I enjoyed Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz in 2021 and the author is back this year with Leave the Girls Behind. Unrelated to her debut, Leave the Girls Behind starts in New York and takes the reader to New Zealand and beyond before the denouement.

Our protagonist Ruth is still haunted by the kidnapping and murder of her childhood friend by Ethan Oswald nineteen years ago. Later convicted of her murder, Oswald died in jail before Ruth could prove he was guilty of more crimes.

Once obsessed with the case and part of the online sleuthing community, Ruth has put it somewhat behind her and is now a bar tender in New York. When a young girl from her home town is kidnapped Ruth's past comes rushing back. Convinced Oswald had an accomplice, Ruth starts looking into the women in his life under the guise of creating a true crime podcast.

In Before You Knew My Name, the narrative focussed on what happens after a member of the public - protagonist Ruby - discovers the body of a victim of crime. Given Ruby was the name of the main character in the previous novel, I thought the use of the name Ruth in this one was way too similar for my liking, but I guess it's a minor point.

What unites these two crime novels is the injustice of violence against women, and in this outing Bublitz explores the idea that some women in the orbit of a suspect could be complicit, willingly turn a blind eye or even go so far as to help perpetrators of terrible crimes.

"'And it really shouldn't matter. But it does in the end, because if you grow up thinking you are not special, you cling to anyone who suggests you might be.'" Page 214

Through the characters and their life experiences, Bublitz explores how women might find themselves under the influence of perpetrators like Ethan Oswald.

The author divides her time between Melbourne and New Zealand's North Island and Ruth's scenes in New Zealand added to the narrative. I also enjoyed the mention of Melbourne in the novel, despite being used as a method to highlight the extreme levels of domestic violence in Australia:

"Melbourne, it seems, is a city reeling from its failures. Ruth reads pages and pages of articles dedicated to examining the epidemic of family violence not just in this city but across the entire country. The data is horrifying; at least one Australian woman a week is murdered by an intimate partner." Page 188

I share the author's outrage at this statistic and she doesn't shy away - and nor should she - from the darker side of domestic violence and the toll it takes on Australian women and their families.

The cast of characters is extensive and their connections to the case became a little complicated and difficult to keep track of at times. Leave the Girls Behind is recommended for fans of crime fiction with a focus on the issue of domestic violence and culpability.

* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin * ( )

Ruth has just discovered that another child from her hometown has disappeared. Ruth’s childhood friend went missing when they were very young. And this has made a huge imprint on her life. She has never let this case go. So, when this young girl comes up missing, Ruth starts to investigate and she discovers that the man accused of harming her friend may have had an accomplice.

Boy! Ruth is a bit damaged. And this endears me to her. But you see the train wreck coming…or at least you think you do!

I love when a story has me all over the globe and Ruth does not give up. She ends up in Australia and then Oslo. She is bound and determined to find out what she needs to know.

Well! This tale has a few twists and turns. It is a bit of a slow burn but that just enhances the drama!

Need a story which will have you wondering who did what…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. ( )

I don’t often read suspense/thrillers/mysteries. But in 2021 when I checked out Before You Knew My Name I was hooked and loved that novel. So, when the publisher offered me Jacqueline Bublitz’s newest book I was happy to read it.

Perhaps I enjoy her books because Bublitz has a message to her suspense thrillers, a psychological depth. Leave the Girls Behind has an interesting and surprising twist ending that is different from what is expected. And a protagonist who is haunted by the ghosts of girls killed by serial killers!

So, you can assume that this story has a supernatural element. Or, you can consider that the hauntings are related to trauma. The main character Ruth survived a kidnapping by a serial killer when she was seven. A kind stranger lured her into his van, took her home, and chained and locked her into a dark room. Her best friend had been the killer’s previous victim. But, Ruth was found. She was the one who survived.

She sees patterns and is propelled to follow those imagined links to discover if the man who kidnapped her had killed before. There are so many forgotten girls whose disappearances and murders are unsolved.

The novel is from her–unreliable–viewpoint as she tracks down the women who had known Ethan Oswald. He was apprehended before he could kill Ruth, and convicted and died in prison.

Ruth travels across the world to meet these women, pretending she is making a podcast. She tells no one about what she is doing–especially not the police officer who found her, who encourages her to move on and leave the girls behind.

The twist may not satisfy classic crime fiction aficionados, but I liked it. There is a strong feminist bent and psychological depth, and it kept my interest.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through Edelweiss. ( )

Bublitz has an interesting way with her central characters. She's happy for them to be imperfect, flawed by past events in their own lives, frequently unreliable, always questionable, just flat out flaky in other words. Baker carries all of those elements with her, and then some. Whilst her story is beautifully evoked, and Bublitz can write lyrically and atmospherically at times, a reader who is happy to go with some of the supernatural elements, in a decidedly non-supernatural setting, and with the conclusions that are leapt to, and the complications and coincidences, will undoubtedly just get this novel. There's also another underlying message here about the outcomes of trauma and how to survive and thrive when trust becomes a lifelong issue, but you might find yourself losing that thread occasionally and maybe that's the point.

Full Review: https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/leave-girls-behind-jacqueline-bublitz