Synopsis:
USA TODAY BESTSELLER R. K. Jackson’s lyrical, twisty psychological thriller follows an aspiring journalist as she uncovers dark truths in a sea swept Southern town—aided by a mysterious outcast and pursued by a ruthless killer.
When Martha Covington moves to Amberleen, Georgia, after her release from a psychiatric ward, she thinks her breakdown is behind her. A small town with a rich history, Amberleen feels like a fresh start. Taking a summer internship with the local historical society, Martha is tasked with gathering the stories of the Geechee residents of nearby Shell Heap Island, the descendants of slaves who have lived by their own traditions for the last three hundred years.
As Martha delves into her work, the voices she thought she left behind start whispering again, and she begins to doubt her recovery. When a grisly murder occurs, Martha finds herself at the center of a perfect storm—and she’s the perfect suspect. Without a soul to vouch for her innocence or her sanity, Martha disappears into the wilderness, battling the pull of madness and struggling to piece together a supernatural puzzle of age-old resentments, broken promises, and cold-blooded murder. She finds an unexpected ally in a handsome young man fighting his own battles. With his help, Martha journeys through a terrifying labyrinth—to find the truth and clear her name, if she can survive to tell the tale.
Perfect for fans of authors Alice Feeney, Megan Miranda, and Tana French.
“She wants to kill you.”
“Martha’s fingers tightened on the Pentel No. 2 pencil, clutched in her lap like a secret talisman.”
Through richly written descriptions and the use of figurative language, in The Girl in the Maze, Jackson presents an engaging story that was difficult to stop devouring. His evocative writing forces us to mirror the feelings main character Martha has: fear, anxiety, unease, doubt, and even empowerment, to name a few. The author masterfully creates specific moods that weigh on readers, sucking us in and holding us within the stories.
The author throws a wrench into the works by making readers, along with Martha, have doubts about her experiences. Martha has been diagnosed with and is being treated for mental illness. But is it in fact something else entirely? The journey to finding the answer is fascinating, and the author keeps readers a little off-kilter and questioning what is truth and what are tricks of the mind.
It’s unclear when, exactly, the story takes place. A long-distance phone call requires a pre-paid phone card, and there are no mentions of cell phones. And further complicating matters is how in the town of Amberleen, on Shell Heap Island, and in the coastal swamps, time seems to stand still a bit. And, there are those who want to take control of these places and make changes in the name of progress; where in actuality, it’s purely for profit. Greed and lust for power provide fodder for many a twist and turn in The Girl in the Maze, and these things also make it relevant and timeless.
The addition of the historically factual Geechee community brings layers of authenticity and mystique to The Girl in the Maze. The Geechees, African Americans descended from West and Central Africans who were enslaved to work on plantations, have a dwindling population, distinct Creole language, and their history has been preserved only orally within their circle. My favorite character, the wise, old Lady Alberthe, tells terrifying tales of Boo Hags and lost, restless spirits that cause the spine to tingle. And, oh wow – just when readers think they are heading towards the resolution, there’s a Geechee story within the story that holds readers spellbound.
ABOUT THE NARRATION: One of the reasons I love reading with my ears is to be gloriously free to enjoy a story without seeing the sentences. (Blessing or curse, my eye is drawn to written errors.) Narrator Hillary Huber gives listeners an outstanding experience. Her pacing is perfect, and her performance of the various characters is stellar. Coupled with Jackson’s characters to love and loathe, Huber especially excels with voicing the creepy people (and there are quite a few), the accents of the Geechee, and convincingly depicts males and females. Well done! I listened, glitch-free, at regular speed, on the BookFunnel app.
Suspenseful, twist-filled The Girl in the Maze will have readers catching their breath by book’s end. Many questions are answered, and loose ends are tied. But happily, author R.K. Jackson also plants some seeds that let us know that Martha Covington has more adventures in store. I’m in! (Hoping for an audiobook version of Kiss of the Sun, the next book in the series, soon!)
Click to listen to an audio clip from The Girl in the Maze!
Author Bio:
R.K. Jackson is a former CNN journalist who now works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is the author of two novels of psychological suspense: the USA Today bestseller The Girl in the Maze and its sequel, Kiss of the Sun, both originally published by Penguin Random House.
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