From the outside, 14-year-old Syd Johanssen seems like a typical teen?busy delivering papers in the neighbourhood and training with her high school sprinting team. Under the surface, though, things are less than perfect. Syd’s family life leaves a lot to be desired, and she can’t manage to shake her fascination with the highly publicized abductions and murders of two local girls. Syd’s obsession becomes a frightening reality when she realizes that she is being stalked on her paper route. Tense and fast-paced, Girl #3 is a story about how being a girl is more dangerous these days than it has ever been, and how, in your darkest hour, you might just find a friend in the most unlikely of places.
Praise for Nichole McGill’s previous work:
“McGill?is a shrewd observer of modern mores and the nature of relationships?. She creates portraits of the underlying struggles inherent in human bonding, the need for love tempered by the need for control.” “Ottawa Citizen
“McGill is no poseur. She understands what makes her contemporary characters tick.” “NOW Magazine
“These stories are streams from the cultural front.” “Ottawa X Press

NICHOLE MCGILL is an Ottawa-based writer and editor. She is the author of 13: Cautionary Tales, and her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. Girl #3 is her first novel for young adults.

Nichole McGill's profile page

Girl #3

Fourteen-year-old Syd Johansen is having a rough year. Her Mom is always on her case, her best friend Alicia has ditched her, she narrowly escaped an assault at the hands of a boy everyone thinks is an angel, and to top it all off, she’s been followed by the ghost of a girl who was abducted and killed. But things are about to go from bad to worse, when Syd suspects that she is being followed on her early morning paper route.

Much of the novel is narrated from behind a bush, where Syd is hiding from the man she believes has abducted and killed two other girls. This device creates tension and suspense and drives the story forward. Well-timed flashbacks give the reader glimpses into Syd’s psyche, and provide context for her sometimes questionable choices.

Nichole McGill’s writing is sharp and fast paced, and there are some truly fresh and original turns of phrase. At times, the world McGill creates feels excessively bleak. Mothers, fathers and friends are unreliable and selfish. Thankfully, many of these characters have redeeming moments.

Not for the faint hearted, Nichole McGill’s first young adult novel tackles a lot of gritty subject material and will appeal to readers of contemporary realistic fiction. The tone and circumstances of the novel bring to mind Graham McNamee’s novel Acceleration, another Toronto-based thriller featuring a teenager haunted by the past and desperate to change the future.