Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter — A Review

I started reading this one blindly, without even glancing at the back cover of the ARC (which only mentioned that the novel was suspenseful, really) after I finished another book late at night. I thought, 'Hey, I'll read the first chapter to get a head start on this one, then go to bed.'

Two hundred pages later, I look out the window and the sun is coming up.

Oops.




This book was utterly compelling, definitely suspenseful, and I couldn't stop reading. In the vein of Gone Girl, you're led down a path a bit blindly, unsure in the beginning of where this is going, how these characters connect, how their lives intertwine. Oh boy, once you figure it out...

Once, there were three sisters. Now there are two. Twenty odd years ago, one goes missing, and it tears a family apart. She is never found, and the two remaining sisters lead totally different lives — one  seemingly privileged and secure, the other rebuilding after years of drug abuse and a hard-bitten existence. They don't speak. Until the death of a husband brings back old memories and pains, and new mysteries that are almost unspeakable in their horror. What really happened to their sister? What will happen to them, now that they have uncovered these secrets?

I finished this one in two days. Karin Slaughter is a wonderful writer, her characters are developed, engaging, and you can picture them in your mind quite clearly. The pain that the disappearance of the older sister caused this family is manifested in different ways for different members of the family, and to me that was one of the most interesting factors of this book. For being such a fantastical story and having such a crazy resolution, the emotional lives of the characters manifested as very real. I like a bit of crazy thriller with characters that are rooted in this world, with feeling and depth and something concrete, something you can look at throughout all the horror in a book and say "I've felt that way about loss, I understand why you chose this route, why you react this way to this situation."

It's graphic in it's darkness, it's calculating killer seems unbelievable but you know that humanity is full of things that happen that you don't want to believe, don't want to know. So you accept his existence, with distaste in your mouth and know, somewhere, people have done this to other people.

If you have a strong pull towards issues of morality, choice, loss, love and what keeps a family together and what drives them apart, or enjoy those thrillers/suspense fiction with that slightly formulaic plot.. this is a great book for you. Not saying that following the formula makes this a dull, typical read — far from it. But you need those twists and turns you expect to keep you nervous and turning the page. A good thriller does that, without making you think you've heard the story before.

This is a good one.

(*this ARC was received for free via Shelf Awareness.)