Book Review of The Girl Who Lived by Christopher Greyson
Faith Winters escaped a mass murder some 10 years ago. Her father, sister, best friend Emily, and Emily’s mother were killed at a cabin near Reed Lake. She escaped from the killer by hiding inside a log but the past still haunts her. All this time she has been in and out of mental health institutions, suicidal watches, and even has had a glimpse of the killer once. The tenth anniversary of the killings is near and Faith is back at the place where it all started. However, as the anniversary approaches, a series of events take place that can either lead to the killer or send Faith back to the Brookdale hospital.
Overview
Faith Winters is released from Brookdale hospital after almost a year. Her mother has found a flat, a car, a psychiatrist, and scheduled several survivor’s groups and meetings for her. Once after six shots of Whiskey, she thinks that she saw Rat Face, the killer she had seen at the Reed Lake when the killings took place. But the car or the driver is not found. She had also seen him once a year earlier. The events that follow leave Faith disturbed and all around her to lose faith in her sanity. She loses her car only to be found parked around the next block. She is followed by the killer, humming the same ‘Happy Birthday’ tune from 10 years back, in the church where a group of people is gathered for the AA meeting. Her house is robbed but the only thing that’s amiss is a melted steak knife and the gun which she cannot tell about. Are these events, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the killings, are actual and someone is trying to drive Faith to the edge, or is Faith finally losing herself with alcohol, guilt, and mental trauma?
I liked
The way that the killer frames Faith and makes her doubt herself is bone-chilling and cruel. I mean you can chase her, kill her but making her go through the mental trauma just for the sake of fun is another level of brutality.
The bond between Faith and Kim is beautiful. Sisters are special but when they are so different and still they care for each other and adore each other is heartwarming.
The fact that Tom was working extra hours to buy an engagement ring for Kim is both special and crushing at the same time.
Although the entire theme of the book is glum, the author manages to bring out the humor in certain instances, not forced humor but natural that simply manages to bring a smile to your face.
I also liked how Jane always manages to save a cookie or muffin for Faith and wants to befriend Faith and how she tries to somehow right the wrong that she had done to Faith.
I didn’t like
Faith’s behavior. Suicidal thoughts, indifference towards her mother, and reluctance to attend the survivor groups and meetings are understandable. However, what I couldn’t get is why is she so keen on doing things that are bound to get her back to either hospital or prison. She totally understands what the consequences of her actions could be but still, she goes on.
The way that the police and the detective keep on ignoring what Faith has to say is really ridiculous. You’ve got a witness who has seen it all and she remembers everything but you simply decide to ignore that and go on to write your own version of the incident.
The ending. It was like a blow to the entire book. The story was unique, the characters well developed, and the entire flow was so good and then bam, it was as if the author was in a hurry to get somewhere and he just decided to wrap it all. And the killer is so unexpected but more than that, so disappointing that it just mars the entire book. This could have been a wonderful novel but the ending drags it back to something a bit more than ordinary.
Bottomline
“The Girl who Lived” is a very good read. The reader will enjoy all the twists, characters, trickery by the killer, and there’s so much more. This book is all about how a survivor feels, more like how she suffers from the past and how no one can understand how she can be helped.
The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you. — Neil Degrasse Tyson
