A Book A Week

She sits in the dark—cold, alone, afraid—waiting.

He used to open the door. He would bring her food, yes, but it was that brief slice of light she craved most. A reminder that the outside world still existed, even if the girl she once was did not.

But then he stopped coming.

A few days passed. Then a few more. Hunger gnawed. Silence pressed in. And slowly, dread settled into certainty. He was never coming back.

So she remained there in the dark, chained to the wall, surrounded only by the others—the girls who came before her, the ones who never left.

Audrey never stopped searching for her ex–best friend, Janie. They were only teenagers when Janie vanished, but the shock of her disappearance sent ripples through every corner of Audrey’s adult life. When she’s not teaching at the local high school, Audrey volunteers with search-and-rescue teams—part devotion, part penance, as if finding someone else might somehow atone for not finding Janie.

But when a search for a runaway girl uncovers evidence of a possible kidnapping, long-buried secrets and old traumas begin to surface. Audrey is forced to finally reckon with the truth she’s avoided for years and to confront what really happened to Janie.

I didn’t need to read the synopsis to know I’d be picking up The Girls Before, the latest from Kate Alice Marshall. She became a must-read for me after What Lies in the Woods and A Killing Cold, so my expectations were high. Still, the premise of this standalone thriller immediately hooked me.

Marshall employs shifting perspectives between the trapped girl and the woman searching for answers, a structure that creates an early sense of urgency and dread. The opening is undeniably gripping. But as the story unfolds, that momentum begins to thin. There are the bones of a compelling thriller here, but elements like the folkloric legend and a romantic subplot pulled attention away from the central mystery. 

By the time the major twist arrived, I’d already pieced it together and found myself more ready for the conclusion than surprised by it. Even so, Marshall’s ability to craft suspenseful scenarios and emotionally driven stakes remains as strong as ever. While this one didn’t resonate with me as much as her previous novels, it won’t stop me from eagerly picking up whatever she writes next.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2026, 16)