Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy smalltown family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father – Pikeville’s notorious defence attorney – devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night. Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself – the archetypal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again – and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatised – Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it’s a case which can’t help triggering the terrible memories she’s spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime which destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won’t stay buried for ever …
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A person who has been up close when a gun is fired into another human being never mistakes the sound of a gunshot from something else.
In my humble opinion, Karin Slaughter is an amazing writer. From the moment I read her first book, I fell in love with her twisted mind. I like her Will Trent series, I love her characters and I admire the way she crafts her twisty plots. While Pretty Girls wasn’t my favorite, I found it addictive and a gripping read overall. However, I firmly believe that The Good Daughter (despite its cliché title) is a much better book overall. This is not a short book at all, but it’s as engaging and addictive as your typical psychological thriller. I also found myself highlighting various quotes and scenes I really liked, which is always a good sign.
This is a book that covers many themes, such as family, grief, and guilt. There are two main storylines and two main narrators, although as it usually happens, I got more attached to the one that came first. So yes, I’m looking at you, Charlotte. I can’t help it, I love you more despite not understanding you most of the time.
This is the story of two sisters, Sam and Charlotte, who see their lives fall apart when two masked men come to their house and hold them at gunpoint. What exactly happened 28 years ago? Did everyone survive? Flashforward to 28 years later and tragedy finds Charlie again when she happens to be at her old high school when a shooting takes place. But the suspect is not your typical cold-blooded killer, so Charlotte is pretty sure that some people are keeping secrets.
I loved your mother more than anything else on this earth. Every day with her was the best day of my life, even if we were screaming at each other at the top of our lungs.
Although this is definitely a mystery-crime novel, there is a lot of focus on family dynamics and marriage issues. I must say I loved this aspect of the book because I found Rusty -the father- to be an amazing character and I couldn’t help but love him dearly despite his obvious flaws -and all the mistakes he made-. I hope I’m not the only one. Another storyline I enjoyed: I was rooting for Charlotte and Ben from their very first scene together. Ben reminded me a bit of Ed Mackenzie from Big Little Lies and he won me over quickly.
Not everything is glowing, though, as I had some issues with the conclusion of both storylines. The two “twists” felt contrived, especially the school shooting one. However, I believe that the fact that I forgot I had to cook dinner (and eat!!!!!!!) while I was reading this book makes up for all of that.
So yes, of course, I’ll read your next one, Karin. Always.
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Netgalley, HarperCollins UK, 2017
Not reading until I’ve read the book myself! 😄
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Haha When are you going yo read it!
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Hopefully at the weekend. I pre-ordered it ages ago!
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So want to read this one and now even more! Her characters are always so rounded, so detailed.. Its a shame the ending wasn’t the highlight of this novel for you.. still want to read this one though because like you I’m just a big fan 😉
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It’s one of her best despite the endings. I dont even care about that. The book was one of the most addictive ones Ive read this year!
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Confession time – I’ve never read anything by Karin Slaughter! I quite like the sound of this though. Great review 🙂
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This one would be a great one to start with!! 😜
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This sounds really good! I like that it focuses around family issues, that’s always so interesting to me when reading a mystery. Great review!
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I hope you enjoy it, I think youll love it Amanda!!
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Yay! I think I will too!😊
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I’ve never read a book from Karin Slaughter! I got half way through an audiobook of one but I couldn’t keep listening to the woman’s voice so I gave that up, bought the book and then never picked it up again!
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Hahaha Ouch! I love her writing, she’s one of my faves!!
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I’m glad you enjoyed this! I won a copy of it on Good Reads and it just arrived today!
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I saw that you reviewed it, will read yours today 😍
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I skimmed your review here, enough to know you liked it. I’ll read it after I read the book 😊
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Ohhh perfect!! Enjoy 😍
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Great review as always.I have only read onebook by slaughter but I agree with you about the characterization.I read a book in the Trent series and the characters were very well crafted.This is one for my TBR.
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Who are you? 😵 I love Will Trent!
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I read Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter last month and loved it. Pretty Girls was terrifying I even had a nightmare. It was my first time reading anything by her and I look forward to reading this new book by her.
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Didnt like that one so much but this one is better so youll love it too!
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I adore Slaughter and have this one already to read through Edelweiss, yay! And I’ve gone ahead and bought it too since I own all of her books, yes, I’m a huge fan!! I hate to hear the conclusion wasn’t great. I think she does best writing for her Will Trent series but that is such an amazing series! I’m still really looking forward to reading it! 😊❤
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Ohh let me know when you read it!! This one was one of her best ones imo!! She’s a gifted writer
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Definitely! I love her. Her Will Trent series is one of my all time favorites!
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I NEED to get a copy of this one ASAP! It just sounds too good… I’m glad you enjoyed it and excellent review!
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It was so good!!! Im still thinking about it weeks later
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Sounds like a good solid read despite the conclusions of the two stories coming up a bit short. You know you are reading a good book when you forget to eat lol
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Definitely. It was such a compulsive and engaging read!
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Or mayƅe hee likes boᴡlіng.? Lee contіnued. ?I heard somebody say that while you hear thundеr, that means
that God is bowling in heaven. I guess he is really good at it.
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