Book Review: The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

Book: The Good Daughter 

Author: Karin Slaughter 

Pages: 545

Read on: Kindle

Read in: 5 hours 

Publisher: HarperCollins

Plot Summary: Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy smalltown family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father – Pikeville's notorious defence attorney – devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father's footsteps to become a lawyer herself – the archetypal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again – and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatised – Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it's a case which can't help triggering the terrible memories she's spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime which destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won't stay buried for ever.

Trigger Warning: Graphic descriptions of gun violence, sexual assault and racism. Please don't pick up this book if any of these things are triggering or upsetting to you. 

General Thoughts: I haven't read a Karin Slaughter book since 2011 or something. I read some of her books back then and I found her a little too graphic for my taste. Karin Slaughter (interesting name, huh?!) likes to provide graphic, graphic descriptions of the crime, bodies and she likes to repeat these descriptions over-and-over again, which is just something I don't like reading. Plus, a lot of her books that I read way back when had to do with sex crimes and sadistic serial killers and I, honestly, don't like reading about rape! So, when I saw this book on Amazon, I first read some reviews on Goodreads and then pulled the trigger, so to speak. 

Things I Liked:

• The premise of the book is quite interesting. I liked the setting of small town America.. very To Kill a Mockingbird and S-Town. Plus, the whole element of the mystery of the past bubbling to the surface due to present day events was also interesting. 

• The world-building in this book is excellent. Pikeville is brought to life so vividly that you can feel the stagnancy plaguing this small town yourself. Small-town America can be quite scary and this book plays on that and does a good job of building up a town of narrow-minded, corrupt, conservative, racist locals, who don't think twice before turning on anyone who is even slightly different from themselves. 

• The characters are all well-etched and you get a good sense of who they are and what drives them. I really liked Gamma (Charlotte and Samantha's mom), their father (who is a fairly reckless person in the kinds of cases that he takes up) and even Charlie and Sam. Even the characters at the periphery of the story are well-etched. 

• I am not sure if I should or should not talk about the 'event' that occurs in present day, which makes Charlie re-live the hell that happened 28 years ago because would it count as a spoiler if something happens in Chapter 2? But, anyway, the violent event that happens is also depicted quite well- the way the police deal with it, the way the town deals with it, the PTSD that Charlie goes through, the inconsistencies in the police's and witness' accounts of the event.. all very interesting. 

• Finally, it was heartbreaking and scary to learn what really happened 28 years ago. As a reader, you sort of guess what must've happened, but it is still heartbreaking to know. The impact of the event 28 years on the lives of the Quinn family is so lasting and so sad.. no one could really move on and, in many ways, the present day events help the family heal, which is something I really liked. 

Things I Didn't Like: 

• Nothing really. 

Rating: 4/5

This is a really interesting and fast-paced book with some good world-building and character development thrown in as well.