DEAD GIRLS, written by Graeme Cameron, looked like my kind of psychological thriller. A serial killer, on the loose, brutally attacks Ali Green, a police detective. Left for dead, Ali is found and after two months returns to work. Her mission is to find THAT MAN so he won't hurt anyone else. Ali, however, has serious memory issues, as well as painful muscle weaknesses she is hiding from her colleagues. Ali is desperate to hide her secrets and keeps a notebook to help her remember simple, everyday things. Did she lock the front door? Where did she leave the key? Her partner, Kevin, notices her peculiar behaviors and wants to help her, but she ignores his questions and lies to him about how she is feeling.

Five girls have been found buried in a marshy area and two policemen pulled from a car are burned so totally it took forever to discover their identities. How many more girls are missing? Who is killing them and why? Does he have a helper? Will Ali, with her scattered mind, remember the killer's face or will he be free to continue his reign of slaughter?

DEAD GIRLS is Graeme Cameron's sequel to his first book, NORMAL. Perhaps if I had known about it, I would have read it before I read DEAD GIRLS and the story would have some continuity and make more sense to me. This was not the killer book I expected. It was just not for me. Too many characters with sub-plots that did not add much to this story. I found myself confused too many times and going back to read and re-read the preceding pages. This is not enjoyable to me, but I trudged on to the ending. Here and there the plot held excitement such as when THAT MAN chases Ali and Annie with a bow and arrow in the woods. As much as I wanted to like and enjoy DEAD GIRLS, it fell short for me. Perhaps next time?

Book Summary

I may not remember everything, but I know he won’t hurt anyone else.

I won’t let him.

It’s been two months since a serial killer brutally attacked police detective Alisha Green and left her for dead. Two months since she could effortlessly recall simple things, since her mind felt remotely sound. The nameless killer thinks he knows her, thinks she’s just another dead girl among many. Ali Green plans to show him he’s dead wrong about that.

Ali has two enemies now: the dangerous man she’s hunting and her own failing memory. As explosive new evidence comes to light and conflicting accounts from a witness and a surviving victim threaten both her investigation and her credibility, she begins to question what is and isn’t real. And now Ali has no choice but to remember the past…before it buries her.