The First Girl cover art

The First Girl

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The First Girl

By: Claire McGowan
Narrated by: Esther Wane
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.14

Buy Now for £15.14

About this listen

"Delivers with both style and substance. . . Claire McGowan is one of my favourite authors and this is a truly first-class read."—Louise Candlish

She believed her serial-killer ex was innocent, but now history is repeating itself. What does she really remember?

Writer Karen Walker knows more than most about murderers. Her first love went on to become The Bagman, a notorious serial killer now locked away for life in a maximum-security prison.

Karen has spent her life running from the weight of having loved him, defended him and, ultimately, leading the police to his door. But now, ten years later, just as she’s about to publish her account of his crimes, a young woman is abducted in horribly familiar circumstances.

It can’t be The Bagman…can it? He’s safely behind bars, thanks to her. But she has to know for sure.

Returning to the hometown she thought she’d left for good, Karen is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man she’s never escaped. If there’s any chance of saving the kidnapped girl, she’ll have to face up to what really happened back then, once and for all…

©2025 by Claire McGowan. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Crime Crime Thrillers Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Murder Disappearance

Critic reviews

“The only thing scarier than your boyfriend being a convicted serial killer is the news that he might not be…The First Girl has a brilliant premise that delivers with both style and substance. Claire McGowan is one of my favourite authors and this is a truly first-class read.”—Louise Candlish
All stars
Most relevant
Claire McGowan is one of the authors I will listen to without even reading the blurb, but somehow this book just missed the mark for me. The premise was good but the beginning was very slow and I was irritated by Karen's rambling thoughts. Also it seemed very unlikely that the police would have let her be so involved in the investigation. This is not the author's best book, but it was an easy listen and I'll be looking forward to future books.

Disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story was ok, I’ve read a lot of Claire’s books and enjoyed them but the narration on this one was dreary, I found it quite distracting and took away the enjoyment of the book

Had to stop listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Listening to this narrator was a challenge. The main characters voice was grating and squeaky.

Repetitive information about the character.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
When you're first love becomes a serial killer, given the name the batman. What do you do?
In prison for ten years a girl is kidnapped in the same circumstances. Is the wrong man been sentenced?
Liked this one but it dragged a wee bit now and again.

😮

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I didn't like the narrator's voice. ok when female but rather ridiculous when being the man.

liked the story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews