Leanne Olson

by Pip Drysdale

releasing May 2, 2023 from Simon & Schuster Canada

The Next Girl was such an unexpected surprise.  I wasn’t familiar with Pip Drysdale at all and this turned out to be one of my favourite recent thrillers.

Billie is a paralegal who is fired because her firm believes she tried to get a witness to lie in court about being assaulted by a prominent doctor, Samuel Grange. Billie is determined to prove her innocence, and to make Samuel Grange pay.

The next day, she wakes up in a stranger’s bed with no memory of the previous night.  What happened to her, and was it intentional or is someone manipulating the truth?

Billie’s definitely one of my favourite new thriller heroines.  She pieces out revelations throughout the book without falling into the cliche unreliable female narrator mode that has been so popular in thrillers lately.  She’s a mess but she’s fascinating.

I loved the detail behind Billie’s spying and searching, in real life and through social media.  It was so much fun, and I loved the contrast between how clearly intelligent she is, and how obsessive she could get, making poor choices that had me cringing in the best way.

The side characters were interesting and the plot was twisty and kept me guessing.  I sped through this book and had so much fun reading it.  

🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my review copy of this book.