Tuesday 21 August 2018

Review: Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Pieces of Her by Karen Slaughter
Publication date: August 21st 2018
Publisher: William Morrow
My rating:  4 Stars
Pages: 480
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | TBD | Kobo

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33199875-the-good-daughter
What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?

Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?

But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .


My Thoughts:
Andrea, just turning thirty-one has been living a kind of pathetic, stagnant life, but things get very interesting on her birthday lunch! Out with her mother, Laura, they’re caught up in a dangerous situation and the predictable, reliable mother she thought she knew turns into a cool-as-a-cucumber woman handling the deadly situation like she’s a trained professional.  

The details of the situation are splashed all over the media, and with the public attention details of Andrea’s mother begin to surface.  Soon it becomes clear that they’re both in extreme danger.  Andrea’s forced on the run trying to reconcile the past of her mother she thought she knew with the reality that she’s now piecing together. 

Mystery, deception, and danger make Pieces of Her a riveting read!  The story flips back and forth from Laura’s past to Andrea’s present, slowly revealing why Andrea and Laura are in such danger now. I have to say my first impression of Andrea was not great, in fact I really wanted to shake her a time or two!  But she stepped up her game when the pressure cranked up!  Andrea still had a couple of bouts of stupidity here and there, but I can’t say I’d do any better in the situation with the lack of sleep.  I really liked Andrea by the end.

Some of Laura’s life choices in the past were shocking, and I had mixed feelings about her, but Karin Slaughter has a way of making you empathize with her characters even when they’re life decisions are morally questionable or downright wrong.

I love Karin Slaughter’s addictive brand of story-telling!  She writes imperfect characters that you can relate to even when their lives are so far out of your normal perspective. I LOVE her Will Trent series to death, but her stand-alones, like The Good Daughter and now Pieces of Her are impressive!  I read all 480 pages within a 24-hour period because it was hard to put down!



 

8 comments:

Greg said...

I love the idea of her mother being some kind of badass. Wouldn't THAT be a shock?? Cool premise.

Nice that Andrea evolved into someone more likable by the end.

Sounds like a fun read!

Nick said...

I read The Good Daughter last year and really enjoyed it. I am intrigued by this one. It seems to have a lot of depth and Andrea's character growth sounds wonderful. I'll check this from the library! :)
Great review, Rachel!

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Love books that you just can't put down. Definitely sounds like a good read. I'm so curious about Laura's whole past life now!

-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net

Kindlemom said...

I've really been loving mysteries and thrillers and with fall around the corner they are one of my go to reads. I will add this one to the pile. Great review!

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

It must have been a riveting read if you flew through it in 24 hours. This is an author I need to try.

Grace @ RebelMommyBookBlog said...

I hate to admit I have never read a book of hers! Crazy I know!! I need to get to her books soon.

Karen said...

Thrillers aren't really my genre but I've heard a lot of good things about this author.

Karen @ For What It's Worth

Carina Olsen said...

This seems like a pretty great mystery book :D So glad you enjoyed it a bunch lovely. <3 Thank you for sharing about it :)

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