Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - The Good Daughter

Heavy, heavy trigger warnings for: gun violence, murder, rape, and miscarriage/fetal death.

This book was definitely a victim of overwriting/too much detail. It dragged and parts of it felt like they went on forever. Usually I can barely put one of Slaughter's books down, but I felt myself getting distracted from this one and needing to take breaks here and there to get through it. I appreciated the repeated "Past" timeline from the different perspectives and how new details were added each time, I think it worked to show how failable and easily manipulated memory is. But I did not like the repeated perspectives in the "Current" timeline, especially because it felt like nothing new was gleaned from the retellings. I also felt like a lot of the conversations between the sisters were just constant rehashing that went on for pages too long and did not move the plot forward at all. I wish this book was edited with a more heavy hand and made 100-150 pages shorter, it would have kept things moving and made the events at the end more shocking.

That being said, I think the story was quite good. I loved all of the characters, Sam, Charlie, Rusty, Ben, Lenore, Gamma, flaws and all. I think they were quite well written overall. Every one of them was complex and you continuously learned about them as the book went on. They all (maybe with the exception of Lenore) had a really nice character arc that was wrapped up in the end. I enjoyed that the "Past" timeline was more of a focus.

Overall, did enjoy this book. I always give caution with Slaughter's writing due to the amount and graphic-nature of the violence perpetuated, especially against women. If this is not something that would stop you from reading a book, then I would check this one out.

Content Warnings

motylovesbooks's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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chloseencounter's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This novel was my favorite Karin Slaughter book I’ve read so far. After really enjoying Pretty Girls I picked this up and was surprised when I liked it even more. I think this book has just the right amount of twists and turns, I loved all the main characters (even rusty was enjoyable), the sister’s relationship was complex and interesting and they had a great dynamic. I really have nothing to complain about here except that maybe I would’ve liked a little more time with Kelly. We heard a lot about Kelly through the lenses of other people but didn’t often hear her experiences articulated straight from her. I am now rereading this book and I am caught surprised by all the tiny seeds being planted from the very first chapter that I think would almost be impossible to catch before a second read, I can really appreciate the author’s writing style in that way. Some very effective writing techniques where used to make you feel a certain way about characters before they were even introduced.

Spoiler

Such as choosing not to bring Rusty into the story until much later because he was often described as an absent father who put work first, and in that way he was even absent to the reader for quite awhile. Or that Sam was treated as if she was dead up until her intro to the story a few chapters in, because to Charlie she might as well have been dead.

I will warn that this story can be graphic at times (though it doesn’t hold a candle to Pretty Girls) but I do think the violence served a purpose in explaining why characters acted the way they did in their adult lives and even gave some insight on relationships between the sisters and parents.

Spoiler

Like Rusty asking Charlie to lie about being assaulted or how Sam told Charlie she was able to see when she couldn’t to comfort Charlie.

I also really enjoyed the banter between Charlie and Sam, sometimes even Rusty. I think this was a super solid read and has made me excited to work my way through more Karin Slaughter books!

Content Warnings

esemple's review

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Content Warnings

mamawantsbooks's review

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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