Reckless Girls

I enjoyed the Book of the Month so much I decided to renew my subscription again this year. My January selection was Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins (the other options were Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson, Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly, Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho, and The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis). I enjoyed The Wife Upstairs (a contemporary retelling of Jane Eyre) by Hawkins so I was really looking forward to this selection. Lux McAllister was at loose ends and working as a waitress in San Diego after dropping out of college to care for her dying mother when she met a wealthy and charming playboy named Nico Johannsen. He planned on sailing around the world on his boat, the Susannah, and she impulsively followed him to Hawaii to join him on his voyage. However, things don't work out as planned and she is now stuck working as a housekeeper at a resort hotel while he makes desultory attempts to repair his damaged boat. Their luck seems to change when they meet two college students named Brittany and Amma who want to hire Nico to take them to Meroe Island, a mysterious and deserted atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a grisly past. The $50,000 they are offering will repair the boat and allow them to resume their journey so Nico accepts and Lux, who is dying for an adventure, comes along. When they arrive at the island, they are dismayed to see a catamaran anchored in the harbor belonging to a wealthy Australian couple named Jake and Eliza. They all eventually become friends, especially after the four of them partake of the food and wine offered by Jake on his luxurious boat, and they enjoy their time in paradise. Soon they are joined by a mysterious stranger and the tension mounts as the island becomes less and less hospitable and secrets about each of them are revealed. The narrative alternates between Before, when each character's backstory and motivations are slowly revealed, and After, when the events on the island take place. There are also articles and interviews pertaining to the history of Meroe Island interspersed throughout which add to the foreboding atmosphere and sense of unease. Most of the characters are unsympathetic, including the main narrator Lux, but they are compelling and I was definitely invested in finding out what happens to them. Some elements of the plot do require the suspension of disbelief but I enjoyed it for all of the twists and turns and I appreciated the commentary on class and gender. I would definitely recommend this to fans of thrillers with the proviso that there is quite a bit of profanity (which, in my opinion, is used for shock value rather than character development).