The First Girl

By Claire McGowan

"Delivers with both style and substance. . . Claire McGowan is one of my favourite authors and this is a truly first-class read."--Louise Candlish

She believed her serial-killer ex was innocent, but now history is repeating itself. What does she really remember?

Writer Karen Walker knows more than most about murderers. Her first love went on to become The Bagman, a notorious serial killer now locked away for life in a maximum-security prison.

Karen has spent her life running from the weight of having loved him, defended him and, ultimately, leading the police to his door. But now, ten years later, just as she's about to publish her account of his crimes, a young woman is abducted in horribly familiar circumstances.

It can't be The Bagman...can it? He's safely behind bars, thanks to her. But she has to know for sure.

Returning to the hometown she thought she'd left for good, Karen is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man she's never escaped. If there's any chance of saving the kidnapped girl, she'll have to face up to what really happened back then, once and for all...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1662513887
• ISBN13: 9781662513886
• Release Date: February 2025
• Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
• Length: 317 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Thrilling story!

This book has a way of drawing the reader in, at least for me. I was intrigued with how the chapters all started with bits of the memoir that Karen, called the girlfriend of "the Bagman" a serial killer she helped put away 10 years ago and how it maybe was not quite all true. I had to keep reading to see if Karen was a liar (like so many people believed since she said she did not know that Aaron was the killer until the body count had risen so high) since she definitely was keeping secrets and rewriting history. I did think it was odd that she went back home and the police were perfectly fine with her seeing the crime scene of the latest victim and then go with them and Emelia, the one who got away from the Bagman, interviewing families of the victims and going to see Aaron in prison. But that did not stop me from consuming this because I just had to know! I did guess a bit but that was fine and I enjoyed the ending and how it was all explained. So, in summary, a fast paced book that was hard to put down and I enjoyed it.