Serial killer Jon Allan Blue is days away from execution for the murders of several women, mostly university students. But this isn’t really his story He was also suspected of the murder of another woman, 18-year-old Abby Hartman who disappeared on Halloween night twelve years ago but whose body has never been found. This is her story and that of the two best friends she left behind.

Chelsea has been her best friend most of their lives and more than friends for much of that time. She is now an Episcopal priest and maaried but she has never gotten over Abby. Bree has been friends with Chelsea and Abby since high school but has always felt insecure beside their wealthy upbringings. She is now a professor and having an affair with a much younger student.

I have mixed feelings about Don’t Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna. It’s well-written andI liked the concept. It’s true that we always remember the names of serial killers but rarely the names of their victims. In fact, I’d guess everyone reading the book sill guess who Blue was patterned on. So it was a nice change to make the victims (because those left behind are also victims) and how they were affected the main theme of the novel.

The story is told from the three different perspectives with Chelsea and Bree’s story told in third voice while Abby's story is in second voice. The story also goes back and forth in time.The problem is, outside of their grief, there is not enough here to make me feel connected to their lives and what is here became repetitive- Bree’s insecure, Chelsea’s angry, neither can move on. By the end, the last few pages were a struggle and I just wanted it to be over.

I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review ( )

Don't Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna is a so-so novel dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic incident.

Jon Allan Blue is about to be executed. Blue is the serial killer suspected in the murder of 18-year-old University of Iowa freshman Abby Hartman. Her body was never found. Abby's friends, Bree and Chelsea are still mourning her and upset that the memory of Abby is being overshadowed by the story of Blue's other victims. Now, twelve years after Abby disappeared, Blue's upcoming execution is news and a podcast is planning to focus on the story.

Rather than being a thriller, the narrative is really a deep-dive focus on the personal lives and feelings of Bree, Chelsea, and Abby, with Abby's chapters set in the past. At the beginning with the revelation that Bree was having an affair with a student, I was ready to set the novel aside. I stuck it out but perhaps should have DNF it. Adding to my discordant feelings is the fact that Bree and Chelsea's chapters are written in third person, while Abby's are written in first person. I found this incongruous and it made the flow of the story rough. However, since I was never fully invested in any of these characters and their feeling, it really didn't matter after awhile because I didn't care. This may be more of a new adult novel and I'm simply not the target audience.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Sourcebooks via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/06/dont-forget-girl.html ( )