Book Review: The Good Daughter

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This is my book review of The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter.

Author: Karin Slaughter
Book Title: The Good Daughter
Genre: Crime Fiction, Suspense
Published: August 8, 2017
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishing
Pages: 528

Book Summary:

Two girls find themselves forced into the woods by someone with a gun. One runs, and one is shot in the head and covered with dirt. There was a grave ready and waiting.

Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s small-town family life was torn apart by an attack on their family home twenty-eight years ago. Their mother died, and their father, a well-known defense attorney, was torn apart by the violence. The family was never the same, and all had secrets from that long-ago night.

Many years later, Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps and become an attorney. Then violence returns to the small town of Pikeville. A shocking act of violence leaves the town traumatized. Charlie’s life becomes a nightmare.

She is the first witness on the scene. The case brings back all the terrible memories she’s spent a lifetime trying to forget. The truth of what happened to her family all those years ago won’t stay buried.

My Review:

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the characters were so thoroughly established that I could pick them out of a crowd. I knew the habits and idiosyncrasies of each protagonist.

This writer is a master at character development. Like a quilting stitch that runs through three layers, she adroitly dangled many threads through to the completion of the story.

Though this is just January, I can promise you that this book will be on my top 10 list for best books of the year.

If you pick it up, you will not want to put it down. The story is not so much about a devastating and brutal crime as about family and the ties that bind, regardless of the proximity between the people involved.

It is a book about how the past shapes our future. A ribbon that weaves through our experiences and development and then forms who we become. And it takes enormous strength to change that.

This book gets a star rating of five out of a possible five. I may just read it again soon.

It was truly that good.

About the Author:

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers.

Published in 36 languages, with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her sixteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling novel Pretty Girls.

A native of Georgia, Karin currently lives in Atlanta. Her Will Trent series, Grant County series, and standalone novel Cop Town are all in development for film and television.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for my honest review.