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Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

352 Pages

Synopsis: Office Miranda Rader of Hammond PD in Louisiana is known for her honesty, integrity, and steady hand in a crisis–but that wasn’t always so. Miranda comes from Jasper, just south of Hammond, a place about the size of a good spit on a hot day, and her side of the tracks was the wrong one. She’s worked hard to leave the girl she used to be behind and earn respect in her position as an officer.

However, when Miranda and her partner are called to investigate the murder of one of the town’s most beloved college professors, they’re unprepared for the gruesomeness of the scene. This murder is unlike any they’ve ever investigated, and just when Miranda thinks she’s seen the worst of it, she finds a piece of evidence that chills her to the core: a faded newspaper clipping about a terrible night from her long-buried past. Then another man turns up dead, this one a retired cop, and not just any cop–Clint Wheeler, the cop who took her statement that night. Two murders, two very different men, two killings that on the surface had nothing in common–except Miranda, 14 years ago.

And when her fingerprints turn up at the scene of the first murder, Miranda once again finds herself under the microscope, her honesty and integrity doubted, her motivations questioned. Alone again, the trust of her colleagues shattered, Miranda must try to trust the instincts she’s pushed down for so long, and decide what’s right–before it’s too late.

I’ve been a fan of Erica Spindler for several years, and have always been able to count on her for a good suspense/thriller with interesting characters. With The Other Girl, The prolific author has once again proven why she’s one of the most well-known authors in this genre.

The story grabbed me from the very first page. Miranda and her partner Jake Billings are fantastic characters, and I was thoroughly invested in the two of them. Miranda, a former wild child, is someone that readers will root for. She’s worked so hard to pull herself up and become a well respected homicide detective, and she’s done so without stepping on anyone else. And this makes it especially heartbreaking when Miranda finds that her past has come back to haunt her and threatens to undo everything she’s accomplished.

Although it was almost immediately obvious who the murderer was, there are still enough twists that prevent this story from being predictable. It’s very fast-paced and I wound up finishing it in two sittings. When real life had the nerve to interrupt my reading, I was reluctant to put this down. The ending with its epilogue is perfect, and left me completely satisfied.

Long-time fans of Erica Spindler won’t be disappointed in The Other Girl, and for anyone who is new to her writing, this is a great book to start with. There are so many thrillers that are currently out there, with strong female leads, but in my opinion, this truly stands out from the rest and I can’t highly recommend it enough!