Book Stop Corner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.”




Karin Slaughter, the No. 1 bestselling author, has penned a hair-raisingly chilly and terrifying family thriller, The Good Daughter that centers around two crimes in a small American town, occurring in a time gap of 28 years, one the murder of a popular defense attorney's wife, that left the two daughters mentally and physically paralyzed for life, and the other, is a mass shooting at a local school, to which the younger daughter becomes a sole witness. And after the second crime, the daughters are pretty sure, that the memories of past crime that ripped their family apart won't stay buried under and that there is more mystery and buried lies behind both the crimes, and are they willing to explore all those mysteries, now that they have walked on the career footsteps of their father?


Synopsis:

The stunning new standalone, with a chilling edge of psychological suspense, from the No. 1 bestselling author of the Will Trent and Grant County series.

Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind…

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 traumatized – 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.


Sam and her younger sister, Charlie's lives were turned upside down, when two young men entered their family home one night twenty eight years ago, looking for their father, Rusty, an infamous defense lawyer, murdered their mother, and left the two young girls mentally, emotionally and physically scarred for the rest of their lives. Twenty eights years later, when Charlie becomes the sole witness to a mass school shooting with the shooter named Kelly immediately confessing to he crime, and yet once again her father, Rusty, signing up as Kelly's defense lawyer alongside Sam as the second defense lawyer, the past comes haunting at Charlie's front door. And soon both the grown up girls realize that there is much more to the simple mystery of murder of their mother and the mass shooting in that school. Sam and Charlie can't possibly fathom the raw violence and ugly secrets lay buried under their mother's grave as well as under the graves of those killed in the shooting.

This is the first time that I got my hands on a Karin Slaughter book and boy, oh boy, how much I've missed over the years and trust me after reading this book (courtesy publishers) I ended up in purchasing three Karin Slaughter thrillers, since I've attained high hopes. After reading this mind blowing, nightmarish yet extremely intriguing story, laced with raw violence and gory family drama, I must say Slaughter is a genius in crafting such a compelling story line where the characters and their sad and hopeless plights intrigued me more than the story's whodunits and the rush of the unveiling of the actual mystery. Although the author's unique trait would be delineating the story line with enough depth and vividness that would turn out to be bit disturbing for some readers, yet somehow, this story never once made me feel apathetic towards the entire plot.

The author's writing style is extremely coherent, laced with deep, dark emotions as well as edgy suspense to keep the readers glued to the pages of this book till the very end. The dialogues are over analyzed yet free flowing enough to let the readers easily comprehend with the tale. The pacing is smooth and fast pretty much the entire length of the novel, although, at times, the narratives expressed between the characters felt a bit dull and unnecessary.

The mystery is laced very tightly with unpredictable twists and turns that will leave the readers anticipating till the very end. The mystery is laced with rough violence, complete with gory details about the crime that are very creepy to visualize them right before their own eyes. But then again, Slaughter has penned and depicted the thriller with enough realism that the readers hardly get to read in a newspaper reporting a crime like rape or murder. This page-turning thriller is one hell of a roller coaster ride filled with ghastly bloodshed and captivating family tragedy.

Since the plot is impelled by the characters' lives, hence the portrayal of the characters are done very strikingly by the author. Each and every character, from the main ones to the supporting ones are all laced with realism and honesty in their demeanor. The main characters, both Sam and Charlie, are psychologically flawed from their childhood tragedy, will grip the minds of the readers, and not only that, the characters are so powerful, that they are bound to leave an imprint in the minds of the readers long after the story has ended. Sam and Charlie are distinct from one another, yet their shared experience of a trauma makes them look very similar and broken from the inside, and not to mention, their determination to get to the bottom of the things will make the readers fall for them.

In a nutshell, this a must read thriller for all the crime fic fans that is highly absorbing, arresting and horrifying both at the same time.

Verdict: Karin Slaughter at her best!

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Harper Collins India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Karin Slaughter is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of seventeen thrillers, including the Grant County and Will Trent series, COP TOWN, PRETTY GIRLS, THE GOOD DAUGHTER and the e-original short stories “Snatched” “Busted" "Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes" and "Last Breath."
Slaughter was born in a small southern Georgia community, and now resides in Atlanta. She is widely credited with first coining the term "investigoogling" in 2006.
THE KEPT WOMAN is available in paperback NOW!
THE GOOD DAUGHTER, is available now in the Netherlands, Flanders, The UK, Ireland and Australia. It arrives in Germany on August 7th and in the US on August 8, 2017.
Visit her here



Book Purchase Links:

• Amazon US
• Amazon India