The girl with no past.
Six years ago, Evie Cormac was discovered, filthy and half-starved, hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a shocking crime. Now approaching adulthood, Evie is damaged, self-destructive and has never revealed her true identity.
The boy who survived.
Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven, a man haunted by his own past, is investigating the death of champion figure-skater Jodie Sheehan. When Cyrus is called upon to assess Evie, she threatens to disrupt the case and destroy his ordered life. Because Evie has a unique and dangerous gift – she knows when someone is lying. And nobody is telling the truth.
I didn’t know a lot about this novel going into it, but it proved to be an unexpected delight. Firstly, it’s set in my home town of Nottingham, and there aren’t many novels set there (I see you, C. J. Tudor!). It does make sense in this case as Nottingham is home to the National Ice Centre – somewhere a young woman who is on track to become a champion ice skater might live and train. For the record, I’m not someone who worries overly about the accuracy of somewhere I know as it’s rendered in fiction. I think that some artistic licence is fine if it serves the story, but whatever my views – I think that the author nailed the setting in this novel.
Good Girl Bad Girl is a police procedural, but it’s one that’s a little different as we follow Dr Cyrus Haven – a forensic psychologist who works closely with the police. He’s kept up to date throughout the investigation and so we don’t lose anything through this approach, and Cyrus himself has plenty to contribute. And it’s a fascinating case. A young woman is killed on her way home from a fireworks display. She’s portrayed as a pretty, hardworking, and ambitious young woman with the potential to represent her country at the Winter Olympics, but it doesn’t take long for secrets to be revealed – both about Jodie and those closest to her.
Running alongside this is a second and equally compelling storyline. Cyrus is asked to evaluate ward of the court Evie Cormac as she makes a bid to be declared a legal adult. Currently living in a children’s home, her true identity, age, and background remain a mystery to all as she point-blank refuses to discuss her past. What is known is that she was discovered six years earlier, living alone and feral in an apartment where a brutal crime took place. Despite several attempts to get her to open up, no one knows anything about her. It’s intriguing and unusual to know so little about a character, although perhaps understandable given that she’s clearly experienced some trauma in her short life.
Her application is declined for a year, and Cyrus makes the offer to become her guardian for that period, perhaps seeing a kindred spirit. Their pasts are very different, but both have suffered their own tragedies and Cyrus proves to be a caring and compassionate individual through this act of kindness, able to truly empathise with Evie in a way that few can. While I felt a lot of sympathy towards Evie, I did want to shake her repeatedly throughout the novel. She has an incredible opportunity in being taken in by Cyrus and being able to leave the home where she has been living, and yet she seems determined to throw that kindness back in his face. She’s a troubled individual, but smart – and certainly smart enough to understand the rarity of the opportunity she’s been given.
Good Girl Bad Girl is a really interesting start to what is currently (?) a quadrilogy. The second and third books explore Evie’s and Cyrus’s past in more detail respectively, and that’s something that I find intriguing – many novels explore a character’s torment as a subplot, rather than making it a focus. Evie also has a unique ability in that she can spot when someone tells a lie, and I’d like to see more made of that ability. It’s apparent here and serves her well, but such a skill would be invaluable to Cyrus and his police associates. I’m curious as to where the author will go with it.
Book 3 of 15 Books of Summer.
Jo's Book Blog 
Sounds good, Jo! x
Thanks, Nicki x
Looks like the author did an amazing job with the characters and the theme of the book. Great review!
Definitely – something a little different, but nicely done.
I really enjoyed this one too, although I haven’t read the others!
That’s the problem. I liked it, but I don’t feel the urge to immediately buy the rest of the series as I did with e.g. Washington Poe, intrigued as I am. One day!