Pretty Girls: A Novel

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All the characters felt like real people. Even though they are the worst kind of people. This is one of the important things in anyfictionbook. So the plot? Garbage. It goes from one level of ludicrous to the next. You may even laugh at the last big 'twist' the book reveals. Because it's stupid. Soap operas have more flair. This is a paint by numbers tale. People behave in a manner that might work in a Monty Python sketch. There's an FBI agent that acts and speaks as though he's stumbled in from another goddamn dimension, and all you want to do is punch him in the face. But Pretty Girls is a book about women being hurt. Nameless, terrified, hopeless women being brutalized in every way possible. And then they think of more ways to hurt them. Tied to meat hooks, disemboweled, whatever you can think of. It’s like if Criminal Minds went on a coke bender. And yes, the book is written by a woman and mostly told through the perspective of two women. I’m sure to some that mitigates the issue of the over-the-top violence against women. But I can’t get past the gratuitous, almost gleeful sexual sadism that permeates this novel. And then the first big thing happens and then almost immediately a second. Me? I felt my heart sink. Because anyone who's seen a 90s thriller, Lifetime movie or not, should be able to rattle off the next few major plot points in easy succession.

First, I'm going to share the blurb with you (because it was the blurb that made me want to read it): 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. The author's trademark of complex plots coupled with character studies makes Pretty Girls another standout.” — The Associated Pressokayyyyyy, did NOT see that reaction coming. That must be one helluva history they’ve got there for THAT to be her reaction. O.O 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. The two sisters join forces to continue searching for the truth about Julia’s disappearance, and must face the consequences of Claire learning some very disturbing secrets about her husband.

This book is gripping and I wanted to keep writing to find out what would happen next. This is a hard book to review because I do not want to give anything away that will ruin the story for anyone. I liked the dialogue of the characters they talked as "real" people talk to each other. I found that I liked most of the characters and shook my head when some did not always act in their own best interest i.e. mouthing off or being sarcastic. Pretty Girls hammers the point home that men is the worst thing that’s ever happened to humanity. . . WOWZA! I thought this book was terrific. I worked for years in forensics working with serial killers, serial rapists, child molesters, etc. so I was not as "horrified" by the subject matter as some might be when they read this. Slaughter certainly did her research. I thought her deception of "bad guy" to be very realistic and spot on. Karin Slaughter truly has some of the strongest writing I've read. Like seriously. It doesn't matter if you end up loving or hating the story, it doesn't change the fact that the writing itself is top notch. The reason I rare read other genres is that they're rarely able to hold my attention -- I crave the emotional connection in romances -- so it's a real testament to how good this writing was that I was that into this story. Slaughter (Cop Town, 2014, etc.) is so uncompromising in following her blood trails to the darkest places imaginable that she makes most of her high-wire competition look pallid, formulaic, or just plain fake.Even though the major revelation was done in the first half of the book it still kept me goingtilltheend. 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. After Claire’s husband is killed in a mugging-gone-wrong, she uncovers some dark things about her husband. And her sister is the only one who can help her get to the bottom of his vast mountain of secrets. On their way, they uncover an underground snuff ring, a conspiracy that goes ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP, and an FBI agent that seems to be doing his best Foghorn Leghorn impression.

chills and shivers again. How amazing is this writing?? I hate that I have to go to bed now because I want to keep reading!! A lovely audio interview with the author by Steve White of Literary Week. The sound levels are off a bit, his volume being too loud relative to hers, but it’s worth putting up with. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

88) Ysabell

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.