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Hard Girls Kindle Edition

by J. Robert Lennon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 41 ratings
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In this "racing, twisty crime novel," two estranged twin sisters hunt down their elusive mother—and face down the darkness they tried to escape. (Chelsea Bieker)

Jane Pool likes her safe, suburban existence just fine. She has a house, a family, (an infuriating mother-in-law,) and a quiet-if-unfulfilling administrative job at the local college. Everything is wonderfully, numbingly normal. Yet Jane remains haunted by her past: her mercurial, absent mother, her parents’ secrets, and the act of violence that transformed her life.

When her estranged twin, Lila, makes contact, claiming to know where their mother is and why she left all those years ago, Jane agrees to join her, desperate for answers and the chance to reconnect with the only person who really knew her true self. Yet as the hunt becomes treacherous, and pulls the two women to the earth’s distant corners, they find themselves up against their mother’s subterfuge and the darkness that always stalked their family. Now Jane stands to lose the life she’s made for the one that has been impossible to escape.

Set in both the Pool family’s past and their present, and melding elements of a chase novel, an espionage thriller, and domestic suspense, Hard Girls is an utterly distinctive pastiche—propulsive, mysterious, cracked, intelligent, and unexpected at every turn.
 
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  1. Book 1 of 1
    Jane and Lila Pool
  2. Print length
    308 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Mulholland Books
  6. Publication date
    February 20, 2024
  7. File size
    1186 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
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  10. Enhanced typesetting
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  11. See all details
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From the brand

From the Publisher

Would you leave your life behind for the answers you always craved?
"Lennon is a master of plot and suspense, but he's also created indelible characters." -Dana Spiotta
"A racing, twisty crime novel about the things we do to survive." -Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot

Editorial Reviews

Review

"We build our world from the materials available, those given and allowed us. In Hard Girls, J. Robert Lennon has a brilliant, seemingly effortless way of sorting through the lumber, bent nails, staples, glue, and salvage that make up our lives."―James Sallis, author of DRIVE and SARAH JANE

"Hard Girls is a rollicking read, an immersive, funny, consequential family story that is also a thriller.  Lennon is a master of plot and suspense, but he's also wonderful at creating indelible characters, particularly  the wild twins at the heart of this story. Hard Girls deftly evokes complex family dynamics: the tense innocence and precocity of adolescence as well as the poignant, hard reckoning of parenthood."―Dana Spiotta, author of WAYWARD

"J. Robert Lennon’s Hard Girls is a mother-daughter thriller unlike any I’ve ever read. It’s a simple-enough premise—two sisters set off to track down their long-lost mother—but the narrative twists and turns are as distinctive and surprising as the relationships that propel them. Each and every character is exquisitely rendered here, and sisters Jane and Lila Pool are nothing less than utterly captivating: they are at once brilliant and vulnerable, tender and vicious. I fell head over heels in love with them both—and I know readers will too."―Elizabeth Little, author of DEAR DAUGHTER and PRETTY AS A PICTURE

"HARD GIRLS excels as a racing, twisty crime novel about the things we do to survive and how the people we love most surprise us, challenge us, and sometimes, if we're lucky, save us. Jane’s desire to be the mother her mother never was will pull at your heartstrings and the inventive plot will keep you glued to the page. Lennon reminds us there's no escaping the past until we look it square in the eye. A bold and adventurous novel."―Chelsea Bieker, author of GODSHOT and HEARTBROKE

"J. Robert Lennon is one of the great genre-hoppers and I can’t wait to see what he gets up to in the crime sphere. We’ve got estranged twins reconnecting to find their mother, globe-hopping adventure, family secrets, and the pace of a great thriller? Plus, things are often quite a bit stranger than what the jacket copy says in a Lennon novel, so I’m excited to see how this goes. And it’s apparently the first in a series!" ―Literary Hub

"Lennon's writing is crisp and svelte, the dialogue punchy and witty. He excels at creating three-dimensional characters and parses out information incrementally to expertly heighten the tension. A mix of a coming-of-age tale, family drama, buddy road trip, and spy story, this yarn satisfies on all levels."―Bill Kelly, Booklist --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

J. Robert Lennon is the author of nine novels, including Familiar,Broken River, and Subdivision, and the story collections Pieces for the Left Hand, See You in Paradise, and Let Me Think. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Playboy, Granta, The Paris Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere, and his criticism in The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, The Nation, and The London Review of Books. He lives in Ithaca, New York.
  --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C77LZ54Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books (February 20, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 20, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1186 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 308 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0316550582
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 41 ratings

About the author

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J. Robert Lennon

J. Robert Lennon

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J. Robert Lennon is the author of two story collections, Pieces For The Left Hand and See You in Paradise, and eight novels, including Mailman, Castle, Familiar, and Broken River. He holds an MFA from the University of Montana, and has published short fiction in The New Yorker, Harper's, Playboy, Granta, The Paris Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. He has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and The London Review of Books, and he lives in Ithaca, New York, where he teaches writing at Cornell University.

Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
41 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mama Dukes
4.0 out of 5 stars Two great stories in one!
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024
HARD GIRLS by J. Robert Lennon has an opening paragraph that gripped me by the throat and never let up! This one is a page turner!

In Nester, NY, Jane lives a very hum, ho, life. She gets up and goes to work each day, comes home to her husband Chance and 12-year-old daughter Chloe. She looks in on her father, who is a professor at the local university and has a very controlling mother-in-law. We learn that her mother, Annabel left home 20 years ago, and never returned. Jane and her twin sister Lila were then raised by their father.

After 10 years of silence from her sister, Jane is contacted by Lila, who reports that she knows where her mother is, and they need to go find her and find out why she left them all those years ago. Jane decides to follow Lila into the abyss and find strange and secretive clues that their mother may or may not have been sending to others all these years. The girls end up traveling too far off places in their search. but Jane and Lila are harboring secrets of their own, which may come back to haunt them. Is Jane’s leaving home a remake of Annabelle 20 years ago? Will she risk her dreary life to find her mother?

I really enjoyed Mr. Lennon‘s writing style. It led to a smooth and enjoyable few hours. I liked the way he led me down one road only to show me that I should have gone the other way. I also enjoyed the way he left clues throughout that I had to revisit. This is my first J. Robert Lennon thriller but I do not believe it will be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.
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Richard K.
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
It took a bit for the characters to draw me in, but once they did I was gripped. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Jane and Lila!
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Kaitlyn Herrera
3.0 out of 5 stars Cat/mouse thriller with espionage, murder, and sisterly love…
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
My initial impression of Hard Girls by J. Robert Lennon is certainly a memorable one. The mystery woman on the cover of the book is beautiful. Her sizzling eye contact with the viewer is unapologetically confrontational, she’s a femme fatale. Mesmerized by her intrigue, I found myself staring at her for some time, contemplating who she is and what secrets she may be keeping. Understandably, I was eager to start the book! I also really like the design. The oversaturation and contrasting color choices are aesthetically pleasing and gives a vintage appearance.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, which is narrated by Amanda Troope. I thought she did a wonderful job voicing the characters, making them distinct and easy to recognize. She’s energetic and easy to listen to. I could turn on the book and get lost in the story for long periods of time.

Set in Nestor, NY alternating between a few different past and present perspectives, Jane Pool, the main character, is trying to bury her traumatic past to push forward in her properly deadened, mechanical existence as a working mother, wife, and thoroughly heckled daughter-in-law. Jane has convinced herself she’s happy, satisfied, and living the life she always wanted with her husband (Chance) and daughter (Chloe). Despite her endeavors, she cannot kick a niggling feeling she needs to tie up loose ends from her past sooner rather than later and seek answers she is entitled to but hesitant to find. She finally decides to acquiesce and initiate contact with her disaffected twin sister (Lila) who delivers shocking and not entirely welcome news that their mother is still alive.
In this propulsive, cat and mouse thriller, Jane feels inexorably drawn towards her twin sister and the alure of excitement and the unpredictable. Her nihilistic decision to confront their past and hunt down their mother to obtain long awaited answers will have the sisters globetrotting, fully submerged in their mother’s world of espionage and subterfuge, which will inevitably jeopardize Jane’s future in a carefully constructed, conventional life with her family. These girls have certainly lived hard lives already and their fateful reconnection will spark disastrous consequences, lighting those closest to them aflame.

I thought the story was very good, though at times the plot got bogged down in mundane details. Similarly, I felt like there was a bit too much time spent on the backgrounds of people and descriptions of places they encountered on the chase. I also wanted the writing to convey a higher sense of urgency to better mirror what I perceive the girls are feeling---they are losing control but are in too deep to turn back. Overall, this was a solid story and a fun read, so I do recommend it to thriller enthusiasts! Since I am an identical twin, I felt a deeper connection to the girls and a greater understanding of some of their more shocking choices: I will always choose my twin over anyone or anything else.

Thank you NetGalley and Mulholland Books/Hachette Audio for the ARC and the opportunity to share what I think! All opinions are my own.
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Kendra Payne
2.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to follow
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2024
DNF at 62%.

I love this cover. I, generally, love books about siblings. I wanted this to be so much more along the lines of the synopsis, but instead it felt like bickering that was not getting to the point. I found myself often confused with the changing timelines and viewpoints. Ultimately, I could not connect to either sister to justify continuing the book.
One person found this helpful
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Marci Heath
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2024
I enjoyed this book very much!! It’s a great thriller/mystery read with two main female characters that I fell in love with.
Sisters (twins) have had a very hard and unique younger years. That unfortunately follows them into adulthood. They finally face their demons and try to put some closure to the way their parents treated them growing up.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!!!!
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Dinanand
5.0 out of 5 stars Bold and Boisterous!
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2024
Jane Pool seems like a normal fun loving mother where she is an admin at her local college. She has to deal with a horrible mother-in-law and her slowly aging professor father but life is good and uneventful when she hears from her twin. Her twin has been estranged for many years and will not reveal her location but promises to share secrets regarding their mother.

Jane take a leap of fate and dials a secret number which leads to a whirlwind tour. She learns that her mother had some deep deep secrets that she is still keeping that have caused the majority of the heartache is her life to date. Unfortunately for Jane, more than one person wants to keep these secrets buried and she finds herself working with her twin sister against the clock.
Bold and boisterous! This is a great thriller blending governmental intrigue, family matters and all out adventure!
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