Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter has written a whopping twenty-seven books over the last two decades, not including her upcoming book that is due to be released in June of this year. Several of those novels have made it to the New York Times Bestsellers list and includes Pieces of Her, which was developed into a Netflix series, and an entire series on Will Trent which has been adapted into a television series (you can watch it on Disney+). Pretty Girls was published back in 2015 and is listed as one of Amazon's Best Mystery, Thriller, or Suspense books. It has some trigger warnings so watch out for (takes a deep breath) addiction, body horror, body shaming and bullying, confinement, death, drug abuse, emotional abuse, gore, gun violence, fatphobia, infidelity, mental illness, rape, sexual assault and violence, torture, blood, stalking, kidnapping, car accident, grief, the death of a parent, murder, fire, gaslighting, toxic relationships, and injury details. This is the most graphic novel I have read recently and describes some disturbing scenes, so take care.

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's older sister Julia went missing. Walking back to her dorm room from a bar alone, she is never seen again. The police barely look for her, believing that she walked off on her own volition, Julia's family has never believed this narrative. The family falls apart and Claire and Lydia haven't spoken for two decades and now live wildly different lives. But they unexpectedly run into each other (in a very unconventional way) after the sudden death of Claire's husband. Circumstances bring them together again but will they be able to repair the relationship they both wish they had and solve the mystery of what happened to Julia in the process?

Okay. Let me say that I chose this book as my pick for my book club in my normal, blasé, I don't read the dust cover sort of way. So not only did I read this book, I made my book club do it as well. I did not dislike it. I would not say I really liked it either. I did like the way that the book was laid out, with chapters from both Lydia and Claire as they uncover secret after damning secret, but with periodic sections from the point of view of their father as he investigates the disappearance of Julia. I did think the plot shines a light on an issue when it comes to how missing persons cases are handled. Namely, that someone over eighteen has the right to walk away from their life and if there is no reason to believe there was foul play it is not likely to get a lot of attention from the media or the police. Did I find it to be gratuitously graphic for the express purposes of shocking the reader, not really. It was definitely graphic and difficult to read at times and there were moments where I physically cringed away from the story, but I did not feel like it was without reason. Were the characters likeable, not really. The dad was, but (spoiler alert) he's dead, so you don't get a ton of him. Would I say that I enjoyed it? I don't know if I would say that. But I didn't hate it. We will see what the book club thinks at our next meet up.

I'm giving Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter a 3.25 out of 5. It just didn't do much for me and while I did think it was graphic at times, that is not the reason I didn't really enjoy it. But what a name for the author, what choice did she have but to write suspense and thrillers!

For more from Karin Slaughter, check out her website at https://www.karinslaughter.com/

Pairs well with black-eyed pea cakes and a rousing game of tennis.