Girl in the Rearview Mirror by Kelsey Rae Dimberg
A twisty, page-turning debut thriller from Kelsey Rae Dimberg, Girl in the Rearview Mirror is a story about privilege and power, family and obligation, ambition and complicity, and the pull of the past on the present; perfect for fans of Jane Harper, Megan Abbott, Attica Locke and Laura Lippman.
Desperate to put her past in the rearview mirror, Finn Hunt leaves the Midwest for Phoenix, Arizona, where no one knows her story.
While she’s working a dead-end job, a chance meeting with Philip Martin, son of a prominent US Senator, leads Finn to a position as nanny for Amabel, his precocious four-year-old daughter. Quickly seduced into the Martins’ privileged world, Finn can almost believe she belongs there, almost forget the dark past that haunts her.
Then, in the stifling heat of a desert summer as the Senator’s re-election looms, a strange woman begins to follow Finn, claiming a connection to Philip and threatening to expose the family to scandal. As Finn tries to protect Amabel, and shield the Martins, she’s inadvertently drawn deeper and deeper into their buried secrets.
The family trusts Finn, for now, but it will only take one mistake for everything she holds dear – the Martins’ world, her new life – to fall apart . . .
Published 25 June 2019 | Publisher: Pan MacMillan Australia | RRP: AUD$29.99
Buy it at: Dymocks | Booktopia | A&R | QBD
My Blurb (3.5 / 5 stars)
The thing about psychological thriller is that the protagonists are most often than not broken. Then, most often than not, they are also the cause of their own downfall. I’m not keen on psychological thriller because it feels like getting onto a train knowing that you’re heading for a trainwreck. The one thing I do appreciate about psychological thrillers are that they are usually very clever. <i>Girl in the Rearview Mirror</i> is one such psychological thrillers.
Finn Hunt thinks she’s almost there. She’s working as nanny to this wealthy couple and her boyfriend works for the child’s grandfather, the Senator. She’s tried very hard to leave her past behind and reach for a better future but all the shine of a wealth does not disguise the chinks in their lives. Even as she continues to polish her new life, another woman walks into it and as Finn’s curiosity drove her onward, she kept chipping at the chinks until they cracked wide open.
Despite Finn’s lies about her past, I do actually liked her. I can understand her longing for a different life even if she’s not going the right way about it so she’s definitely got my sympathy. She was warned so many times to leave well alone but her loyalty to the little girl she loved and the feeling that all is not right, she continued to search for the truth. Courageous, intelligent, generous, and kind -she’s a protagonist I can get behind for.
Set in mid Summer in Phoenix, Arizon, I could definitely feel the heat waves out of the page (oh wait, we’re also experiencing one of the worst Summers ever). The suspense of the mystery kept me enthralled and turning page after page because I really won’t be able to sleep if I don’t finish as I’ll be thinking up one scenario after another. There continues to be twist after twist which were stitched up so seamlessly. <i>Girl in the Rearview Mirror</i> is a riveting suspenseful story that’ll keep you on edge ‘til the end.
Thanks to Pan MacMillan Australia for copy of book in exchange of honest review
About the author
Kelsey Rae Dimberg received an MFA from the University of San Francisco and studied at Barrett Honors College of Arizona State University, where she was editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Lux, and received the Swarthout Award in Fiction. Girl in the Rearview Mirror is her first novel. Born in Seattle, Kelsey has lived in eight states, and currently resides in Milwaukee.
Tien's Blurb 