‘Girl Friends’ by Alex Dahl

Published by House of Zeus Ltd,
11 April 2024.
ISBN: 978-180110833-1 (PB)

“How are they going to get out of this?  There has to be a way.”

Charlotte and Andreas Vinge live in Wimbledon with their two children, Madelaine and Oscar.  As their surname suggests, the family are originally from Norway.  They moved to their current residence when Andreas landed a top job in the city of London.  The relocation came with challenges for Charlotte, a medical doctor, who had to leave her job, friends, family and homeland.  Soon, though, the couple linked up with a community of Norwegian ex-pats and their circle of friends expanded.  Linda and Anette have proved to be good friends to Charlotte and for some years the trio have enjoyed annual breaks at her villa in Ibiza.  Moreover, she has more than matched her husband’s success thanks to an interest in the Keto diet which she has developed into a lucrative business.  So far so fairytale, then she meets Bianka LangeLand, and her world is turned upside down. 

An explosive opening chapter gives way to incisive descriptions of complicated female and familial relationships that underpin the novel.  Charlotte may be the Keto Queen, but her celebrity status doesn’t compensate for her husband’s coldness.  Bianka’s situation is more complicated as she resents having to share Emil’s affection with her stepson, Storm.  Perhaps these domestic tensions explain why Charlotte and Bianka are drawn to each other.  Yet, there is an inequality on both sides of their bourgeoning friendship; Charlotte’s personal triumphs dwarf Bianka’s achievements, on the other hand Bianka’s husband is the new CEO of Andreas’s firm.  Charlotte’s established bond with Linda and Anette is threatened when she informs them that she has invited new pal Bianka to join them on their annual jaunt to Ibiza. 

The accounts of the female relationships within the novel are relatable, realistic and unpredictable.  Violent emotions are never far from the surface.  Tension builds, releases, and builds again as the narrative moves towards a surprising dénouement.  Present tense is used throughout the tale and imbues it with a compelling immediacy.  Charlotte’s point of view is penned in the first person.  It clearly establishes her status as the chief protagonist.  Bianka and Storm, whose viewpoints are delivered through a third person narrator are no less compelling and provide an appropriate contrast to Charlotte’s tale. 

Girl Friends is a thrilling and thoroughly modern story that explores twenty-first century relationships and what happens when they go wrong.  Disturbing and fascinating in equal measure the novel delivers an astounding final twist – the perfect coup de grâce.  A super read.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Alex Dahl was born in Oslo, Norway, and is half American, half Norwegian, fully Francophile, and London resident. Alex is the author of The Boy at the Door, published world-wide in 2018. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, as well as an MSc in Business Management. Alex loves to travel and has previously lived in Moscow, Paris, Stuttgart, Sandefjord, Switzerland and Bath.  To learn more about Alex Dahl, please visit her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.