Blaine's Reviews > Reckless Girls

Update 1/4/22: Reposting my review to celebrate that today is publication day!

“The world takes a lot from us, doesn’t it? Women like us. Women who don’t get things handed to them. Women without a lot of options. So sometimes, you have to take back. You have to create your own options.”

Do you trust me, reader of my reviews? Then simply stop here, go get a copy of Reckless Girls, and enjoy. But should you trust me? I mean, how well do you know me? Or anyone, for that matter? Well, now we’re getting to what Reckless Girls is all about.

Lux McAllister followed her new boyfriend Nico to Hawaii. Six months into their relationship, things seem good between them but not with other facets of her life. So Lux tags along when Nico is hired by two college besties, Brittany and Amma, to sail them to Meroe Island, a beautiful-but-dangerous (and fictional) remote island in the South Pacific. When they arrive, there’s already another boat in the cove, owned by a third couple, Jake and Eliza. At first, everything is great. Lux is happy, and bonds quickly with these new friends, even as she senses small problems between various people. But when a seventh person arrives on the island, the entire vibe changes, and soon events begin spiraling out of control….

The events in the present in Reckless Girls are told from Lux’s first-person perspective, which focuses the reader on her perceptions and feelings about the other characters. And as she begins to question those around her, there are occasional flashback chapters that fill in the backstory of other characters. The framework works nicely, keeping the reader one step ahead of Lux, at least for a while, as we learn the other characters’ secrets and how they will impact the present. And the pacing is very good, slowly building to an explosive, unexpected conclusion.

Because everyone has secrets, and the characters in Reckless Girls are no exception. Some small and others large. Some that would bring you closer to a friend if shared, and others that would tear that friendship apart. So how do you trust new friends—new love interests—when you know you’re only seeing a version of the other person? There are shades of Lord of the Flies here, and Hamlet too, but that question of who and how to trust others is the one that runs the deepest through this fun story of young, pretty people colliding in a secluded paradise. Recommended.

P.S. When I first read the description of Reckless Girls, it reminded me of And The Sea Will Tell, a non-fiction book about a criminal court trial written by Vincent Bugliosi (the prosecutor who convicted Charles Manson). I read that book in law school—it’s really good and also recommended—but I’d only ever met one other person who’d read it, and that was the person who loaned it to me. So imagine my delight when I got to the end of this novel, and the author’s note began: “This is the book I’ve been wanting to write since I was twelve years old and first came across a copy of And the Sea Will Tell in my local library.” 😄