“The Good Daughter" - Karin Slaughter
Karin Slaughter, best-selling author of Pretty Girls, the Will Trent series, and the Grant County series, brings us one of the top rated fiction novels of 2017, The Good Daughter. I knew that if this standalone was anything like Pretty Girls, this novel was going to be a good one. What had me even more excited was that it was one of the only fiction novels on Bloomberg’s “Best Books of 2017” list. With all of the great options there was to choose from that year, was Slaughter’s new psychological thriller worthy of claiming this spot? In my opinion, absolutely.
Sometimes, no matter how far you travel, your past won't leave you. Charlie and her sister, Sam, realize this the hard way when a murder in their hometown digs up every last skeleton from the box they've put up high on a shelf in the closet.
Charlie Quinn is a young lawyer living in the small town of Pikeville, Georgia, never being able to abandon the place she grew up in and her only living relative: her father, Rusty Quinn. Charlie and Rusty share the same office building, and even though Charlie tries to distance her work from her father, a well-known local defense lawyer and townie traitor, when she's caught in the middle of a town murder, a school shooting, she feels a sense of responsibility and allows herself to be dragged into her father's case. Sam, Charlie's sister, lives in New York as a successful patent lawyer, living the good life, aside from one huge problem: the consequences of her mother's murder has left her handicapped, and each day is a struggle just to get up and go to work. She left Pikeville for college and never looked back, but when Charlie and Rusty are caught up in the current national news sensation, Sam heads back to Pikeville for one last visit.
While the Quinn family members have a significantly strained relationship, this unexpected family reunion dregs up so much of the past that Sam and Charlie are thrown back 28 years in the past, questioning all that they knew about their relationship with each other, their father, the town of Pikesville, and the night their mother was murdered in front of their own eyes.
In typical Slaughter fashion, The Good Daughter is well-researched, exhilarating, and not for the faint of heart, describing in hypnotizing detail a multitude of crimes (including but not limited to murder and being buried alive). She also makes it clear that we may never truly know what's going on in someone's life unless we dig deep enough to discover the truth.
This novel kept me engrossed from beginning to end. I couldn't put it down, even when I was five pages away from finishing it and had to go to work (I read the last five pages while walking through the parking lot of my office complex). Sitting at just over 500 pages, this novel appears long and daunting, but not one part of the story seemed unnecessarily, too detailed, or a waste of space/filler text. Even the first chapter, which spanned about 50 pages in itself, caused me to roll my eyes when I started, but I was easily lost in the story and the page count soon became insignificant.
Even though not all of the characters were likeable, they were by far believable. The makeup of each role, from their physical descriptions to their dialogue, gave off the false impression that this story was real, and I was watching everything unfold in front of my own eyes. The town resembles a few that I've had experience with, and Slaughter's portrayal and ambiance were spot on.
Slaughter has a way of writing stories we never imagine we'd end up reading, and that's what makes her so good at what she does. Each twist is unique and exciting, a surprise and a gift all in its own.
If you’re looking for a psychological thriller in the style of Law & Order: SUV but with more drama and suspense than an M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Good Daughter is definitely a book you’ll read quickly, regardless of its heftiness. However, here is your trigger warning: if you don’t like reading about claustrophobia, being buried alive, murder, school shootings, rape, or the death of parents, this book is really truly not for you. As I’ve said earlier, Slaughter is really good at what she does, and if this makes you uncomfortable, the amount of research and detail that goes into this novel may make even the strong-hearted feel incredibly uncomfortable.
Stay tuned for a future review on Karin Slaughter's new book Pieces of Her, on sale August 21st, 2018.
Bloomberg's "Best Books of 2017" list: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-best-books/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-good-daughter-karin-slaughter/1125317818?ean=9780062430250#/
