Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Ani FaNelli has it all, the impressive job at a highly regarded magazine, a home in the right part of town and a handsome, rich fiancee who has placed the perfectly sized ring on her finger. From the outside her life is perfect but no one can truly understand the lengths she’s gone to create that image and why she felt the need to do so. Everything she appears to be is a carefully crafted image to make her feel safe from the past, from the accusations and the violence that she’ll never be able to forget. But now she has it all, is it the perfect time to face the public and tell the truth or does telling the truth involve losing everything she’s worked so hard to be?
The Luckiest Girl Alive starts as a slow-paced tale of a teenager desperately trying to fit in. You watch as Ani turns from an innocent girl to a victim of boys brutality and the hierarchy around her, then the tale climaxes with a shocking incident at her school. I’m doing my best to not include spoilers here as I went into this novel not knowing what to expect and adored the twists along the way, so would hate to spoil them for anyone else.
Ani isn’t the most likeable of characters, especially as you know most of her relationships are carefully constructed and her real ones, for example with her mother, mostly consist of snipes and sneers. But as the story unfurls all her actions make complete sense and to me, that’s what matters the most.
The Luckiest Girl Alive has been optioned for film by Reese Witherspoon for Lionsgate films and I’m excited to see what they do with it. I hope they keep it true to the novel because it’s one hell of an enjoyable read.
If you’re looking to fill the Girl on the Train shaped hole in your life then add this to your reading pile now. Dark, twisty, compelling and razor-sharp Luckiest Girl Alive has been one of my favourite thrillers of the year so far.
Buy Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll