DebJpole So guys, this is my review of my very first Karin Slaughter novel!
Who doesn’t love a crime novel around Halloween? Yes I finished this book on Halloween but it was too haunting to post the review straight away!
“A particularly beautiful woman is a source of terror” – Carl Jung
“Red pill/blue pill?”
We’ve all seen those quizzes on Facebook and other social media sites, or been asked them by teachers in classrooms. What would you choose, all the money in the world or finding ‘the one?’ Would you rather be single forever but be rich or be poor and be loved by friends and family?
Red pill or blue pill?
It’s used so effectively in this book and is repeated throughout and it goes to show us that maybe we never want to learn the answer, would ignoring it be better than learning the truth? Would it do more harm than good?
The book is split into two different kinds of chapters – chapters that start with “one” or “two” are just what you’d think of as an ordinary writing style in a novel in third person. However the chapters marked “ii” or “iii” are diary entries from the father of Julia, the missing girl.
“When you first disappeared, your mother warned me that finding out exactly what had happened to you would be worse than never knowing.”
Oh yes, where are my manners, let me introduce you to the book!
“A hope never lost. A killer never found.”
The below paragraph from the end of the first of the diary chapters is poignant and yet so disturbingly yet beautifully written it draws you in. It makes you wonder what happened, and want to learn more.
“Here was how a chain ripped flesh. Here was the damage wrought by kicking feet and punching fists. Here is what a human being looked like when they wandered off into a world that did not cherish them, did not love them, did not ever want them to go home.”
Pretty Girls tells us the tale of two sisters. Strangers. Survivors. Twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s eldest sister, Julia went missing. It was a mystery that was never solved and it tore her family apart leaving the sisters estranged.
“I want to feel normal again…Maybe if I pretend I am long enough, it might actually happen.”
Now another girl has gone missing, echoing what happened in the past to Julia. Claire is convinced that the disappearances are linked.
“Pretty soon, a year would pass, then another year, then the family would quietly mark the decade anniversary, then two decades, then more. Children would be born. Grandchildren. Marriage vows would be made and broken. And behind every single event would lurk the shadow of this missing sixteen-year-old girl”
We also see the different ways in which people deal with grief, with loss. I think it’s very well worded so that we can relate. So we can find ourselves in the characters we read about and Karin Slaughter has done it perfectly. I can totally relate to Claire, the quote below is how her sister describes her.
“Claire’s response was to make herself invisible…she was always holding herself back. She was co-captain, not captain. She could’ve dated the quarterback, but she dated his brother instead. She could’ve been top in her class, but she’d purposefully turn in a paper late or miss an assignment so she’d fall close to the middle.”
Anyway, I digress!
Back to the book and when Claire begins to discover the truth, she uncovers more than she could ever have imagined, a truth unravelling like a ball of string. Now nothing will ever be the same.
“Though even in my dream, I know that pushing you one way will send you hurtling in the other direction. You proved as much at the end of your life as you did at the beginning.”
If you love Karin Slaughter or you love my review (I really hope you did), then you can buy Pretty Girls here ->
This book is wonderful it’s own disturbing way, I can’t believe I haven’t discovered Karin Slaughter sooner! The book draws you in right from the first page, I genuinely couldn’t put it down! There are parts in this book that’ll make you cry, parts that you can relate to and parts that are so shocking, you want to put them in the freezer like Joey in F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
It’s spine tingling, disturbing and emotional. Action in every chapter and the amount of shocks in this book, you genuinely have no idea what’s coming next!
A fantastic crime thriller! An absolute must read!
“”You have thoughts I will never know. Desires I will never understand. Friends I will never meet. Passions I will never share. You have a life. You have an entire world in front of you.”
Happy Halloween everyone!
Keep reading,
“…I understand the truth: No matter what happened to you, no matter what horrors you endured when you were taken away, you will always be my pretty little girl.”
Until next time,
D x
