Don't Forget the Girl: A Novel

Praise for Don't Forget the Girl: A Novel

"A heartbreaking story of female friendship, first love, and betrayal, Rebecca McKanna explodes onto the thriller scene with her debut, Don't Forget the Girl. Absolutely phenomenal!" — Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Lies I Tell and The Last Flight

"Absorbing and unforgettable, Don’t Forget the Girl is an extraordinary debut fueled by complex rifts and haunting regrets. In McKanna's deft hands, love and trauma are two ends of an equally weighted cudgel, always looming, hungry to do its work." — Katie Lattari, author of Dark Things I Adore

"Rebecca McKanna has made a thorough study of the true crime zeitgeist: she knows our hunger for gory details, our ghoulish speculation; she knows all the tropes of podcasts and Netflix shows. In her smart, layered debut, she takes all this and asks us: But what of the bereaved? What do they hold to when the world makes a spectacle of their loss, turning the flawed, complex, funny person they loved into a scary show to binge? The result is a page-turner that’s also a fresh story of forgiveness, memory, and hope. McKanna shows us past the sensationalization of the brutal and untimely death of a pretty girl to something deeper: a love story between three friends." — Kelsey Ronan, author of Chevy in the Hole, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

"Be ready to be wowed by McKanna’s deft hand, which holds a mirror up to a society that glamorizes the killer but too often forgets about the girl who was lost and the people who loved her. Fans of Gillian Flynn and Laura Lippman will love this haunting and heartbreaking literary thriller." — Natalie Lund, author of We Speak in Storms

"Don’t Forget the Girl is a moving and suspenseful exploration of friendship, identity, and the reverberations of violence. An unforgettable debut." — Beth Nguyen, author of Owner of a Lonely Heart

"McKanna punctuates the ‘girl’ thriller phenomenon and punctures our societal fascination with true crime with a page-turner that gives voice to the victim. A talented new voice in crime fiction." — Lori Rader-Day, award-winning author of The Lucky One

"Don’t Forget the Girl has everything you’d want in a genuine literary thriller: clear and beautiful writing, complicated and nuanced characters, clever and unexpected turns in form and plot, and a ripped-from-the-headlines story at the core that makes you slow down and race ahead all at once, forward to a murderer’s execution and backward to his unthinkable acts and their devastating shock waves. Rebecca McKanna has written a vivid, propulsive, sensational debut that’s both an indictment of our violent and toxic culture and a celebration of women and survivors and the essential role of collective memory in bringing about change." — Porter Shreve, author of The End of the Book and The Obituary Writer

"This is the kind of book I crave. It’s an insightful, courageous exploration of friendship, sexuality, reputation, and self-deceit… AND it’s a mystery novel I could not put down. Rebecca McKanna has written a nearly perfect subversion of the true crime genre… I cannot wait to press Don’t Forget the Girl into the hands of all my friends." — Kate Reed Petty, author of True Story