Set in Northern California in the late 1960's The Girls tells the story of 14 year old Evie who is something of a loner. One day in a local park Evie spots a group of older girls and becomes fascinated with them. A chance encounter leads to one of them taking Evie under her wing and soon she is spending time at The Ranch where the girls live with cult leader, Russell, and other cult members.
The story is based on the true events concerning the Manson family and members of Charles Manson's sect. I'm not wholly familiar with the true version but from what I know this mirrors the real events quite closely with Evie being an extra character thrown into the story.
The Girls is one of those 'Book of the Summer' type books. I had heard so much about it before it was even published and it has it has had an overwhelming amount of publicity. I'm always a little wary of reading these books that have been overhyped as I am so often let down by them and this was something of the case with this one.
The Girls is a quick read but it was a very slow starter for me, I read about a third of it before I started to get into the story. Overall, I found that the the story was lacking in depth and I never really got to grips with a lot of the characters in it. This along with the way that the book opened and followed the true story meant that the tale was very predictable.
I didn't dislike it outright, but I honestly don't think that it deserved all the hype that it received.
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