The Perfect Girl: A Novel

Gilly Macmillan

Sep 2016 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

The New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew returns with an electrifying new novel about how the past will always find us...

"Literary suspense at its finest.”—Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Baby

“A wonderfully addictive book with virtuoso plotting and characters - for anyone who loved Girl on the Train, it’s a must read.”
   — Rosamund Lupton

Zoe Maisey is a seventeen-year-old musical prodigy with a genius IQ. Three years ago, she was involved in a tragic incident that left three classmates dead. She served her time, and now her mother, Maria, is resolved to keep that devastating fact tucked far away from their new beginning, hiding the past even from her new husband and demanding Zoe do the same. 

Tonight Zoe is giving a recital that Maria has been planning for months. It needs to be the performance of her life. But instead, by the end of the evening, Maria is dead.

In the aftermath, everyone—police, family, Zoe’s former solicitor, and Zoe herself—tries to piece together what happened. But as Zoe knows all too well, the truth is rarely straightforward, and the closer we are to someone, the less we may see.

Ratings and reviews

I think the characters were well established. Yes, its hard to connect with them all since they're all so gifted. However, I felt the author made cracks in their foundations to humanize them more and make them more relatable. I very much enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down.

I had a hard time with this book because I didn't find the characters very relatable or engaging. They felt under developed and one dimensional.

Really good read. Tension builds right from the start, continues all the way through to the end with some real surprises.

About the author

Gilly Macmillan is the internationally bestselling author of seven other novels including What She Knew, The Nanny, and The Long Weekend. She lives in Bristol, England.