Review: The Fourth Girl by Wendy Corsi Staub

The Fourth Girl (Haven Cliff, #1)

by Wendy Corsi Staub

Release Date: March 25, 2025

2025 Thomas & Mercer

Ebook Edition; 396 Pages

ISBN: 978-1662523809

ASIN: B0D9W5256F

Audiobook: B0DK3XZRNK

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

On prom night, Caroline Winterfield walked away from the ruins of an abandoned mansion called Haven Cliff and into the woods…never to be seen again. Only her three best friends know what really happened. But a secret is a secret, and a promise is a promise—even when it shatters lifelong friendships.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of that night, Midge, Kelly, and Talia reunite at Haven Cliff, now a gleaming architectural jewel. But they aren’t alone. Someone is watching. Someone who knows what really happened to Caroline—and to the man who now lies dead a stone’s throw from where she was last seen.

 

 

 

My Thoughts

The Fourth Girl is the first book in the Haven Cliff series, and this one focuses on the friendship between four girls as they navigate high school and then reunite twenty-five years later hoping to reunite with one of the four who disappeared all those years ago.  Told through multiple POVs, we get a somewhat mish-mash story of one girl's life and her desperate need to get away, but something goes terribly wrong. 

 

First of all, what I really did enjoy was the friendship between the four girls.  There was a lot of drama and intrigue and I like how the story was told through each girl's perspective, both from the present and the past.  As forty years olds, we can definitely look back upon things that happened from a different perspective from when we were fifteen and see things we may have missed due to naivety and innocence even when the signs were there.  The friendships were definitely relatable and I really enjoyed the 90s nostalgia; it made me think about my own high school years and my own friend groups, things I hadn't really thought about in years.  There were a lot of secrets and a lot of things happened that were told through quite a nuanced story line that the reader would pick up on but that a teenager may not really grasp. It actually added to the tension in the story as you wondered what was really happening behind closed doors and how bad did things really get that were only hinted at but never really fully explained. I will mention here though that I never really understood the purpose of Gordy in the story line as it didn't make sense at all especially the way Caroline's character was being described.  

 

The plot itself actually moved along rather quickly, but it was quite predictable and I was able to figure out what was happening quite early on in the book. And honestly, the author's writing style was still stellar as I found myself flipping through the pages with a high level of tension wondering exactly what I would discover, but at the same time feeling like I had already read this type of story a dozen times.  And I didn't really care that this was slow, but in reality, the actual investigation when the murder did occur, was shunted to the background and the drama between the women/girls was always in the forefront, something that did affect the overall feel to the book in the end as I was left feeling underwhelmed. I realize this is the first book of a planned series, so maybe I will get some answers in future book?

 

Verdict

The Fourth Girl did have its moments and there were a lot of themes running through the story, but the character development was very one-dimensional which made it difficult to invest any energy in any of them. I didn't mind the slower plot, but did feel like the investigation took a backseat to the drama that engulfed the girls and was more of an afterthought.  There was enough in this book however, that I will be continuing the series to see what happens next.