A good read!
This tale of four friends takes place in the present with flashbacks to the past. Something happened that split the friendship two years ago and a 30th birthday party seems like the time to regroup.
Tension runs through this well paced book and the viewpoint of the main characters is well described and moves between them throughout the book.
They don't know who to trust and the twists keep coming.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for the tension.

'The term “Big Five” originally referred to the difficulty in hunting the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and African buffalo'

This book was absolutely fantastic! Gripping, thrilling, chilling & unputdownable! Very well written, vividly descriptive, this was a st of two halves; the first followed the 'wild' girls on their journey to Botswana & the birthday weekend, the second was full of lies & revelations.

'FOUR FRIENDS.
A LUXURY RETREAT.
IT’S GOING TO BE MURDER'

Known as the 'wild girls' in their younger days, friends Grace, Hannah, Alice & Felicity haven't spoken for several years, so when Felicity invites the girls on a hunting weekend in Botswana for her birthday all expenses paid, it's an offer they can't refuse & a chance for them to bond again. When they arrive at Deception Lodges there is no Felicity, no party, no other signs of life & no phone signal!

Are they the hunter or are they being hunted?

Many thanks to Netgalley for my ARC in return for my honest review.

𝗜 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 5 ⭐ 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴

This is a great thriller that has a similar tone to the author’s previous books, but a completely different setting on the plains of Africa, which make it very atmospheric. It is an isolated setting and you feel the sense of isolation and panic when things start coming to a head.

The four main characters were previously known as ‘the wild girls’ and inseparable, until one night where everything changed, and they grew apart. This book has a dual timeline, covering the events when they reunite in Botswana, and also back to the time everything changed, when things are gradually revealed.

The book is also told from multiple points of view, namely the four main characters, which adds to the atmosphere and helps us understand their backgrounds further. The four characters are very well written, although not particularly likeable, and we have a good mix of friendship dynamics including secrets and toxicity. The first half was more gripping, with the second a bit slower as it was more about secrets and revelations but I still really enjoyed this, and didn’t guess the ending which is always a bonus!

This was an intense and gripping thriller, which definitely makes you desperate to turn the pages and find out what’s going on, would highly recommend.

What happened THAT NIGHT?? From the moment there was a sniff that something happened between this once tight and inseparable foursome, I knew I had to keep reading. There are hints throughout but my curiosity and mind ran wild!

Morgan crams a lot into those four days in Botswana. The remoteness of the location added to the claustrophobia of the story. With the lack of a host or lodge staff, I felt a deep sense of foreboding for the trio that had travelled from the UK. Where was Felicity??

Interspersed with sections of what should be an amazing trip are chapters that took me on a trip down Memory Lane. Snippets of the girls’ history. Snippets leading to something but I didn’t know what. This added to my already piqued interest in what caused such a divide between childhood friends. And that ending!!! Oh my!!! Seriously??! That was twisted!!!!

Devouring a book in a day for me is the sign of a pretty darn decent book and that’s what I did with The Wild Girls. It’s one hell of an addictive read!! I didn’t want to to leave my kindle alone. I am interrogating myself AC-12 style as to why have I never read anything by Phoebe Morgan??? I am kicking myself for not getting her previous books read. I’ve got them sat there patiently in mount TBR…. just unread…. note to self: read my backlog of Phoebe Morgan books.

An unsettling and creepy thriller featuring an estranged group of friends and set in a luxury holiday retreat in Botswana? Yes. Please. I inhaled Phoebe Morgan’s previous novel, The Babysitter, last year so I was super excited to be gifted a digital copy of The Wild Girls.

Well, this was addictive! It’s the kind of book that you want to read on your sun lounger in the garden, as you pretend you’re on a tropical holiday. Although, being honest, despite the idyllic location you probably wouldn’t want to be on this particular trip.

Alarm bells perhaps should have started ringing for these women when they were offered their African adventure all expenses paid by a friend they hadn’t seen or heard from since “that night”. If it sounded too good to be true then I can confirm that IT WAS! We can only guess at what happened between the friends as the POV switches between the three invitees: Alice, Grace and Hannah. The host, Felicity, is nowhere to be seen.

I felt on edge for pretty much the whole book, and the tension ramps up and up as it finally dawns on the women that they are actually in real danger. But who is taunting them? And, with no phone reception, and no idea where to run (or what animal predators are out there waiting) how will they get out of there??

I was maybe a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more of actual Botswana in the storyline but the location did add to the atmosphere. I’d recommend to anyone who likes a page-turning thriller featuring complex female relationships.

Overall I enjoyed this thriller, which ad interesting characters and an unusual setting, set as it is in a luxury lodge in Botswana - I enjoyed the contrast between this setting and the girls' drab dreary lives back home in a grey and grimy London.

I though the tension built up brilliantly in the first part of the book, and I liked getting the different characters' perspectives and finding out little hints of what had happened to the characters in the past to make their friendships stall for two years before their African reunion.

I had expected an additional twist or two at the end, and sometimes the characters' voices were a bit too similar, but overall this was a well=paced and very readable thriller.

The four women had been friends for years and shared good and bad times, that was until Felicity brought her very handsome doctor boyfriend to meet them all. None of them had spoken since that night until now. Felicity was going to turn thirty, and invitations had been sent, to Hannah, Alice and Grace that they couldn’t resist. The temptation was too great, an all-expenses break to celebrate with Felicity and a close circle of friends in Botswana. All of them had carved out new lives for themselves but hoped that this could be new begins for them.


From the first page, my curiosity was buzzing and, I wanted to know what had happened to split this tight group of friends up two years ago. I do have to say here too that I stepped back with a little bit of green envy in my eye, having only ever been invited to a night on the town, at my expense, to celebrate a friend’s birthday.


I got to know each of the characters involved, with cutbacks to what had gone wrong a couple of years ago with them all. When I thought back about the story there were very few characters in the book, at all, and yet I read this book from cover to cover always feeling that the next page would give me an answer.
I loved the contrasts of beauty and wildness of the place and how you could see it through different eyes. The story unfolded piece at a time and was tense throughout. A brilliant atmospheric read with continually surprises.


I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

I loved The Wild Girls - if like me, you're largely in the mood for a healthy does of escapism in your reading, this is the book for you. I can't think of a better setting for a murder mystery than an empty safari lodge, and I didn't see any of the twists coming. I loved too that each character was relatable in their own way - I highly recommend!

This book slowly builds the tension as it progresses and flips back to when Felicity, Grace, Hannah and Alice were growing up. It links their teenage years to the present. Something happened in all theirs pasts that is linked to them losing touch. Now Felicity is 30 and to celebrate invites the other three to Botswana, all expenses paid. It deals with all of their relationships and present lives and very slowly cranks up the tension. Strange things start to happen when they get to Botswana and the tension increases along with the fear. The ending is not what you expect though! This is a good read throughout but in places I do think it could be a bit more forthcoming. Thanks to Netgalley for anadvance copy to review.

Interesting premise to this book, but it does require that the reader ignores some significant moments when they would be saying ‘but you’d never do that’ or ‘you’d never agree to that’! If you can get past this and suspend your disbelief, then the storyline is quite interesting and well written. Didn’t get ‘who dun it’ until the finale.

The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan

It’s been a long time since these four women – Grace, Felicity, Alice and Hannah – would have thought of themselves as best friends. They grew up together, running amok as a gang of wild girls, and that turned into close friendships as adults. Until it all went wrong and now each must deal with feelings of guilt, distrust and regret. It’s a surprise, then, when Grace, Alice and Hannah receive a message from Felicity inviting them to a party in a luxury lodge in Botswana, an all expenses paid dream holiday. Each of these women face different circumstances in their lives but perhaps getting away from home for a while is what they need? Against their better judgement, they each make the trip to join Felicity in Botswana. They would have been better off listening to those instincts.

I really enjoy Phoebe Morgan’s stand alone thrillers and I particularly couldn’t wait for The Wild Girls. I travelled around Botswana many years ago and my memories of it are vivid. Its the perfect setting for a mystery novel – a beautiful, remote location, dangers outside, little chance of help. Perfect. I must say, though, that it seems an awfully long way to go just for a long weekend!

I love the way in which the mystery builds. I found it engrossing and read half of the novel in just one sitting. The chapters move between the perspectives of Grace, Alice and Hannah and I was soon interested in their different lives. There are hints of things going on in the background and in the past, which are very intriguing and disturbing. These women feel multi-dimensional. Phoebe Morgan is very good at creating believable characters with a backstory you want to learn about.

The scenes set when the three women arrive at the lodge are thoroughly compelling as the reader tries to second guess the characters with what on earth is going on. I didn’t find the second half as engrossing, possibly and ironically because the first half is so sensational! The past and the present begin to merge together. I think the greatest fun to be had is in the sheer tantaslising mystery of the first half, which is very well done indeed.

The Wild Girls is such a fun, fast thriller, which also benefits from being set in such an unusual and very enticing location. It’s therefore escapist as well as thrilling and allows the mind to travel even if the rest of us can’t for now.

Other reviews
The Girl Next Door
The Babysitter

A great read involving a friendship with hidden betrayal over the years. A gripping thriller with a psychological twist. Definitely a couldn't put down book!

I both really enjoyed this book and found it very frustrating at the same time! I wanted to keep reading and get to the end just to find out what was happening and going to happen as I couldn't quite work it all out. However, some of the choices three of the women made I found hard to understand or believe which made me like the story less. I am very happy to suspend disbelief when reading this kind of book but this just felt far too unrealistic at times to me. Plus, the four women who were supposedly brilliant friends a long time ago didn't seem to like each other very much at all, nor were very nice to each other even before. I also found it rather frustrating knowing that there would be two dead bodies at the end (we find this out right at the beginning) which made me want to scream at them even more for making stupid decisions.

However, I still really devoured it and was left thinking about it for a while afterwards, particularly one sad part which made me think about how it affected the lives of others. The setting for the story was great and different to the usual types of 'scary' settings in these types of psychological thrillers. There were plenty of twists and turns that made me want to keep reading, and despite my issues with it, I did enjoy it overall!

An all expenses paid trip to Botswana with friends you are estranged from and haven't seen for 2 years - I would be thinking what is the catch?! But Grace, Alice and Hannah are all unhappy in their lives and pack up and go without a second thought.
And so the plot plays out. The story unfolds from the point of view of each - what they find on arrival, what led to their separation and how each sees their part in the split.
A slow starter that gathers pace and with a twist or two in the tale.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Phoebe Morgan/HQ for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

TW: sexual assault and miscarriage

This book was so promising. It started so well, set the scene for such an amazing plot line and the character development was spot on. 4 friends lose touch and are planning to rekindle in Botswana.

Without giving too much away, this book started out at 5* and went up and down with the plot but there was something off about the ending that just seemed a bit too much for me and it ruined the whole feel of the book.

It had so much potential but fell flat for me...which is a shame because I’d been so excited about it!

Put it this way, I have now added Morgan's back catalogue to my wish lists!
This was fantastic. Thoroughly gripping, with twists to keep me guessing until the final pages! One of those books I was thinking about when I wasn't reading it.
All 4 main characters, The Wild Girls were clearly defined, with distinguished personalities. I thought of 'Friends', how everyone has one character they identify with the most. However, I think each character had qualities that were me. That's what I loved about it, I was rooting for all the girls and couldn't seem to work the ending out at all! The only thing I figured out was the reasons for the names of the Lodges at the party, but I was proud of it!
Really enjoyable read, highly recommended.

There is something about thrillers with an exotic backdrop that make them so fantastically easy to devour. I read Phoebe Morgan’s debut book The Doll House a few years ago and didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as her latest release.

Felicity is turning 30 and she has invited her fellow ‘wild girls’ Grace, Alice and Hannah to celebrate with her. But the wild girls haven’t seen each other for years and the last time wasn’t exactly great. So, Grace, Alice and Hannah are all a little bemused as to why they’ve been invited. Especially as Felicity’s birthday celebration seems to be an all-expenses-paid weekend in Botswana. But as soon as the girls arrive, things feel ever so slightly strange…

Grace, Hannah and Alice all want some kind of reunion to happen in Botswana but I was pretty sure from the very beginning that with this being a thriller, that wasn’t going to happen. There are some moments where one of them will say something a little barbed like ‘I hope it gives each of us what we deserve’. This can be read in a few different ways but it hints that punishments need to be doled out without explicitly saying it. Perfect suspense writing!

Felicity seems to have been the leader of the girls, when they were growing up. Almost from the start, there are clues that her father is a terrible man and naturally, that starts the thought spirals into really dark places. The fact that Felicity orchestrated the reunion and that it appeared to be a private party for the four of them made me think that she had a few ulterior motives for getting them all together. Once she’d been set up as the kind of Queen Bee of the group, the idea of her as the mastermind behind it all began to seem really likely.

Although they have drifted apart in recent times, there does seem to be a lot of love between the girls. New mum Hannah in particular seems to hanker after the days of their youth and want some semblance of their tight-knit friendship back. Almost every woman will be able to fully relate to the unique bond of female friendship and letting that go, even if it’s the right thing to do, can be incredibly hard.

All of the characters, except perhaps for Grace, seem to suffer from an acute lack of self-awareness. This appears to cloud their view on what’s really going on, which allows the truth to stay hidden. Phoebe Morgan leaves little hints throughout the book that lets the reader pick up on things that the characters aren’t paying attention to. Despite this, I still didn’t see the crazy ending that I was left with.

The Wild Girls is a pulse-racing pageturner that I really couldn’t put down. The blazing sun, wide remote plains and the presence of carnivorous wildlife of Botswana provided the perfect setting for a genuinely nerve-wracking mystery that kept me on my toes for the entire narrative. I finished it with the realisation that even in strange, unknown, seemingly dangerous places, it’s still humans who are the biggest threat.

Being a fan of the Dollhouse, I have since added Phoebe Morgan to my tbr pile each year. I read the Girl next door and The babysitter and unfortunately didn’t find these as good as the dollhouse. Now thankfully because of NetGalley I was able to read The Wild Girls free and my review is that it is an improvement on the authors previous two novels for sure! I was easily flipping through the pages wanting to find out exactly what happened “that night”.
Even though it was quite obvious all was not as it seemed and the intentions of a particular character -although slightly shrouded in mystery -was evident it stemmed on revenge , I still did enjoy the fact you were reading from 4 people’s perspectives on the events.

So in conclusion, the story is predictable but also quite the easy page turning read.

Once started, I had so much fun reading The Wild Girls. It is entertainment with trepidation, intriguing notes, travel and terrific energy within those pages in this stand-alone book, that will keep you hooked into this thriller until the end. It's a luxury retreat at a safari and birthday party with a difference...

The writing is dramatic and carries a terrific energy, even when it is something as simple as a letter dropping through a letterbox!

It's entertaining, finding out about the lives of Grace, Alice and Hannah the sub-characters ( the main characters, as seems to be a style, which I have grown to like more, have parts of chapters to themselves). There is also quite an introduction of the characters, leading up to the first chapter. There's Grace, who recieves an invitation to Felicity's birthday in Botswana; Alice (and Tom) who appears to be having financial issues; Hannah (and Chris), who have a young family. These are The Wild Girls!

It has much intrigue surrounding Felicity's invitation. There is more than meets the eye to it and it isn't as simple as an invite and that isn't just the location, this involves how it insinuates how relationships between The Wild Girls have been, prior to this, which is said within the book.

Deception Valley Lodge Complex adds an unexpected twist to the accomodation in the gorgeous setting of Botswana, with the African plains, wildlife and Limpopo River, not least as to how it is all set-up and there are messages abound from Felicity, which add mystery and intrigue. There are notes and messages abound from the birthday girl, but the book becomes twisty and has an unexpected sinister and feel with tension and mystery building about the birthday. This is a book with many surprises within it. It has a feel of Agatha Christie's - "And Then There Were None" in a sense, as people's feelings, insecurities and life stories start to tumble out and somone vital is missing, so the hunt is on to find out what is going on as it turns out the birthday party gathering isn't all as is seems and far from what the guests were expecting.

Part Two has many revelations and set before Botswana. This is more deftly done than expected as it is as interesting as Part One and pieces things together. It is cleverly written and writing it this way round works very well and flows incredibly well from what went on previously in the first part. It's a chance to see the characters outwith Botswana and how they interacted with each other then. Part way through, I was hoping for at least a part 3 and it came and plunged the characters to their present time in Botswana and the pace picks up again and the tension builds another notch and it is breath-taking or gasping in the darkest way, which may also make your spine be chilled to the bone as the biggest and deepest revelation of them all comes out.

In a world where foreign holidays are a bit off the cards just now, this book does well in replacing that travel in its vibrancy and the wonderful premise of a birthday party.

An interesting thriller. 4 friends, Felicity, Hannah, Alice and Grace, have drifted apart due to events of the past. They are brought back together when Frlicity invites them to her 30th birthday party in Botswana on an all expenses paid 5 star retreat.
The past secrets unwind well and keep you guessing throughout the book. I enjoyed reading it and wanted to find out more.
I wasn’t sure why three girls would go to Botswana without questioning anything, just because an old friend invited them. If you can suspend your disbelief at that part then you will enjoy the book.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.