Review | “Good Girls Die First” by Kathryn Foxfield

Mind games. Murder. Mayhem. How far would you go to survive the night?

2 out of 5 stars.

Spoilers ahead.

First published in 2020, “Good Girls Die First” is the debut novel of British author Kathryn Foxfield. The novel follows sixteen-year-old Ava as she arrives at a derelict pier in her hometown after receiving a blackmail note. She’s soon joined by other teenagers she knows from school, all of which are also being mysteriously blackmailed to be at the pier that evening. With nothing better to do, the group decides to have an impromptu party on the pier. Things soon take a turn for the worse, however, with one of the teenagers turning up dead the next after confessing her secret. One by one the teenagers realise the trouble they’re in as a strange force in the pier’s fun fair urges them each to confess their deepest, darkest secrets. Last one to keep their mouth shut wins.

I developed a very strong dislike for this novel for the pure and simple reason that not a single one of the characters in the story was likable. I was barely halfway through the story when I came to the conclusion that I wanted each and every one of these horrible characters to die.