The Girls Before

A Novel

By: Kate Alice Marshall

Narrated by: Ina Barrón, Karissa Vacker

A search & rescue expert. A kidnapped woman. The lost girls who haunt them both.

"Veteran narrator [Karissa] Vacker performs the novel skillfully.... Her soothing voice, clarity, and intonation draw the listener into the story, while her convincing performance of Theo will hold their attention until the very last syllable." —Booklist on A Killing Cold (Starred Review)

There is a girl in a basement.
The door has stopped opening.
The light is gone.

Stranger is trapped in the dark, with only her imagination and the scribbles on the wall left by long-dead girls to keep her company. Nearly out of food and water, she makes one last attempt to escape. But if the door opens at last, will it mean salvation, or only the beginning of her fight to survive?

Audrey is a search and rescue expert who never stopped looking for her ex-best friend, Janie, who disappeared when they were teenagers. Janie used to love the local legend of a forest witch who saves girls from bad men, but Audrey knows now that for every one saved, there’s always another one lost. When she stumbles upon evidence in the forest that a teenage runaway might have actually been kidnapped from land belonging to the town’s most prominent family, she will have to dig through decades of secrets to reveal the biggest one of all: what happened to the girls before.

Kate Alice Marshall, bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods, No One Can Know, and A Killing Cold, is back with the thrilling new novel Ashley Winstead calls, "magnetic, shocking, heartbreaking, and unputdownable."

"Narrator Karissa Vacker, with scores of audiobooks under her belt, provides a pitch-perfect performance... [her] voice is a solid touchstone guiding listeners through shocks and twists." —Booklist on What Lies in the Woods

A Macmillan Audio production from Pine & Cedar Books

Critic reviews

“A superb mystery. . . Marshall takes a familiar premise and pushes it into exciting, experimental directions. . . Readers will be thinking about this long after they turn the last page.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A smart and layered mystery with complex characters, a unique structure, and the ultimate in a creepy locked room setting. With its shocking twists and stunning final reveal The Girls Before is the ultimate page-turner.”
—Robyn Harding, bestselling author of The Drowning Woman

“Kate Alice Marshall is one of the best thriller writers working today, and The Girls Before might be her best book yet. Marshall writes haunting poetry about the darkest sins imaginable, gossamer webs made of stygian threads, each story unfolding like a seductive melody sung by a woman in the woods, irresistible as it lures you deeper. The Girls Before is magnetic, shocking, heartbreaking, and unputdownable. What a gift to read her work.”
—Ashley Winstead, bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

“Kate Alice Marshall’s The Girls Before is a chilling descent into memory, myth, and the hidden scars we all carry. Fans of Simone St. James and Jennifer McMahon are going to devour this one!”
—Jess Lourey, Edgar-nominated author of The Quarry Girls

Praise for Kate Alice Marshall:

“Unexpected plot twists, deep psychological perspicacity, and an endlessly interesting dance between past and present that evokes the dread and intensity of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects.”
—New York Times Book Review

“So good.”
—Emily Henry, bestselling author

“A gripping tale, full of dizzying twists and turns! It is packed with suspense and kept me frantically turning pages until the very end!”
–Freida McFadden, bestselling author

“A propulsive and intricate psychological thriller.”
—Kirkus (starred review)

“Utterly riveting. . . A stunner—dark, unflinching, and as twisty and sharp as a tangle of thorns.”
—Riley Sager, bestselling author

“A tightly wound thriller perfect for fans of Stacy Willingham and Gillian Flynn.”
–J.T. Ellison, bestselling author

“Kate Alice Marshall knows how to deliver fast-paced twists and turns as she takes readers into the dark recesses of the imagination.”
—West Sacramento News-Ledger

So good!!!

This was riveting and kept me guessing! The ending was unsuspected and all the characters were complex.

There's A Witch In The Woods

​If you enjoy your thrillers with a side of childhood trauma and a dash of "local forest witch" vibes, step right up. The Girls Before is a twisty, atmospheric ride that asks the age-old question: How much wood could a wood-witch chuck if a wood-witch was actually just a cover for decades of systemic kidnapping? ### The Vibe
We follow Audrey, a teacher and search-and-rescue expert who is basically the patron saint of lost causes. She’s driven by an "inner voice" (which, let’s be honest, is usually just called 'PTSD' in most circles) stemming from the disappearance of her best friend, Janie, fifteen years ago. Audrey is convinced she could have saved her, and that guilt fuels her to find everyone else—even if they don’t particularly want to be found.
​The Plot (No Spoilers, Just Stress)
​The story splits between Audrey’s search and "Stranger," a girl currently living every introvert’s worst nightmare: stuck in a dark basement where the door has stopped opening and the snacks have run out.
​When Audrey finds "witch beads" in the forest while looking for a runaway student, it triggers a "hold my beer" moment for her obsession with her lost friend. What follows is a deep dive into:
​The Audacity of the Elite: How far will a prominent family go to keep their reputation shiny? Spoiler: Pretty far.
​The Survival Instinct: Watching a girl in a basement try to regain her life makes my daily struggle to get out of bed look pathetic.
​Twists You Won’t See Coming: I consider myself a professional at spotting "The Twist" by chapter three, but Marshall managed to slap me across the face with an ending I genuinely didn’t anticipate.
​Final Verdict
​The character development is fantastic, and the prose is sharp enough to cut. Audrey is relatable in that "I’m haunted by my past and also quite busy" way we all are. It’s a solid 4 stars for me. It’s gritty, it’s fast-paced, and it’ll make you double-check the locks on your basement door.
​Bottom line: Read it for the mystery, stay for the dark secrets of a town that clearly needs a better Neighborhood Watch program.

The Twist was Twisty

I love how Marshall plants so many red herrings throughout the story, it truly keeps you guessing. This was, yet again, a phenomenal book. The voice actresses were impeccable, I was sucked into the story immediately.

Narration was great!

It was just ok for me. Felt like the same ole thriller that’s been done before. Still love Kate Alice Marshall and will continue to read her books.

I couldn’t figure it out

A few swear words but nothing explicit. Felt so real to me. Makes me wonder where she got the plot from.