The Church of Dead Girls

by Stephen Dobyns

Book Overview

One by one, three young girls vanish in a small town in upstate New York. With the first disappearance, the townspeople begin to mistrust outsiders. When the second girl goes missing, neighbors and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805051031
• ISBN13: 9780805051032
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Length: 388 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Complex and subtle narrative, and a compelling story

The Church of Dead Girls is the best novel I have read in a long time. I imagine that most readers of this review are looking for a good thriller/serial killer novel; this book is certainly that, and an excellent one. Dobyns uses some wonderful techniques to create the sort of suspense that keeps you up at night. Even the most seasoned readers of serial killer novels will be uncertain what exactly is going on until the last few pages.But what is even more interesting, this "whodunnit" is the story about a small town that has fallen under the shadow of murder and abduction. This is not a novel about police hunting down a serial killer, but rather, a novel about what happens to the inhabitants of a sleepy rural town when they are confronted with the fact that one of them (at least) is a monster.Still better, though, is Dobyns' masterful narrative. It takes a lot of courage to stray away from the omniscient and anonymous third person and the tell-all biographical first person narratives. Dobyns, however, has done just that. Our narrator is a real person, a teacher at the local high school. He himself plays only a minor role in the story he tells and admits to not knowing everything. Frequently the story is told in a thrid person voice, but the narrator always provides us with the source of his information, so that the feeling of authenticity is maintained. Dobyns brings this town so vibrantly alive that you begin to wonder if this is really fiction.Dobyns has proved himself to be a masterful storyteller -- don't deprive yourself of this wonderful experience.

A great read

Okay. I read quite often, and I really treasure a book as well-written as this one. Being a Master's Student in Literature, I tend to shy away from most mystery and thriller type books. I just find most poorly written. Dobyns, however, writes with a beautiful prose. Apart from having a chilling and absorbing story, the book is written with a style that should be grouped with other modern books of high literary merit. I didn't feel cheaper after reading this book. Instead, I was satisfied when it was over. This book is told through the eyes of a man similar to most of us. We can see through his eyes. We feel as though what he sees happening in the town of Aurelius after the disappearance of a young girl is something that could happen in our own towns. Nothing about this book seems at all out of place. All the characters aren't as well-developed as we may wish, but they aren't supposed to be. In real life, we don't know everything about everyone. This book is just the way it's supposed to be. It's seen through the eyes of a real human.Even though the ending isn't necessarily satisfying in the traditional thriller sense, I didn't care. This book isn't about how the murder mystery is wrapped up (even though we aren't left hanging, thank God!). It's about a small town, and how they react to a very real horror. It's a wonderful novel.Read this at night, wrapped up in a blanket, alone on your couch. It will frighten you. You will love it.

For those who enjoy intelligent thrillers !

There's not too many things as pleasurable as discovering an outstanding "new" author, being highly impressed with his novel, then realizing the author is a veteran writer with many books under his belt. "The Church of the Dead Girls" absolutely floored me ! I truly enjoy the fact that I can turn into a gushing fanatic to recommend a novel, being that it happens so rarely, but this thriller/mystery is so perfectly realized, please allow me to gush. Mr. Dobyn's prose is exceptional. An obviously intelligent man that not only knows his craft, but truly seems to enjoy and respect it as well. This story begins with a gruesome discovery in a small town, as three missing young girls are found. Then the author backs the reader up a bit, taking us to the beginning, and simply unfolds the story in such a brilliant and deeply involving manner, you will repeatedly have to remind yourself that this is a work of fiction. The author leaves no character unturned, as each one is richly developed, as well as the setting and each scenerio that takes place. This author's intelligent prose practically leaps off every page as the mystery and suspense keeps building. A complaint I hear often from avid readers is their disappointment with a book's ending. Well, I'm happy to announce that this ending is superb, and matches the brilliance of the rest of the novel. If you are tired of the generic and cliched mystery and thrillers that saturate the market these days, then I HIGHLY suggest you seek this novel out. One of the greatest that I have read in a long while, and for once, all the great reviews from the very notable critics were accurate. This novel is a winner and hits the bullseye...dead center !

An Excellent Thriller!

From the first five pages, where Dobyns describes finding the bodies of the girls, I was hooked. Even when I had figured out why the girls had been kidnapped and killed, I had no idea who had done it. When I read this book a second time, a year later, and knew who the killer was, Dobyns's writing is so powerful, and the story so unpredictable, that I began to doubt my memory.The really disturbing aspect of the novel is the way the townspeople begin to distrust each other, and the fact that some people even go so far as to act violently towards people who were once their friends. Most upsetting, though, is the ending. I won't give anything away here, you'll have to read it for yourselves. This novel is deliciously creepy and sometimes quite grahpic. If you prefer your thrillers without graphic crime scene descriptions, you might want to check out Dobyns's later novel, _The Boy in the Water_. However, the scenes here are not gratuitous -- they are very necessary to the plot of the novel. This killer's violence is in many ways symbolic, and these descriptions are important to solving the mystery. All in all, this novel is an excellent read, and will gratify mystery and horror readers alike. I can't wait to read another thriller from Stephen Dobyns!

CHILLING! AND TOTALLY SATISFYING!

I read this book last summer while sitting beside a swimming pool on a hot, humid August day in the middle of the sweltering urban swamp of Washington, D.C. Despite the 98-degree temperature, and 90 percent humidity, I had persistent goose flesh and chills. If you like a good scare, here's one shudder-fest you should NOT miss.THE CHURCH OF DEAD GIRLS stands head and shoulders above most of the last two decade's releases in the horror genre. Until I read this first Stephen Dobyns' release, I was convinced that REAL horror existed only on the six o'clock news. Thank you Mr. Dobyns for proving me wrong.This book is extraordinarily well crafted. It's hip! It's witty! And it's full of horrific images and unexpected plot twists that really get under your skin where they fester and grow -- and keep revisiting you even weeks after you've finished reading. And because of its sheer realism, THE CHURCH OF DEAD GIRLS is pure nightmare bait. This one will be hard to top.For some of us, a good scare has the same affect as a good laugh, a good cry or some other really intense, orgasmic release. In a nutshell, this book creeped me out! God, how I love that!