In THE LIGHTNING GIRL by Sam Ripley, Sarah’s best friend Genevieve always believed she had powers after being struck by lightning. She could perform rituals, curse others, and never die. One night when Sarah and Gen quarreled on the cliffs, she fell into the turbulent sea. Her body was never found. Is she still alive, or did something else happen to her when she left the water?  It’s thirty years later and as Sarah searches for clues, the truth is as elusive and frightening as a lightning strike.

Sarah has returned with her son Herry to her childhood home after her father’s death. The plan is to renovate and sell the home, but Sarah feels Gen’s presence, and Herry has a vision of a girl watching him in his room. Then a property gate explodes in flames, and Sarah believes Gen is haunting her, wanting her to look into her disappearance and find the truth. When Sarah finds a friendship bracelet by Gen’s grave, she knows her friend must have made it out of the sea alive.  But what happened next? The trail will take Sarah down a harrowing road crossing paths with a true crime podcaster, a serial killer, and an odd cemetery caretaker.  Where does the truth lie in reality and in Sarah’s mind?

THE LIGHTNING GIRL starts off like a bolt of electric energy. There’s an isolated coastal home, cliffs, a brooding teenager, a thirty-year-old mystery, and an unreliable narrator. Even after Sarah’s big reveal, which happens halfway through the novel, I was onboard, but somewhere along the last two parts of the novel, I felt like I was reading a different book. Sarah’s secrets were the most compelling. The mystery surrounding Gen’s death, including the introduction of the podcaster, felt strange and deviated from the first half of the novel. The characters are compelling, and the imagery is well-done, but the story would have been stronger if one thread involving Sarah's state of mind, had been expanded and followed through to the end.