Games for Dead Girls

How it reads

Games for Dead Girls is horror (supernatural horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a small town setting, in the recent past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are friendship, secrets and loss and grief. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 320 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.