Pretty Girls: A Novel

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After reading The Good Daughter as well, I can say with confidence that Karin Slaughter is extremely talented at writing complex family dynamics. I loved learning about Claire and Lydia’s history, uncovering the reason behind their falling out, and watching them piece their relationship together in the direst of situations. This book was so damn freaking spectacular that I don't even know where to start. This has climbed to the top of my list as my favorite psychological thriller ever. This tops Dark Places and That Night and I never thought that would happen! For any book to triumph over those is a win for me :) although they are still right behind this book. More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed. I simply cannot say enough good things about Pretty Girls. The plot is terrifying yet makes you want to read on because you have to know what happens. Literally every chapter gives you a new twist. The characters are so real I could picture them inside of my mind as I read and the scenery... I could see it all. Unpopular opinion but I didn't like this book. I did listen to it as an audiobook which might not have been the best idea.

Bauer Consumer Media Ltd, Company number 01176085; Bauer Radio Limited, Company number: 1394141; Registered office: Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA and H Bauer Publishing, Company number: LP003328; Registered office: The Lantern, 75 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PL Sam - his poignant journals to his missing daughter were so heartbreaking to this parent of young girls! It's up to Lydia and Claire to revisit their past, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago. I’m a little concerned that there’s not a single decent male character in this book. Well, there’s one, but the man is dead. I’m also uncomfortable with the way beauty is viewed and how Pretty Girls is heavily centered around violence against women. You haven’t talked to each other in twenty years and now you’re suddenly worried about her daughter?" -- “Lydia is my sister. Even when I hated her, I still loved her.”Description: Twenty years ago Claire Scott's eldest sister, Julia, went missing. No one knew where she went - no note, no body. It was a mystery that was never solved and it tore her family apart. Scientifically Proven Reasons Life Is Better If You're Beautiful – by Dina Spector in Business Insider

Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. A stunning family tragedy and a hold-your-breath pedal-to-the-metal thriller...certain to be a book of the year."In 1991 Julia Carroll disappeared. Her body was never found. In the following years the family coped in very different ways. The mother while forever quietly grieving, moved on and made a new life for herself. The father spent years looking for any clue as to what happened. Sisters Claire and Lydia grieved in very different ways and were estranged having not spoken in many years. Now over twenty years later, there has been another disappearance of a teenage girl and a murder of a middle-aged man that seem to be connected. This causes the sisters to reunite. Karin Slaughter is one of the world's most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her 21 novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling stand-alone novels Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta. Her stand-alone novel Pieces of Her is in development with Netflix, starring Toni Collette, and the Grant County and Will Trent series are in development for television. Overall, I thought that it was a fantastic story. It was suspenseful and kept me in a hyper-vigilant state until every question had been answered. I had chills while listening to this story. This has got to be one of the most screwed up, disturbing stories that I've "read". Nothing about this book is 'expected'. Even the nature of the crime itself is one that I honestly hadn't ever seen before (at least not this extreme) on any crime-fighting TV show. *shudders* The story keeps you on your toes, catching you off guard with it's surprises over and over again. There's never a dull moment. I’ve read two of Slaughter’s books and I’m pretty sure I’m scared of her. Actually, when I looked up the meaning of the word graphic, her picture popped up. One thing is for sure, Slaughter knows how to grab a reader’s attention. This is quite detailed to the point of discomfort, but it still didn’t deter me from finishing this book to the end.

The bottom line here is that you will be ripping through this book, dying (well, almost) to see how things turn out. Pretty Girls is an outstanding thriller, a very engaging, entertaining, and disturbing read, and that is a beautiful thing. Karin Slaughter is one of the world's most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her nineteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New You'll probably hear a lot about characters and the literary merits (ha ha, I hope!) but make no mistake--at its heart, this book is a thriller. There are lots of twists and turns and all the stuff that folks have come to expect from me. The only thing missing is cops. Not that there aren't cops in the story (because they usually show up when there's a crime) but the narrators are just two ordinary women who are thrown into extraordinary circumstances. The real question is whether or not they can rise to the occasion (or will they make it at all?)I was deeply moved by the family dynamics. My favorite part in this book is the father’s POV/letters to the girls. I wish I’d gotten more of the three sisters so that I could see more clearly the shift in their bond before/after the tragedy and their split.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago ... and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.The queen of police thrillers takes a more psychological approach with her 15th novel…the book has all the twists and suspense that readers expect from Slaughter, but from a more poignant perspective.” — Atlanta Magazine