Having ended the original series with ‘Wanted’ it’s painfully clear that number nine in the series is cashing in on the success of the TV series.
There’s nothing particularly new here. It’s not bad, but there’s nothing to really mark it out as anything other than more of the same.
The story begins with the girls going on holiday to a fabulous resort in Jamaica. Next thing we know it’s a year later, the girls are barely talking and there’s something shocking that happened on the holiday that we spend the whole book being taunted about.
Throughout this the girls acted in fairly expected fashion. They get themselves into situations that nobody in their right mind would contemplate, they are determined to act alone and the adults in their lives are so damaged themselves that it’s little wonder the girls are so skewed in their outlook. A has returned – even though she is thought to have died.
By my reckoning there have now been three incarnations of A, and you start to think the girls would realise they might be better off simply acknowledging the mistakes they make and accepting the consequences of their actions. Nothing is credible, but it’s great fun and there is something about the series that draws you in (even if it’s sticking with it until the end to work out just where it will all go).