I could not be Prized away from this page-turning tale

The Prized Girl

I’m a sucker for a small town story. Small towns always have secrets and, as a notorious nosy parker, I love delving into the lives of these fictional residents.

Allow me to introduce you to a small town that you’d want to steer well clear from – Wrenton in Massachusetts.

Thirteen-year-old former pageant queen Jenny Kennedy is found raped and stabbed to death in the woods and the whole town is plunged into mourning.

At first, it seems like a clear-cut case for detective Brandon Colsen, who has been shipped in from the big city to cover the case.

The obvious suspect is Jenny’s biggest pageant fan, Benjy. A bit of an oddball, the older man may have gotten a little too close. But did he kill her?

It’s not just detective Colsen who’s hunting Jenny’s killer, her half sister Virginia, believing that Benjy is not the culprit, takes matters into her own hands and leads the hunt for the real murderer.

But there are many obstacles in her way. The half sisters weren’t close when Jenny was alive and Virginia believes that the town, like her, didn’t really know Jenny all that well.

There ensues a story of investigation and pointing fingers that’s littered with dark humour in all the right places.

Who killed Jenny? Well, you’ll have to read it to find out.

The Prized Girl had me sucked in from day dot. Virginia, whose story runs in first person in the present, is a hoot. It’s safe to say she’s utterly messed up from family life and a dangerous romance in her early teens (it’ll knock you off your feet, believe me) but she’s the only one vouching for the real Jenny and she slowly learns more about her half sister as the story plays out.

Jenny’s narrative, with her being dead, is written in third person and it is an eye-opener. Her family life is on the fast track to being as muddled as Virginia’s, if not worse, and she is struggling to find out who she is. But this small town isn’t cutting it for her. When she strikes up a friendship/relationship with new kid in the class, JP, it’s a recipe for teenage rebellion.

These two characters are everything I’ve ever wanted from a story.

Jenny’s chapters aren’t there in just good manners to her sister’s storytelling, they are integral to laying out the foundations for the gruesome and terrifying last few weeks of the schoolgirl’s life.

Jenny’s school, Virginia’s alma mater, plays a pivotal role in the story, and you’ll see how crossovers and catastrophic decisions from those in charge can ruin the lives of so many around them.

I had my nose in this book for a record amount of time at each sitting. Any chance I had, I buried myself in Virginia and Jenny’s worlds.

As well as a gripping tale, I could see The Prized Girl brought to life on screen. It would make a tremendous eight-part TV series.

I can picture dark and threatening nights, sheep in wolves’ clothing and family secrets that are just the stuff that feeds small town salacious gossip.

Read it. Read it now.