The Perfect Girl: The international thriller sensation

by Gilly Macmillan

To everyone who knows her now, Zoe Maisey - child genius, musical sensation - is perfect. Yet several years ago Zoe caused the death of three teenagers. She served her time, and now she's free.

Her story begins with her giving the performance of her life.

By midnight, her mother is dead.

The Perfect Girl is an intricate exploration into the mind of a teenager burdened by brilliance, and a past that she cannot leave behind.

Praise for Burnt Paper Sky:

One of the brightest debuts I have read this year - a visceral, emotionally charged story. (Daily Mail)

. . . heart-in-the-mouth excitement from the start of this electrifyingly good debut . . . an absolute firecracker of a thriller that convinces and captivates from the word go. A must read. (Sunday Mirror)

If you love Gone Girl and Before I Go to Sleep, you need to read this. (Closer)

What an amazing, gripping, beautifully written debut. Burnt Paper Sky kept me up late into the night (and scared the life out of me) (Liane Moriarty - author of The Husband's Secret)

Burnt Paper Sky is that rare thing in reading - a book which hooks you and keeps you focused on it until the end. (Shotsmag)

This accomplished, intelligent debut should come with a warning - it's completely addictive. A nail-biting, sleep-depriving, brilliant read (Saskia Sarginson)

Every parent's nightmare, handled with intelligence and sensitivity, the novel is also deceptively clever. I found myself racing through to find out what happened (Rosamund Lupton)

Tightly focussed and fast-paced. You won't rest until you really know what happened (Lisa Ballantyne)

What an exciting debut! Burnt Paper Sky kept me up until the small hours, from the nightmarish moment when a mother first realises that her son has disappeared, to the dramatic denouement. Gilly Macmillan's voice is innovative and confident, and she creates a cast of very human characters. There's a page-turning urgency, combined with an insightful exploration of the emotional fall-out after the abduction of a small child. Meanwhile the media and internet community are shadowy figures whose pitiless speculation and harassment seem all too believable. Burnt Paper Sky is written with passion and insight. Bravo, Gilly Macmillan (Charity Norman - author of After The Fall)

Deft, tense and utterly gripping, Burnt Paper Sky stays with you long after the final page has been turned (Tim Weaver - author of Never Coming Back)

This pacy, emotional and expertly characterised novel's sure to follow in the footsteps of fellow thrillers such as The Girl On The Train and Gone Girl by soaring to the top of the bestseller charts (The Media Eye)

A powerful page-turner and damning commentary on this age of the internet, where everyone has an opinion and a forum in which they can voice it. (Woman's Weekly, New Zealand)

• ISBN10: 0349406405
• ISBN13: 9780349406404
• Publish Date: 3 March 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 26 May 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

This was my first read by Macmillan who also penned What She Knew and Burnt Paper Sky. Told mostly from Zoe’s perspective we also get separate narratives from other characters sharing their lives, pasts, and the events that unfold. The timeline of the story takes place over a twenty-four hour period and the author brilliantly allowed the reader to become close to the characters.

Zoe Maise is a seventeen-year-old musical prodigy with a genius IQ and troubled past. Zoe attended an exclusive music school where she was bullied before becoming involved in an auto accident that left three of classmates dead. The events and fall out ruined her parents’ marriage. Now three years after the event, Zoe’s mother is remarried and they have moved away to live with her step dad and new brother Lucas. Zoe has a new baby sister named Grace and life is looking hopefully. We meet Zoe on the verge of a new beginning -a butterfly just emerging from her cocoon.

Macmillan delivers an engaging tale with beautiful prose that set the ominous tone. Through multiple narratives, she slowly begins to expose cracks, and secrets. She shares the catalysts for the events that unfold. I would say the first fifty percent deal with the evening’s events up until the body is found. It also shed light into Zoe’s tragic past, Aunt Tessa’s marriage and the new family’s secrets. The second half was clever, and twisted as we discover what happened and whodunit.

None of these characters are truly likeable, in fact, some you will down right loath. However, Macmillan did an excellent job of peeling back their layers while creating suspicion. Red herrings, twists and reveals all made for a compelling and addictive read.

I did figure out the whodunit aspect in The Perfect Girl, but loved the twist and will definitely be reading this author again. If you are looking for a good fall thriller, The Perfect Girl is an excellent place to start.

Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Leah]

Meh. The Perfect Girl is one of those books that sounds interesting, but ultimately lacks, well, anything. I just don't understand what the book was supposed to be about. It wasn't Zoe's rehabilitation after the "incident", it wasn't Zoe's mothers death, which we hear of within the first few pages, but doesn't actually occur in real time until the book is halfway done, and while there's a hint of something about Chris, there's not a lot to back that story up, although I didn't like him one bit.

It just didn't click with me, and I was quite thankful for the short chapters which made it easy to skim-read the vast majority of the book. It just felt like the book didn't go anywhere, plots were left hanging up in the air - Tessa and Richard's story deserved way more page-time, because it all just seemed too easily tied up, when there should have been vast repercussions?

Not for me. Not very thrilling, either, to be fair. And certainly NOT like The Girl On The Train or Gone Girl. Publishers, PLEASE STOP COMPARING EVERY THRILLER TO GONE GIRL OR GIRL ON THE TRAIN. IT'S A DEAD HORSE. STOP BEATING IT, THANK YOU.