Book Review: Reckless Girls | Rachel Hawkins

This is the sort of binge-worthy thriller that seems to leap right off the page. I could easily picture Rachel Hawkins’ Reckless Girls as a movie—a total popcorn thriller with a dash of paradise, romance, adventure, and danger, this modern gothic is one of my favorite books I’ve read this year!

About the Book

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.

Reflection

After absolutely loving The Wife Upstairs, I was nervous that my next Rachel Hawkins book wouldn’t be able to live up to my excitement, but Reckless Girls was perhaps even better than her previous book. I absolutely loved it!

Our leading lady Lux is adrift in life, following the death of her mother, Lux left with her now boyfriend Nico to sail his boat down to Hawaii where damage to the boat meant they were stranded for a time. As the book opens, Lux finds herself out of a job suddenly and so when Nico comes to her with an offer from two wealthy female travelers to fix their boat in exchange for a personal trip to the uninhabited Meroe Island, she accepts.

I found Lux to be a very sympathetic character. While I haven’t been through what she has, I understood how she felt lost after the death of her mother with no family, no degree, and no career. Her boyfriend Nico is a different story—if you think a charming, privileged, rich boy has a few red flags, you’d be thinking what I was! Of course, even Nico has a lot of complexity as a character as the book goes on.

But as you may guess from the title, the women in this book are the true stars. Amma and Brittany are the two young female travelers who pay for the trip to Meroe Island and they are both entirely unique—if not always likable—characters. Soon after the group arrives on the island, they notice another boat is docked and meet young, attractive, wealthy couple Jake and Eliza.

The group of six gets along well, especially with the expensive rations from Jake and Eliza, but the whole time there is this eerie feeling to the entire trip. Hawkins really built the suspense throughout the book. I always felt a bit off-balance reading it, like I was just waiting for the next twist. There was also something quite intoxicating about the early days of their time on the island—reading it gave that same feeling you get when you play hooky, like you’re doing something deliciously naughty and getting away with it.

When a stranger shows up on the island, the comradery between the six island friends is revealed to be more fragile than they realized. In fact, despite their quick bonds, it turns out these fast friends may not know each other at all. Perhaps there is a lot more secrets buried that are still to come to light. And then someone goes missing…

A brilliant mix of soapy drama and tautly-wound suspense, this popcorn thriller should be on your must-read list!