s amazing how these media stories affect the people involved. In this story, Olivia was the girl who disappeared but was found days later. The story was brought up again on the five and ten year anniversaries. Something that isn’t always mentioned is how traumatic it is for everyone involved to have to experience the event again. Olivia had to go to great lengths to separate herself from her past, but she still wasn’t able to escape it.

The ending of this book was shocking. I can’t remember the last time I had absolutely no idea how a thriller would end. I couldn’t fit any of the pieces of the puzzle together, but once I learned the final clue, it all made sense. I was so surprised! I loved this ending.

This is a great suspenseful thriller!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read The Girl from Widow Hills? What did you think of it?