A complex story over dual timelines highlighting the disturbing dark side to the ultra rich who think they’re untouchable.

This is told from multiple POV - Mercedes an island native; Gemma a young girl looking for a way out and Robin, a mother searching for her daughter.

This is dark. For those thinking this is a story about the lives of the ultra rich think again! This has manipulation on a whole other lever and some nasty, disgusting characters at the heart.

I can’t say any more without giving anything away - all I can say is that Mercedes is better than her bang gives her credit for; she’s strong, respectful and full of revenge!

I had high hopes going into this. But sadly it didn't work for me.
While I can see what true life story inspired this the writing just never gripped me. The characters felt very flat. While this was a fast pace read that I didn't struggle there. I just didn't really care overall.

Little Brown Book Co you have a brilliant author on your books - Netgalley thank you .
This was a great book with an amazing story line and so well written I couldn't put it down.
Highly recommend this book you must read it.

This is a book I truly wish I could read for the first time all over again. I’m in complete awe and fangirl mode at how utterly fantastic this book is.

Brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced. A really interesting exploration of exploitation. Highly recommended.

I've enjoyed all of Alex Marwood's previous novels so was keen to read this one, and I did enjoy it. I don't think it was quite for me in the way her other books were but it was still very intriguing and hooked me in. I liked the dual timeline and the sense of impending danger, and the claustrophobia that ran through the novel. However I did feel like I was at a distance from the plot and couldn't connect to it fully. I would still recommend this one though and I can't wait to read more by the author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this book.

I felt the writing was done well in this book but there was just something missing for me and I couldn't get into it and enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

I love Alex marwood books and this didn’t disappoint. Once started it was unstoppable. Highly recommmended

It took me a while to get into the storyline of The Island of Lost Girls but Im glad i stuck with it, I enjoyed reading it and watching the plot unfold and explain the mysteries of the island to me.

This started quite slowly but there was a point where it changed and everything started to happen and I couldn’t put it down from that point! I did enjoy the storyline and ending, but did not really find the characters that likeable

A chilling thriller involving money, greed, glamour and exploitation. Millionaire Matthew Meade and his spoilt daughter Tatiana arrive on a paradise isle which they turn into their own personal playground. Think of the Epstein and Maxwell scandal. Mercedes who has worked for them for decades realised something bad is happening when a woman comes looking for her missing daughter, Gemma. Story set in both 1985 and 2016. A thought provoking read.

I’ve only ever read one other book by Alex Marwood, and that was years ago (back in 2016). It was a book I really enjoyed so I’m not sure why I’ve not read any of her books since (other than the fact there are always too many books to read, and never enough time). Flash forward to 2022 and a Marwood book is back on my reading list again. Based on my one previous read, I had high expectations. For the most part, they were met, though not completely.

Moving between the past and the present (1985 and 2016), this is primarily Mercedes’ story. As a young girl, she is drawn into a world of wealth and power as her home becomes a playground for the rich and the very rich. At first, it is appealing, a world she wants to be part of. Too late, she realises that not all is as it seems. There is only one way out for her, a dangerous one.

In the present, running alongside Mercedes’ story, is Robin’s, a story of a mother searching for her lost daughter (Gemma) and a chance to make amends. Without realising it, she and Gemma have placed themselves at the centre of something much bigger than she, or her daughter. Like Mercedes, they now find themselves in danger.

After a slow start, the Island of Lost Girls moves at quite a clip, which kept me turning pages. Marwood does a great job of painting an isolated but beautiful island taken over by the tourist industry. She has also created a plot with plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing.

What she didn’t do is create characters I could root for. Mercedes and Robin were sympathetic but the ‘bad guys’, of which there were plenty, all felt two dimensional. They were bad in a way that didn’t feel real to me. It’s a shame because I wanted to care. But in the end, I didn’t. Which leaves me with a good, but not great, book. 3 out of 5 stars.

Marwood has weaved her magic yet again with The Island of Lost Girls. Set on an idyllic and beautiful Greek island of La Kastellana, it's a story of the rot beneath the gleaming surface. The story swims between Gemma - her life in England - where she is from - and Gemma's story of how she ended up on the island of La Kastellana. Gemma's mum Robin, and her endeavours to find her daughter on the island. And of the Delia women who have lived on the island La Kastellana their entire lives - daughters, Mercedes, Donatella, and their mother Larissa. How their lives become twisted with the lives of the super rich 'yacht people', Matthew Meade and his spoilt and cruel daughter Tatiana. The lives destroyed by their presence on the island and the ripples of repercussions years into the future. As ever, Marwood convinces the reader that these events could - or does happen, and one could even picture what the 'yacht people' would look like. This is a story of mystery, suspence, and how women have been victims at the hands of mum for too many years. A great and suspenseful read - highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and held my attention. I will be reading more from this author :)

Beach read with bite.
I really enjoyed this book. It engaged my interest from the beginning and kept it to the very last page.
You have a small island community that a millionaire decides is going to be the next big tourist spot regardless of the community. Mercedes, a local girl, is chosen to be the friend of the millionaires daughter. Suddenly her eyes are opened to all this wealth.
The story is told in two timelines of the past with Mercedes childhood and the present where Mercedes is now the housekeeper to the, now, grown up daughter. Into the present enters Robin a mother who believes her runaway 17 year old has come to the island.
It is told from multiple POV including Robin and Mercedes.
I loved the characters and the descriptions of the community with its history.
A fantastic read.
Thanks to Little, Brown Book UK and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review
#NetGalley #TheIslandofLostGirls

This is a great slow burning thriller which flicks between past and present set on an island only reachable by boat where girls have gone missing. The story is told from Mercedes - who's sister died many years ago and Robyn who's daughter is currently missing - points of view where we begin to build up a picture that all is not quite as it seems with visiting girls coming to the island for rich and important men are they linked at all. This book is quite graphic and really digs deep in to the depraved world of prostitution and greed. I liked the authors story telling and found this to be a real page turner. I will be recommending to others.

A clever, relevant psychological thriller from Alex Marwood - A beautiful island, a population that looks the other way, a rich man's paradise where darkness lurks

Through several viewpoints a deeply disturbing picture emerges, this author definitely has her finger on the pulse of this world that we live in and it shows.

The plot is utterly compelling and holds you in the setting with the characters from the first page right up until the hugely satisfying ending.

Really most excellent.

Really well written, this is a creepy, shocking tale! I read quickly and would reccomend everyone to read it. Not read anything like this before!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book by Alex Marwood!

5 star read- Yet again she does it again! yet another book which is fantastic! If you have read he other books then i highly recommend this! such a great read- gripping had me on edge and the twists were a wowzer! Very dark secrets!!!

Amazing book, what a terrible world we live in. This book brought out many emotions, anger, sadness, disbelief but OH! WHAT AN ENDING!!!