Book Review: Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry

 received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Mystery

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Berkley (November 14, 2023)

Length: 320 pages

Author Information: Website

Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry presented a unique concept, probably one of the most original I have read in years. However, something about the execution, perhaps the author’s writing style or the challenge of weaving the story’s elements together in the end, just didn’t quite hit the high notes for me.

In a narrative told in three parts, we first begin with Celia, our first heroine, waking up in a perfect little house in a perfect little town. Although she remembers her own name, she has no idea who she is or who the people are in the family photos adorning the bedside table or the walls. She doesn’t recognize the man who call himself her husband, or the little girl insisting she help make her lunch for school. Hiding her confusion, but in fact panicking inside, she tries to go about her day as normal, hoping the memories will come back. Clues lead her to an Italian restaurant she apparently owns, but it doesn’t explain why she cannot remember anything about her life. Why does she have the feeling that her so-called friends and family are lying to her? And why does everything feel so staged? Somehow, Celia doesn’t think she belongs in this world…

Just as things in this first section starts to heat up, the story abruptly pivots its attention to a young woman named Allie. This second phase of the narrative unfolds with Allie and her two best friends preparing for a road trip to celebrate her birthday weekend. However, their plans take an unexpected turn when a pair of frat boys crash the party, leading them to an isolated cabin in the woods. Like Celia, the heroine before her, Allie also beings to sense something off about the cabin and their surroundings, like the absence of wildlife, insects, or the usual forest sounds. As night falls, her unease intensifies, as someone or something can be detected lurking between the trees, waiting to pick them off one by one…

The narrative then shifts a third and final time to Maggie, who finds herself forced to compete against others in a deadly game. All the “contestants” are women with similar stories: someone they love has been taken hostage, and to save them, they must take part in a series of survival challenges filled with booby traps, armed with nothing but their wits. As there can only be one winner, every participant will be playing to the death. For Maggie, it is her daughter who has been taken, and she is prepared to go all the way to be the last one standing.

In Good Girls Don’t Die, Henry fully embraces the opportunity to riff on popular and familiar genre tropes. We have the amateur sleuth in a cozy mystery. The final girl a slasher flick. A desperate contestant in a battle royale style death game. Three different protagonists in three separate thrilling narratives. Readers are led to wonder: How are all these threads connected? As I followed Celia, Allie, and Maggie through their individual ordeals, I found myself drawn deeper into this entertaining and riveting puzzle where so many questions were in play.

But alas, even as the initial setup of the novel and the three individual women’s stories got me hooked, I couldn’t help but feel the subsequent revelations fell short of expectations. Have you ever read a mystery where the journey itself was much more satisfying than getting the answers? This was how I felt in the end when all was finally made known—thoroughly underwhelmed.

Admittedly, part of this might have something to do with Henry’s own style. As an avid reader of her books, I’m not surprised at the overt feminist themes in Good Girls Don’t Die, but nonetheless, I couldn’t help but wish for more credible bad guys. I get that this entire book was a play on tropes, but couldn’t we have at least gotten some variation in the antagonists as we got for the protagonists? All the men ended up being these over-the-top villain-types who tended to veer towards a cartoonish quality, which further robbed the ending of its intended impact.

All told, Good Girls Don’t Die undoubtedly serves up a neat and intriguing concept, attempting to blend a variety of genre elements into one connected narrative. Unfortunately, the ending didn’t tie things up quite as tidily as I hoped. That said, the book highlights Christina Henry’s ability to craft unconventional and very readable stories.