This is Michael Maxwell with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I am recommending Girls and Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier. At some point over the past decade, the persona of the “horse girl” has become a well-known meme. Everyone either knows a horse girl or is one themselves. Horse girls are known for their passion for the animals that give them their nickname. Brazier’s book takes this passion to criminal extremes. The horse girls, women, and men in this book will do anything for their horses, and that means anything.
Readers bounce back and forth between the investigation of a suspicious death at the Rancho Santa Fe Equestrian barn, and the story of the Parker family’s infiltration of the cult-like group of horse people who seemingly spend every waking hour at the barn. The Parkers have money to spend, and Heather Parker wants both of her daughters to fall in love with the equestrian culture of her own girlhood. Seems innocent enough, but then who ends up dead and why?
Girls and Their Horses reminded me of the HBO adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies. If you enjoyed that series about rich people behaving badly and secrets that boil over with catastrophic results, then you’ll like reading this book.
When I finished reading Girls and Their Horses, my first thought was “what about the horses?” Much like how Moby Dick isn’t actually a book about whales, Girls and Their Horses is not about the horses. It’s about conniving people who use horses to get what they want. This book is a soapy thriller for any reader who enjoys dishonest characters and twisted backstories.
Check out Girls and Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier at the Sioux City Public Library today!
Support for Check It Out on Siouxland Public Media comes from Verde Outdoor Media.