Nora, her best friend Wes, and her girlfriend Iris are putting their final plans in place for a forest hike. Iris is about to begin an internship in a Fire Tower deep in the forest, and Nora wants to spend time with her before she leaves.

At the last minute, Wes’ girlfriend Amanda asks to join them. Nora is a little disappointed it isn’t going to be just the three of them. Wes, and Iris are two of only three people that know Nora’s deeply troubled and complicated past and she was hoping to be completely relaxed in their company. The third person who knows her past is her older sister Lee, who saved her from it all.

Nora knows she won’t be able to relax completely anyway, as a key threat from her past has been looking for her with nothing but revenge in mind. She’s hoping that the dense forest will be as good a place as any to continue to hide from her violent and controlling stepfather – Raymond Keane.

Her hopes are soon stomped upon when Amanda vanishes from her tent in the middle of the night. The blood left behind instantly alerts Nora to Amanda’s fate and her survival instincts snap into place the moment she sees it.

Nora has survived Raymond before but she knows he was going to come for her eventually after what she did. There are multiple plans in place in case he found her, but this has thrown those plans in the air. Nora isn’t the only one with survival skills as Wes and Iris have developed their own. They too know how dangerous their situation is and that they must work together to leave the forest alive.

All three are willing to sacrifice themselves for the others, so promises are made, broken and made again. Lies have been told and trusts are about to be broken too. Will they survive Raymond and is Amanda still alive?

A pulse-pounding, fast-paced read that I couldn’t put down. The narrative skips from the present back to when organising the hike and even further back when Nora was called Ashley. Ashley is just one of the names from her turbulent past being raised by her ruthless con-artist mother.

There are also points of view from Iris and Wes, which just adds to the intrigue of the story. There are several foes in the forest, and not all of them belong to Raymond’s band of mercenaries. Nora, Iris and Wes have to be ruthless themselves to defeat Nora’s enemy once and for all, and much blood is spilt.

Just when I thought I had the narrative nailed down, a huge curve-ball in the story added another exciting layer. Nora loves Wes and Iris but falls back on her long honed skills of deception to keep them safe.

It’s not essential to read the first book in the series – Girls I’ve Been, but your enjoyment of The Girl in Question will be so much more intense if you do.

Smart, sassy, badass and brilliant!

Author – Tess Sharpe

Age – 14+

Read a review for the first riveting book in this duology – Girls I’ve Been, here

(2024, Hachette NZ, Love, Family, Friendship, Sister, Close Bonds, Tied pasts, Action, Violence, Guns, Knives, Hiding, Running from threat, Hike, Bush Trek, Murder, Crime, FBI Agent, Sequel, Plans, Dog, Best Friend, Lies, Secrets, Manipulation, Revenge)