Bad Girls [Kindle Edition]

Alex McAulay (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After too many infractions of her conservative parents' rules, 16-year-old Anna is involuntarily shipped off to a wilderness survival camp, where her parents hope she will reform her "wild" behavior. Located on a remote Caribbean island, Camp Archstone is frightening and militaristic, and Anna's troubled bunk mates unsettle her. Then a shocking murder during a camp hike sends the girls into a terrifying flight through the jungle, where they confront drug smugglers, potential rapists, and even the violent impulses in each other. The publisher bills this first novel as a cross between Lord of the Flies and heathers, but readers may find more similarities to teen horror movies, particularly in the plot cliches, stilted dialogue, and gratuitous descriptions of scantily clad girls on the run. In fact, a companion film is in the works, and the interest its release will generate may be the biggest justification for purchasing the novel. Still, some readers (the majority of whom will probably be older teens) will enjoy the nail-biting suspense, the jungle survival challenges, and the mean-girls politics. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

Thick with suspense and simmering with adolescent turmoil, Bad Girls is an action-adventure survival story that pits a group of troubled teens against a forbidding tropical landscape, an elusive enemy, and, worst of all, each other. It's Mean Girls meets Lord of the Flies, and it marks the debut of an innovative new voice in fiction.

Anna Wheeler's parents have had it up to here. They can't seem to control their daughter anymore and so, one night, Anna's yanked from her bed and carted off to Camp Archstone -- bootcamp for troubled teen girls. There, on a vast, remote, sparsely populated island, Anna will be expected to change her ways and repent for the sins her religious father just can't seem to forgive. Here's a hint: There's a boy involved. No, a man.

Life at Camp Archstone is Anna's worst nightmare. Every minute of the day is scheduled, the counselors are hardcore, and one girl is crueler than the next. But when a grueling hike into the forest goes horribly wrong, things go from bad to worse. Stalked by an unknown foe and left to fend for themselves, the girls band together to try to find their way back to civilization -- and that's when the real trouble begins.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 437 KB
• Print Length: 320 pages
• Publisher: MTV Books; Original edition (June 14, 2005)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FCK940
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,898 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of Bad Girls-A Novel, June 28, 2005

By 

Dorrie Wheeler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Girls (Paperback)

Bad Girls-A Novel is a book! Yes, people it's a book too! The celebrity gossip blogs are so busy focused on the movie no one is taking the time to actually read the book. The early buzz is that Hilary Duff or Lindsay Lohan may be attached to the movie. The book was written by Alex McAuley. The book reads like a movie. You can tell when you read it that cinema is in the future. The story opens up with a action packed scene. Anna is on the run. Two men on her trail. She is out in the wilderness, scared and hoping that she won't be found. When "The Boxer" and the big fat man finally catch her she struggles and gives them the silent treatment. This scene actually is a little foreshadowing. Anna's parents arrange for her to be sent away due to her "out of control" behavior. This is a good book a very interesting read. If you like Lost or remember the movie Lord of the Flies you will like this book. What I didn't like about the book is that some of the characters seem one dimensional. Perhaps I was picking up on the fact that a man was writing female characters. The cover is awesome but the title is a little unorignal. How many movies, books and songs have been titled "Bad Girls" over the years? I felt like they were acting in the book. But it's a good book and probably will make a good movie.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Girls Finish Last, July 3, 2005

By 

A. Dennis "A Law Student" (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Girls (Paperback)

What an awesome book. From page one to three-hundred plus this book is a page turner.

It all starts with Anna's wild, uncontrollable behavior that gets her sent to Camp Archstone on Andros Island. Everything is mechanical in this wilderness camp for bad girls. Every girl has a story to tell and Anna doesn't know who she can trust. On a camping trip something goes horribly wrong and the real adventure begins. The girls must fight for their lives and the reader feels as if they are truly a bad girl. There are so many different scenarios, and secrets living within the island. The whole time Anna has flashbacks of her own secret that she's hiding. Who will make it to safety, if anyone?

This book was a great read. The ending wasn't as strong, it was kind-of sappy in my opinion. Other than that, this makes for a great summer read. I would say it's for the young adult 18+ crowd.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good - - - kept me reading, July 9, 2005

By 

J. Daw (San Clemente, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Girls (Paperback)

I liked this book alot. It takes a very interesting book for me to finish the whole book. I finished it in a week. I can't wait for the next Alex Mcaulay novel to come.