Mini-Review: Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

Orphan Black meets Margaret Atwood in this twisty supernatural thriller about female power and the bonds of sisterhood

Synopsis

Josephine Morrow is Girl One, the first of nine Miracle Babies conceived without male DNA on an experimental commune known as the Homestead. The Girls were raised in the shadow of controversy—plagued by zealots calling them aberrations and their mothers demons—until a devastating fire at the Homestead claimed the lives of three people, leaving the survivors to scatter across the United States.

Years later, upon learning that her mother has gone missing, Josie sets off on a desperate road trip, tracking down the only people who might help: her estranged sisters. Tracing clues her mother left behind, Josie joins forces with two of the Girls, and they journey back through their past, uncovering secrets about their origins and unlocking devastating abilities they never knew they had.

Girl One combines the provocative imagination of Naomi Alderman’s The Power with the propulsive, cinematic storytelling of a Marvel movie. In her electrifying, wildly entertaining new novel, Sara Flannery Murphy delivers a rousing tale of love, ambition, power, and the extraordinary bonds of sisterhood.¹³

My thoughts

Wow. Girl One brings it and then some.

Sara Flannery Murphy gives us a heroine to root for in Josie. Girl One is a genetically engineered sci-fi suspense story. It has red herrings, bad guys, quasi bad guys, and paranoia. It is so good.

Murphy speeds readers through the past all the while on the hunt for Josephine’s missing mother. Secrets are revealed, hidden, and blown up. Have I mentioned how good this is again?

I mostly love the secondary characters. Let’s just say you dislike who you are supposed to dislike (laugh).

The cover does not do justice to the action packed inside. This is a book you are going to want to read again because it is that exciting.

Murphy also manages to throw in some romance too. Gotta love “love on the run”.

I hope we see more of these girls as Murphy only refers to Girl One with the title. Spoiler alert: there might be more than one and you will want to read more about them.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.