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The First Girl

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The First Girl

By: Claire McGowan
Narrated by: Esther Wane
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About this listen

"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…

©2025 by Claire McGowan. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Crime Crime Thrillers Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Murder Disappearance

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Critic reviews

“The only thing scarier than your boyfriend being a convicted serial killer is the news that he might not be…The First Girl has a brilliant premise that delivers with both style and substance. Claire McGowan is one of my favourite authors and this is a truly first-class read.”—Louise Candlish
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Well done Claire you have done it again, 😁 Sending you respect, thanks 🙏 and congratulations on another amazing story. Kept me gripped so well written.
Fantastic narrator

One of my favourites, you won't be disappointed.

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Claire McGowan is one of the authors I will listen to without even reading the blurb, but somehow this book just missed the mark for me. The premise was good but the beginning was very slow and I was irritated by Karen's rambling thoughts. Also it seemed very unlikely that the police would have let her be so involved in the investigation. This is not the author's best book, but it was an easy listen and I'll be looking forward to future books.

Disappointing

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The story was ok, I’ve read a lot of Claire’s books and enjoyed them but the narration on this one was dreary, I found it quite distracting and took away the enjoyment of the book

Had to stop listening

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When you're first love becomes a serial killer, given the name the batman. What do you do?
In prison for ten years a girl is kidnapped in the same circumstances. Is the wrong man been sentenced?
Liked this one but it dragged a wee bit now and again.

😮

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I usually love Claire McGowan but this didn’t meet my expectations. It was very repetitive I think we get told he wasn’t her boyfriend about 50 times. Also the narrators voice was quite grating unfortunately, I think the accent was quite spot on but her voice was so squeaky it reminded me more of a mouse or a child rather than a grown adult. Will be returning as the ending was also quite underwhelming

Repetitive, not usual standard

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I just couldn't finish this book. The narration was OK when she was speaking the women characters but terrible when trying to speak in a male voice! The story is a bit muddled so get your brain in gear!!!
I was bored due to the repetitive narrative and didn't care about the characters.

confusing.

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The accents were too forced and unnatural. The development of the story was overfilled with confusing unnecessary details. Sadly I wasted one of my book credits.

Predictable and rather tedious

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