They Say a Girl Died Here

Sarah Pinborough

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Book cover for They Say a Girl Died Here
Image for variant 9781250436689
Book cover for They Say a Girl Died Here
Image for variant 9781250436689

They Say a Girl Died Here

They Say a Girl Died Here

Sarah Pinborough

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Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, a thrilling, genre-bending mystery about two murdered girls, a town with dark secrets, and a race to break a deadly cycle

Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper's Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It's supposed to be a new start for her and her family, but after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place--working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia, whose paranoid episodes have started to unnerve her. The only interesting thing about her new town, it seems, is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman--and the clue she discovers that reveals the case is yet unsolved.

Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town's darkest curiosity--but even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears. Tension is building in Harper's Creek, and everyone can feel it. The house is becoming more claustrophobic by the day, and her grandmother is growing stranger. Anna begins to wonder if her delusional moments are somehow the key to discovering the truth about the murders, and if the old house, and her new start, is haunted by its own bloody baggage.

With a devastating mystery at its core, They Say a Girl Died Here is a novel of thrilling and terrifying secrets, with a mind-bending twist that could only come from Sarah Pinborough.

About the Author

Sarah Pinborough is the award-winning, #1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of the psychological thriller (and hit Netflix show) Behind Her Eyes and more than twenty other novels and novellas, including We Live Here Now, Insomnia, and the young adult thriller 13 Minutes. She has also written for the BBC. She lives in England.

Critical Reviews

"A brilliant novel. . . Sarah has excelled herself. That rare combination of lyrical prose with compulsive storytelling, it's got a dark, creepy, atmospheric beauty to it that only Sarah could have written. She is the only author who compares to Stephen King, and I don't say that lightly. Genius work."
--Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of The Lies You Told

"I love small-town America stories, and this is one of the best. Pinborough's characterization is second to none. Anna's arrival as a stranger to her grandmother's small town after an unnameable trauma is entirely credible and focusing on the apparently 'solved' murders in the recent past is what she needs to escape her past. But her discovery of new evidence at every turn leads us to believe that these murders were never investigated properly. This is a riveting, pacy read as the tension rises and the stakes grow ever higher when Anna realizes she is the next victim. Absolutely enthralling!"
--Liz Nugent, bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond

"An addictive tale of Midwestern macabre. . . Pinborough's fierce yet flawed characters are easy to root for, and she doles out the story's shocking secrets at a tantalizing pace. Thriller fans who like it dark will devour this."
--Publishers Weekly

"Pinborough immediately sets a menacing stage for this psychological thriller with considerable emotional depth."

--Booklist

Praise for the work of Sarah Pinborough:

"Original and my God, so dark. You'll never guess the ending. A cracking good story."
--Stephen King, bestselling author of Holly

"Brilliant. . . I love Sarah's freaky supernatural twists."
--Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of None of This is True

"This is Sarah Pinborough at her terrifying, mind-bending best."
--Ruth Ware, bestselling author of One Perfect Couple

"I'm a big fan."
--Harlan Coben, bestselling author of Think Twice

"Stunning. Shocking. Terrifying. You know it's coming, but you'll never guess what it is. . . No one tells stories like Sarah Pinborough."
--Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark

"Sarah Pinborough's imagination is a wonderful place."--Alice Feeney, bestselling author of My Husband's Wife

Publishing Information

Publisher: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar
Pub date: 2026-08-25
Length: 320 pages

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