Wednesday 11 October 2023

Book Review: Girl in the Rearview Mirror by Kelsey Rae Dimberg

 Girl in the Rearview Mirror

by

Kelsey Rae Dimberg

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Publication date: 25th June 2019
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Pages: 384
RRP: $29.99AU (trade paperback)
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
 

Review: Girl in the Rearview Mirror

I wasn't sure how I would enjoy this when I first started reading, as it had a political lean, but I surprised myself and raced through it in a day!
 
Finn Hunt moves to Arizona to invent a new life and leave her past behind. After a chance meeting with Philip Martin, the son of a US Senator, she is offered a position as nanny to Amabel, Philip and Marina's 4 year old daughter. Ensconcing herself into their luxury lifestyle Finn is besotted with the charismatic Philip and would do anything to protect him.

There was a lot going on in this story; media hype, stalkers, parties and plenty of lies and secrets.

I did find Finn to be extremely annoying, she made lots of bad decisions. However I did feel sorry for her as she thought she was part of the family, not simply an employee. I do think if her character had been a bit better fleshed out this would have been a five star read.

Dimberg slowly feeds the reader snippets of Finn's past which builds on the mystery whilst at the same time Finn's obsession with Philip has her digging into his past bringing up information that the family would rather leave buried.

The Girl in the Rearview Mirror has a twisty plot where the lines of what is truth and what is false blur into each other. A totally addictive story that kept me reading until the final dramatic ending. 

The Girl in the Rearview Mirror is a fabulous debut. I'm looking forward to Kelsey's next novel.

My rating 4 / 5   ⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Kelsey Rae Dimberg received an MFA from the university of San Francisco and studied at the Barrett Honors College of Arizona Sate University, where she was editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Lux, and received the Swarthout Award in Fiction. Girl in The Rearview Mirror is her first novel. Kelsey has lives in eight states and currently resides in Milwaukee.

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