NetGalley ARC | Hot Girl Murder Club

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐

Well, that was...underwhelming. I wanted to love it, because I am all in favor of terrible things happening to terrible men - especially when we know victims won't get justice because our judicial system is set up to protect mediocre white men. And I have really liked a couple of the other Winstead books I've read, so this is likely a one-off.

Scout Sage has been in the industry for a while, finding moderate success as a singer and actress. Her life was completely altered ten years ago with her sister Georgia's mysterious death at a Hollywood party full of predators. She's done her best to keep her sister's memory alive, surrounding herself with a group of like-minded women.

But then a slew of murders occur in rapid succession, the targets all connected, and evidence points to Scout as the culprit. Scout must do whatever it takes to prove she's not guilty, so she can truly get justice for Georgia, before it's too late.

This book was messy, and not in a good way. There was so much happening, alternating timelines, and what felt like a billion POVs. The characters were pretty distinct for the most part, and multiple POVs don't bother me, but there was almost too much going on, to the point that nothing was done particularly well in the grand scheme of things. It made it hard to connect with any of the characters, with there being so many.

It's also kind of hard to tell at times whether the author is trying to say these women went too far with their revenge, or not far enough. Things spiral big time in the end and everything kind of explodes, literally and figuratively, and I was left feeling very blah about all of it.

Still, I love women supporting women. Seeing the bonds the women have created was very powerful, even though the bonds formed because of trauma and violence committed against them. And I also love seeing survivors make awful men pay for their crimes. Hence, two stars.