Blog Tour: Good Girls Die Last – Natali Simmons

Today, nothing is going right for Em. And it’s about to get much worse. Heartbroken by a recent split, with her 30th birthday looming, she loses her job and her home in the same morning because of two swaggering, dishonest men – the boss who sexually harassed her and the flatmate sleeping with her behind his fiancée’s back. But all Em can think about is catching a flight to attend her sister’s wedding and see her dying mother. With a record-breaking heatwave, and a serial killer making the streets unsafe, London is completely gridlocked. Em’s life has always been full of men getting their own way, and today the scorched city teems with them standing between her and home. As Em’s troubled past returns to haunt her, she refuses to let them win. Her defiance leads to shocking consequences that soon spiral wildly out of control. In a world where men don’t listen, and girls have no voice, one woman can change everything. Today, no one will be staying silent.

As the daughter of a Spanish immigrant, Natali J Simmonds has lived all over the world. GOOD GIRLS DIE LAST is her first thriller after writing fantasy novels. When not writing, she is the Head of Community and Editorial Commissions at Jericho Writers and lectures at Raindance Film School and The University of The Hague. Follow Natali on Twitter: @NJSimmondsbooks #SaveEm /#GoodGirlsDieLast

My thoughts: this was an interesting read, inspired partly by the murder of Sarah Everard and the reactions that followed, both on social media and in the streets, the thought of a heatwave so profound that bus and tube drivers walk away from their jobs, leaving the city to grind to a halt, and the many, many aggressions that women deal with day in day out, it fizzles with barely repressed rage and frustration.

Em has had the worst day, fired, then made homeless by her obnoxious flatmate, she’s walking across town to get to City Airport to catch a flight home to Spain in time for her sister’s wedding. A serial killer is targeting women and the police seem unable to stop him.

She meets Rose, another woman walking across town and they have a rather eventful time dealing with creeps and idiots. They’re tired and fed up and it doesn’t seem to matter what they do, it’s relentless.

After her day takes several more terrible turns, Em finally snaps and does something. Something that could destroy the fragile life she’s barely holding onto. The events snowball beyond her control and suddenly she’s a figurehead, a movement. As the temperature slowly melts the tarmac, what could happen next?

Tense, angry and rightfully so, this is a clever and intriguing book, in a world where men have the power, all it takes is one woman.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.