I was excited to read The Girl in Cell A because of the intriguing synopsis and glowing reviews. At first, I got completely swept into the story of Orianna, a woman who has spent 18 years in prison for the murder of Gideon Wyclerc, a powerful man from a powerful dynasty in her hometown. Now, she’s being evaluated by forensic psychologist Annie Ledet to determine if she’s fit for release.

The chapters alternate between Annie’s point of view and Orianna’s investigation after being released, slowly uncovering the truth of what happened that terrible day. It’s a story about family, legacy, power, and scandal, and it really should have been a winner for me.

My main issue was the length. I didn’t check how many pages it had before starting, but after reading it for many nights, I started to feel a bit desperate when I realized I wasn’t making any real progress. The book just went on and on, and I gradually started losing interest. Orianna wasn’t a particularly charismatic lead, and I didn’t understand at first why we were getting Annie’s perspective either, she wasn’t interesting enough to justify it.

By the time I reached the final section, which I’ll admit had a solid twist that made sense within the story, I no longer cared much about the outcome. And I really didn’t like the last chapter, which was full of overexplanations and an unnecessary recap of everything that had already been revealed. Sometimes, leaving things open is more than okay.

This book starts slowly, moves to a mystery whodunnit, through to an almost incredulous thriller, then an intense psychological episode and ends with an unexpected flip - and then some. Phew.

A teenage girl murders her father, is imprisoned and applies for parole. She claims that she is innocent but can't remember the time of the killing. At the same time, her half-sister disappears without trace. The story is told from two first person perspectives: the psychologist (therapist) who interviews 'the Girl in Cell A' as part of a parole application report. These chapters are called 'Then'. The 'Girl', eighteen years later and free, tells her story in chapters called 'Now.'

At the beginning of the book there is lots of exposition, including the transcripts of the trial and psychological principles, interspersed with opinions and theories in the therapist's sections. Meanwhile, the Girl goes back to her hometown and the family members are introduced. Each one is a suspect in her mind and the characters are vivid. Some of her activities stretch the imagination a little, but serve to add tension.

Once past the start, this is an intriguing, clever and exciting story that deals with family, truth, memory, guilt, and belonging. It is a long book but really well worth a read with many things to think about.

An extremely interesting and informative book, with a fantastic story line and characters. I particularly loved the dual narrative. Highly recommended, although dark and sad at times, a great book x

I enjoyed this book although it felt a little long!
I thought it was very well written and a good thriller Definitely a recommended read .

She was convicted of an infamous murder at seventeen and became a true crime story fascination. But she has always claimed she didn't do it, the night of the murder a blank in her memory. So when Oriana Negi is released and returns to the town of Eden Falls where the Wyclerc family still rule she will encounter resistance and anger. Particularly when a forensic pdychologist starts to make progress in unlocking the events leading up to the murder of Gideon Wyclerc. Well constructed pacy thriller. Khan moves the story across the characters skillfully and builds to a great ending. Recommended

I must say this was a particularly clever book but maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it because I kept getting lost in the descriptive passages. It never made me want to pick it up again and ended up being a bit of a slog. Other reviewers have clearly enjoyed it emenslyand I do really wish I could say the same.

Hats off and many compliments to Vaseem Khan for this complex, intriguing thriller that kept me on edge until the very end. A layered plot full of surprises, compelling characters—an excellent read!
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This story is epic! Orianna is from a tiny American mining town and is convicted at only 17 of a murder she says she didn’t commit.

The dual POV and timeline follows Orianna, as well as Annie, the psychologist tasked with finding out if she’s guilty.

This book is very psychological and really sad in some parts, and is so impressingly clever.

My only criticism is I feel the book could’ve been shorter.

Orianna was convicted of murder when she was a teenager, but cannot remember what happened and does not believe that she is guilty. When forensic psychologist Annie attempts to help her uncover the truth, they find a dark side to Orianna's hometown.

The Girl In Cell A is a fantastic read that really got to me and left me shaken.

It drew me in from the very start, I was hooked by the idea of family secrets and whether the truth could be revealed. I especially enjoyed the writing style - it reminded me of other incredible authors with novels set in America such as Chris Whittaker and S.A. Cosby.

All I wanted to do was keep reading, I would find myself thinking about it during the day and wishing I could get back to this book. It was absorbing, gripping and intense.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed The Girl In Cell A (kindle edition) a suspense novel by Vaseem Khan but it was very long drawn out but well worth it for the finale which was mind blowing. The story goes back and forth from the present to the past where the reader can feel the turmoil Orianna and Annie are going through.

Oriannna Negi has been convicted of murder aged seventeen and has been incarcerated for eighteen years. Forensic psychologist Annie Ledet is determined to unravel Orianna's locked memory of having shot dead her own Father. Is she a murderer or was she framed this is what Orianna has to investigate on her release back to Eden Falls an American town in the south where the Wyclerc family have controlled the town for generations with an iron hand.

I love the way Vaseem Khan captures the nature of the south, the sounds of the creatures of the forrest, the colours of the sky when the weather changes it made me feel I was right in the heart of Eden Falls. I also love the way he depicts hell and heaven, bad and evil and the question of whether there is a heaven or a hell.

The Girl In Cell A by Vaseem Khan is a mystery thriller about Orianna Negi, a woman who at the age of 17 was found guilty of killing her father and was thought to also be involved in the disappearance of a half sister who disappeared on the same day.

The story is split into two timelines the first is told through the titular character Orianna when she has been released from jail and has gone back to her town to find out who did this,

While the second timeline is set before Orianna was released, it is told through the eyes of a psychiatrist who is deciding if Orianna should be released from jail.

The only problem is Orianna can not remember the fateful day.

The Girl In Cell A is one of those novels that had me gripped from beginning to end, and even had me made at the ending. However after thinking about it for a while Vaseem Khan’s novel was such a masterpiece that the ending sat perfectly with the story.

While the story may not be a mystery thriller, because while there are some action scenes in the novel the novel lives on the mystery of the novel.

While there may be a number of plot lines which are common in this type of genre in the 2020’s Wealthy family, child who is the illegitimate child of the rich family as well as race especially as the setting is in the south of the United States of America.

However in a lesser writer than Vaseem Khan The Girl in Cell A would have been a novel of one cliche after another, with each plot line designed to catch readers eyes,

However this is nothing like that in this novel we have a well crafted piece of literature that will have mystery thrillers readers gripped from the first to last,

This was my first book by Vaseem Khan and I went in not knowing what to expect. The storytelling was so authentically small town America, that if I hadn’t met him, I would have assumed he was an American author. Told mainly from the viewpoints of Orianna Negi (The Girl in Cell A) and Annie Ledet, her psychologist. With dual timelines jumping between, therapy sessions (which help the reader with early life and events leading up to the trial) and later life in Eden Falls, the story is intriguing told and kept me hooked.

There are lots of characters coming to life, clearly portrayed with all their traits and nuances. The story drew me in, seeing how people’s lives became intrinsically entwined and the mystery deepens. The writing beautifully evokes the settings.

I was fascinated, not trusting anyone and the ending completely upended me, leaving me dwelling over the realities. A really enjoyable read!

I have been looking forward to reading this book ever since Vaseem Khan first announced it. Despite Khan having only published historical fiction in the past, I knew this book would be an absolute belter and I was right!

This book grabbed me in a vice-like grip and did not let me go until the very end. It's a book I haven't been able to stop thinking about, and I really really hope Khan writes more like it in the future.

I’m so conflicted about this one because it had everything I love in a thriller. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through — I think at one point I suspected every single character! I even went to bed still thinking about it. The writing was so clever, the twists completely got me & the characters were brilliantly done (some I loved, some I loved to hate). But the ending just didn’t work for me. It really threw me & while I can totally see some people loving it, it just didn’t work for me. That might be a “me” thing though.

Still I absolutely loved the rest of the book such a gripping, well-written thriller.
★★★★½ ROUNDED UP ⬆️⭐️

The Girl in Cell A by Vaseem Khan is a psychological thriller set in small town America and is also written in the first person narrative. As I was starting to read this fascinating story, I kept wondering why the book wasn’t based, as the author’s books are normally in India.Vaseem Khan explains at the end of the book.
So, if you have the confidence as a writer to compose your first psychological thriller, why not in small time America. Orianna, as the main character of the story is a fascinating character, whether she really is the killer of her father or not. The story twists and turns with different threads and explanations until the very end.
I had hoped that the explanation of Orianna that she is the innocent victim and other members of the Wyclerc. family were responsible for Gideon’s death and for Grace’s disappearance were the real version but I don’t think the reader will ever know.
Highly recommended

I was sent a copy of The Girl in Cell A by Vaseem Khan to read and review by NetGalley. What a treat this novel was! Well written and easy to read, with two timelines written first person in both narratives which I thought worked really well. The story was engrossing and I finished it within a couple of days. This was the first novel I have read by this author and even though this is apparently his first foray into writing psychological thrillers I will certainly be searching out his other titles whilst I eagerly await his next book in this genre. A definite 5 stars from me.

Found lying near the body, forensics pointed to her alone: fingerprints on the shotgun, gunshot residue. Plenty of motive given events of that day, and her whole life. No surprise Orianna Negi was convicted of killing Gideon Wyclerc, scion of the family that founded Eden Falls. Yet Orianna has always maintained her innocence, despite being unable to recall events.

A teen killer with dissociative amnesia, a controversial diagnosis fuelling her true crime celebrity.

The Girl in Cell A is a brilliant swerve for Khan, a British-Indian author who’s built a strong following thanks to terrific Malabar House historical mysteries, set in the post-Raj years of his ancestral homeland. Here, he alternates between doctor and patient perspectives of prison forensic psychologist Annie Ledet, who is charged with helping Orianna unlock her own psyche, and Orianna herself.

The Girl in Cell A is a masterful mix of psychological thriller and rural noir that soaks readers in a town full of secrets and scandals and a crumbling dynasty with its own mythology. An impressive novel about the stories we believe and the lies we tell ourselves, that lingers long after its final page.

[This review was first written for publication in the New Zealand Listener magazine, May 2025]

This book is a massive departure for Vaseem Khan. His first novel set outside India and his first psychological thriller. He's done a fine job. Hoping we see more of this side of his storytelling talent in the future.

The Girl in Cell A is Orianna, a young woman being assessed for probation by psychologist, Annie Ledet. Orianna has been in prison for 18 years, found guilty of the murder of Gideon Wyclerc, a man who had been revealed as her father on the day of his murder. Orianna has consistently maintained her innocence but has no memory of the murder. Is the memory loss selective or genuine and is Orianna really a victim of wrongful imprisonment? And can Annie unlock Orianna's memories.

The story is split into Orianna's story as she returns to her home town, Eden Falls as she tries to prove her innocence; Annie's interviews with Orianna in prison which give us the history of the powerful Wyclerc family and Orianna's part in it; and finally the conclusion of both the story and Annie's findings.

I confess to getting a bit confused with all the characters but they do eventually sort themselves into the main players. As we got to the end I was somewhat irritated by the conclusion but then there's a wonderful twist in the final pages.

It is impossible to compare this book to anything Vaseem Khan has written previously (and I've read everything) because it is so very different. Read it with an open mind. The twists and turns of the story will keep you guessing. Try not to get too hung up on all the names because they will resolve themselves. I'd just advise you to sit back and enjoy the trip into small town America where noone is quite as they seem on the surface.

Definitely recommended.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advance review copy.

Wow, what an adrenaline rush with this book. I was so wrapped up in finding out what happened, I couldn't sleep.
Excellent story.

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

For the last 18 years Orianna has been in prison for a murder she does not remember committing, now she is free and needs to know the truth so she can move on with her life. Returning to Eden Falls she faces the wrath of the locals, the judgement of a family she never got to know and just maybe she'll also get the truth of what happened to Gideon and Grace Wyclerc. The trouble is will she like the truth? 
My heart is still pounding, i was almost as desperate to find out what happened as Ori herself was. I travelled each step with her, jumping to conclusions,  looking for the answers and trying to predict the twists and turns. I had an hour left in the book come Monday morning, when it was time to clock on but my mind was firmly in Eden Falls.