Ten years ago, a group of six friends spent a week at a farmhouse in France. This farmhouse was rather nice as it belonged to the wealthy family of one of the friends in attendance. Also, an unofficial seventh member of the group is the very beautiful Severine, a French girl staying in the farmhouse next door to them. She spent lots of time with the group as they had a swimming pool and her accommodations did not. That week was supposed to be sort of a last hurrah following graduation from college. As it turned out, the week was nothing like they had planned.

Fast forward ten years to present day. The narrator of the events is Kate, who was among the group during that summer. At the time, she was with Seb, who was everything she thought she wanted in a man, but who was actually all wrong. Tom, another friend, is the one to call her and deliver the news. He begins by asking her directly if she remembered that summer. She told him that of course she did and wondered why he had called her now when he had not phoned her for months.

Tom delivers the news that Severine's body had been discovered in a well that was on the farmhouse property. It had been filled in ten years ago at the end of their stay. No one had mentioned Severine in the ten years since that week. Severine's death is ruled to be a homicide, which meant that a French detective by the name of Alain Modan is dispatched to London to question all of them.

During his investigation, he uncovers a few secrets that seem to be rather damning. The return of Seb and his wife, who is not Kate, adds to the mix. Then there is Lara, Kate's best friend, and Caro who seems to have a sort of pretend friendship with everyone else, but she might be the one keeping the darkest secrets of them all.

THE FRENCH GIRL is one of those mesmerizing books that is almost impossible to set aside until reaching the final conclusion. You will be on the edge of your seat all throughout this tale of sadness and suspense. A book with whiplash events, THE FRENCH GIRL will keep you guessing until that last page. I had a suspect in mind, but it always kept changing. That is the secret to a great book: the ability to draw the reader into the plot while being very mysterious as to what is really happening.

If you have not had a chance to read THE FRENCH GIRL, do yourself a huge favor and pick up a copy as soon as possible. Lexie Elliott is certainly a new favorite for me. She knows how to take her readers on dizzy twists and turns, much like moving through a maze. The ending to THE FRENCH GIRL is extremely satisfying. Reading it feels like being on a carnival ride and now you will get the chance to experience one of the most exciting rides you have ever had the pleasure of being on.

Book Summary

We all have our secrets...

They were six university students from Oxford--friends and sometimes more than friends--spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway...until they met Severine, the girl next door.

For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group's loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can't forgive. And there are some people you can't forget...like Severine, who was never seen again.

Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine's body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she's worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free...