I went into this with high hopes. The premise seemed right up my alley - a mystery, multiple personalities, sex work. However, I was sadly let down. I saw the “twists” from the first chapter so that was disappointing in a thriller novel. There were way too many characters to try and keep track of (and I don’t mean all of Alexa’s personalities - there were multiple side characters that felt unnecessary.) I was somehow confused and bored at the same time. It took me over a month to finally finish The Eighth Girl because I was dreading picking it up. Worst of all though is the representation of sex workers throughout this book. Instead of humanizing these women, I felt that they were villianized and used as props to tell a story of a stereotyped mental illness.

Due to struggles with my mental health I fell behind on my NetGalley reads. I went to go read this one but for some reason it hadn't sent properly to my kindle and as the book is archived can no longer read it.

Sorry!

The Eighth Girl is told from two points of view; therapist Daniel and his patient Alexa who has disassociative identity disorder.

The way Cheung writes this book Alexa is the narrator and the original host of the body, all other personalities are shown using dialogue between them and Alexa, or whilst talking with Daniel in therapy.

I really liked the use of ornithology to give connotations of safety within the novel; Alexa refers to her multiple identities as 'the flock' who reside in 'the nest' of her mind.

I found each of the primary personalities to be endearing, they are created to protect one another and have a sisterly quality to the way they behave and engage with eachother.

Daniel's plot accounts for a quarter of the book, and whilst it humanised the doctor to learn of his own history and relationships I found it wasn't entirely necessary for the story. Mostly Daniel is a tool for outside observations of Alexa and the flock. A way to describe the nuance in physical behaviours between the identities.

This novel is a very dark venture into sexual abuse and other horrors. I was glued to Alexa, desperate for her to save her best friend Ella without losing her own mind in the process. The pace is maintained throughout with some brilliant revelations toward the finale.

A great read from Pushkin Press.

The Eighth Girl follows Alexa Wu' and her multiple personalities, The Flock. There's the childlike Dolly, the sweary Runner among her personalities. Also the Fouls who hide her medication and do not want her to get well in general. She has been seeing Dr. Daniel, a psychotherapist, for her Dissociative personality problem. Her best friend Ella works at a club Electra and Alexa often frequents the place. They come across child trafficking and try to do the right thing.

What I liked?
- The multiple personalities were well crafted and wholesome.
- I liked Alexa. I liked the scenes where she is trying to understand her other personalities. I also liked how the personalities communicate with one another, make decisions and protect the other. Sometimes one personality can take over and do stuff without the knowledge of others (for eg there's a scene where Dolly goes to the doctor but she later informs the others; there's a scene where Alexa is drunk and one of the personalities picks up a girl to spend the night with)
- The examination of past trauma and abuse and how it affects the mind.

What I disliked?
- There was hardly any suspense given that the novel is marketed as a thriller
- I could not get on board with Daniel developing feelings for his patient. I am not talking about the moral implications. Characters on a page are free to behave as they please. But his changing attitude had no motivation in the story. In general, compared to the personalities, Daniel seemed weak in his character build up too.

TW : The book deals with sexual abuse, child abuse, child porn, rape

This January I joined a reading group that was exploring books on the topic of mental health, so I was thrilled to get accepted to review this book about a girl with multiple personality disorder and her therapist.

But this wasn't it for me. Very quickly, it became some crazy story in which the girl and her best friend are trying to dismantel a traficking ring... It felt very slow at parts and I didn't care about the story for much of the book. The big plot twist wasn't expected, but it also wasn't impressive.

The other selling point for me at first was that I thought there would be more exploration of the Asian culture, but this was barely mentioned.

Not for me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow this book has a great premise - one that’s practically cat-nip to a therapist. Our main character Alexa has Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as multiple personalities. Alexa is aware of her other identities, but only three people in her life also know the truth: her mother, her best friend and her therapist. Her friend Ella has a job in a posh gentleman’s club and has grabbed the attention of the owner, a slick, but possibly dangerous business man. Alexa watches her friend get sucked into London’s criminal underworld and is determined to keep her safe, but unwittingly, her determination to help her friend leads her to a deadly secret. Now Alexa becomes determined to rescue her friend, but will find out whether her personalities can be used as an asset or whether they make her more vulnerable,

This is definitely an addictive thriller and being a psychoanalyst means that the psychological aspects of the book feel accurate and well constructed, However, because they are definitely the crux of the book, which was fascinating for me, but took away some of that breathless, page turning feeling you want from a thriller. All of the action takes place within the club, ‘Electra’ so the scenes are driven by Alexa’s other personalities. There are so many people within her psyche, so I wasn’t bored, but I was waiting for something else to happen in the early stages. The only parts away from the club were Alexa travelling to and from, or her therapy appointments with Daniel which were truly interesting. I must congratulate the author on meticulously crafting her personalities, their relationship to each other and for depicting an illness like this so empathetically. When the girls decide to take down the club owner, Navid, and divulge his sideline in human trafficking and child porn the stress has a devastating effect on Alexa. She experiences more black outs, they become longer episodes and she doesn’t always know who she’s been and what she’s done. Her control of these ‘alters’ diminishes and they start to become the ones in control.

Daniel has a tricky role here, he knows he must take action as he sees Alexa spiralling towards a total breakdown, but has a vested interest in keeping the ‘alters’ because of his own sexual attraction to one of them. How can he intervene in a way that won’t harm Alexa, or his own interests. I thought it was clever to have this conundrum alongside the main storyline because both show the potential for exploitation of women and girls. The author also explores the sheer difficulties of being a young woman in today’s society. This alongside her personalities or alters, made me aware of how bewildering and overwhelming it must be to be a young woman with the mental health problems. There were also episodes where I found myself thinking ‘oh for god’s sake listen to Dolly’ - a personality who needs protecting, but also seems very keen on pointing out the seedy guys in the club. If Alexa could harness these personalities and use them when she needs to, she would be unstoppable, As it is, I was worried she wouldn’t come out of this alive. This is a good read, with an exciting idea at its centre that becomes more involved and addictive as it goes along. Persevere with it, because it definitely grew on me.

'The Eighth Girl' is narrated by Alexa, a 20 something year old woman who suffers with multiple personality disorder and also by her therapist Daniel. Alexa struggles to keep a handle on her 8 different personalities and things take a turn for the worst when her best friend, Ella, gets involved in some illicit business involving pornography and stripping in order to make a bit more money. Daniel, her therapist, tries to assist Alexa with managing her disorder but he also has his own dark issues to deal with behind closed doors.

The premise really interested me as I have never read a book from the perspective of a person with multiple personality disorder. On top of this, it was also written from an Asian perspective so I just thought all in all, this was a very original premise and I was so excited to read it!

Unfortunately, this was certainly not the book I expected. I thought it would be a real psychological thriller with a much deeper delving into the workings of the mind of someone with DID.

Although I really enjoyed getting to know each of Alexa's personalities, I felt like Alexa herself was very one dimensional. I thought maybe her asian background would be developed a bit more rather than just touched on! I would've loved to know more about it personally. I also didn't really understand the relevance of the therapist's narrative.. I didn't like how Daniel was deeply unprofessional getting much more involved in Alexa's personal life than he should have done and also fantasising about her in a sexual sense. However, I did enjoy reading Alexa and Daniel (the therapist's appointments and exchanges since it really did provide more of an insight into how multiple personality disorder develops as a result of trauma. Ultimately though, I felt that that Daniel's chapter's added very little value to the overall narrative.

The novel was quite slow-paced and tedious to get through with the last 10% being the most action-packed. It seemed like I waited throughout all of the novel for something/a storyline that never quite materialised. I really didn't enjoy the whole sex trafficking and porn storyline. It felt quite underdeveloped and vague. The novel's big plot twist was anticlimactic and although I didn't quite expect it, I wasn't necessarily impressed by it either. I think by the time I finally got to near the end of the book after trawling through endless chapters with very little substance, I had lost all interest in any shocking revelations.

I applaud the writer when it comes to her depiction of multiple personality disorder. It seemed she really did her research. This is my first novel deals with this disorder so I am not at all familiar with it but I felt like I definitely got some insight into how the victim creates these personalities by disassociating from reality as a result of the trauma they faced. I really enjoyed the diverse variety of personalities that Mei-Fung Chung presents the reader with, with Runner's sassy and no bullshit attitude being my favourite!

All in all, a decent debut novel but a bit too chaotic and slow-paced for my liking. It seemed to only scratch the surface when it came to depicting multiple personality disorder and I would've liked to have learnt more about it as well as Alexa's asian background. The big revelation at the end of the novel took so long to get to that by the time I finally read it it felt anti climatic and dull.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A dark and twisty read thya is quite mind bending.
An. OK read.

Holy smokes!
I've known about this book since 2020 and I feel like I need to apologize to the writer for not begging for an ARC early enough so that I have enough time to talk about this beauty.

I'm not sure I'll be able to even properly talk about this book because she has used up all the words. Here's why you need to read The Eighth Girl, it's friggin'fantastic and one of the best crime thrillers you've read in a long time. I promise. Feel free to cancel me if you don't enjoy this book.

Yes, it's THAT good!

An interesting psychological thriller telling the story of a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder, through conversations with her therapist. Ive read a real mix of reviews for the book and i can see why, its hard to fit into any particular genre, and there are some fairly slow parts that dont really meet the 'thriller' label. Hard to pin down, an interesting but not essential read, sorry

The Eighth Girl is told through two perspectives - Alexa, a woman with dissociative identity disorder, and Daniel, her therapist. Whilst Daniel’s POV was interesting as we learned more about Alexa and DID, I didn’t care about his life or his problems and I got bored during his chapters. Also, as Alexa has DID, there’s a lot of switching between the various personalities. It must be hard to write a character who changes frequently nevertheless, it was hard to keep up. 

I wouldn’t say I was gripped by the plot, it often feeling slow and predictable. However, Alexa was what made the book, learning about the psychology behind Alexa and her illness. I loved how the author delved into her past - showing us where the DID stemmed from. Often when you read a book including an individual with DID, their backstory isn’t explained, so it’s harder to understand why they are the way they are. 

Overall, although I didn’t like the plot that much, the protagonist was interesting enough to keep me reading under the end. I wouldn’t be opposed to checking out other works from this author in the future.

This book was not what I expected - which is something I’m seeing a lot of reviewers say about it. I think it’s a disservice to the book for it to be called a mystery/thriller, and that’s what brought on a lot of my disappointment. I really enjoyed reading about our main character with Dissociative Identity Disorder and think it falls much more in the hard-hitting-contemporary-with-a-little-bit-of-suspense genre, but it was a little long, drawn-out, and not quite thrilling enough for me to say I loved the entire thing.

A good read, a bit of slow starter but it does really pick up. The characters and the storyline were captivating, a great debut!

The Eighth Girl follows Alexa Wu, who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and is told from her viewpoint and that of her therapist, Daniel. Only Alexa, her best friend Ella, her stepmother, and Daniel know about her diagnosis. When Ella takes a job at a lap-dancing club, Alexa finds herself visiting there as Ella works. Drawn into the dark underworld of the club, Alexa starts to uncover a child sex-trafficking ring.

The book felt disjointed as other personalities ('The Flock') took their place in front, although in this case, I’m not sure it’s a negative. As I tried to figure out what was really going on, I felt disjointed. I didn’t know where the story was going, and this mimicked the lack of stability I imagine Alexa was experiencing as her alters took their places. We uncover Alexa's past trauma and begin to understand the role that each personality plays in Alexa's system.

The Eighth Girl is an uncomfortable read – the hyper-sexualisation of Alexa and the inner thoughts of Daniel, the therapist, were hard to read – but possibly have their roots in reflexivity. The author is a psychologist herself, and so I would imagine that the darker side of therapy is honestly written about, if disturbing. It was interesting to glimpse Daniel’s thoughts too as the therapeutic relationship progresses.

As the story went on, I found myself wondering about some of the circumstances Alexa found herself in, but it all became clear towards the end of the book. An unsettling read, and unlike anything I’ve read for a while, but one I’d recommend – hard reading but worth it.

This book is really like no other I have ever read. It was completely fascinating and very well written. A terrific debut. Highly recommended for lovers of dark stories.

In short, it's about a woman, Alexa, who starts her therapy with a new doctor (because of her DID) and simultaneously tries to investigate a sex trafficking ring. Let's get it out of the way. I didn't have any strong feelings for this book, especially at first. But I couldn't stop reading, I really wanted to find out what this book is actually going to be.

It was very slow, so it was difficult to figure it out fast, and I was expecting anything. Murder? Some weird romance? The main character just getting better because of all the work she's done in therapy?

Was it a thriller, as advertised? It's hard to tell. It was definitely very dark and there was a lot of suspense to it.
 Maxine Mei-Fung Chung is a very good writer and in terms of language  this book was very well written. The author dealt with the changing POVs very well and the ideas were interesting. I would like to be able to compare it to Gillian Flynn's or Natsuo Kirino's books, but for the most part the book felt a lot like one of those early Michael Douglas movies in which he has sex with dangerous women. Y'all know what films I'm talking about.

After I heard that the author has some
background in psychotherapy, I was expecting a realistic depiction of the Dissociative Identity Disorder.  I haven't done a lot of research -- I watched some videos featuring people with DID and based on their descriptions of their condition the author wasn't far from reality. I know it's just fiction, but American cinema has been scaring us with the multiple personality disorder for years, and it was nice to see someone with DID try to be the good guy.

At least the book didn't perpetuate the trope of DID = violence. On the other hand, it perpetuated the trope of mental disorder = robust sexuality.

And from that stems a list of things I didn't like about this book:
- a therapist sexualizing his client,
- the general and constant sexualization of every female character (and the use of extremely male gaze for a female author),
- the Broken Bird trope (of course as a result of sexual violence).

Not for me. Too confusing and I didn't much care for the main character (s) I've probably missed the entire point of this novel and others may well love it of course but if mental health and all its permutations is something you find interesting in a novel then this might work. I was just left feeling as if I needed a lie down myself.

Like nothing I've ever read before, poetically phrased with a disturbing undercurrent. This book surprised me with every turn of the page, an amazing debut, well worth 5 stars.

Maxine Mei-Fung did a wonderful job bringing to life such a fascinating mental disorder into a real perspective on paper. This is not a book to quickly read as you are continuously looking for triggers and clues to work out which personality has taken over at the time. Maxine uses separate POVs to tell this story: Alexa and her doctor. These breaks/ changes in the narrative help offers the reader a break from analysing the text while also clarify events as they transpire.

However, the overall plot of the novel doesn't live up to the expectations you gain from the books description. Although, the plot twist at the end is not one you are expecting, it won't be a novel I would pick up to read again. Throughout the writing felt stiff and unnecessary to the direction of the plot. Due to its complex nature as well it was to be continously put down to be picked up later with a clearer head.

As Maxine Is a psychologist herself, she did a very good job representing the DID and taught the reader much throughout. Overall, it was clear it was written by someone not use to creative writing so unfortuanlty the plot let the overall novel down. I would still recommend this to anyone wishing to learn more about the disorder through something outside a textbook.

A good and interesting read!

I would recommend this to everyone who loves a good story with captivating characters! Definitely a good read!