A serial killer with a bunker full of girls and a morally gray FBI agent.
I just finished listening to Girl 10: Wanted by Molly Black, and this one is a solid four stars for me.
I didn't lose sleep or consider sitting in my driveway to finish a chapter, but it was a strong, twisty commute companion.
The premise does the heavy lifting here, and it’s a good one. A serial killer, later convicted, claims he didn’t commit certain murders. His leverage is a bunker filled with girls in cages, like bunnies, and he forces FBI agent Maya Gray to solve cold cases to prove his innocence.
Tell me that’s not twisted. The question the book plays with is: What does a serial killer have to lose by lying when he’s already convicted? He could be manipulating the system one last time. That tension worked. The bunker was genuinely creepy and added urgency. I appreciated that.
Where I struggled was with Maya. I didn’t find her morally gray; I found her manipulative. She keeps secrets, justifies them, then outright lies to her fiancé and her sister, people who likely would have supported her if she’d just told the truth. At some point I stopped worrying about the case and started thinking, “Just. Stop. Lying.”
The villain felt more theatrical than chilling, and the ending left me with a loose thread (what exactly happened to Lucy’s abductor? He just rides away into the sunset like, "Hi ho Silver!"?). And I still don’t fully understand the title. Who was Girl 10? Lucy? The sister? Someone symbolic? I finished the book unsure.
That said, the pacing was strong, the premise was bold, and the psychological cat-and-mouse kept me engaged. It was very good, but not unforgettable.
