Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Good Daughter

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

114 reviews

bobinsbooknook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This book felt so difficult to rate as there is just so much to process whilst reading. A much heavier book than I had initially thought and very much an ‘everything-but-the-kitchen-sink’ type story so definitively check the content warnings if you’re looking to read.

Karin has done a fantastic job at setting the darkness and raw emotions throughout the story with some fantastic characters. The relationship dynamic between the sisters Charlie & Sam and how we can see them develop as people from their respective trauma.

There was a lot to unpack throughout the story which did make it tricky at times to follow as an audio book. I think where the book falls slightly short, is that by trying to balance so many heavy themes

E.g. School Shootings, Rape, Murder, miscarriages and Suicide

that it becomes over saturated and leaves a sense of numbness to some of the shock value these moments perhaps were meant to deliver. Ben

Whilst I did enjoy this book in various ways, I am not sure I’d read this again just for how heavy the book was but will be looking to listen to the shorter prequel as I did enjoy the writing style.

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rsagarin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

emo_erudite's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

There are potential trigger warnings/ spoilers-

there are scenes/descriptions involving rape of a minor, a school shooting, a teacher having an affair with a student, and a violent murder.

Like other Slaughter books I’ve read, this one hits the ground running. It’s definitely not for those with a weak stomach. If you’ve read False Witness and enjoyed it, I highly recommend reading this one too!

In a fictional city in Northeast Georgia, Slaughter brings a prodigal daughter home to her estranged father and sister after a tragedy rocks the town. This happens 28 years after the family survived a tragedy of their own, which lead to the murder of mother and matriarch, Gamma.

Young and intellectually challenged Kelly is charged with the crime, and Rusty Quinn steps up and takes her case, until he lands in the hospital. This leaves his lawyer daughters, Sam and Charlie, with the help of Charlie’s estranged husband Ben, to put together what really happened with Kelly that day.

As the family tries to put together what happened, they are badgered by and townspeople, all of whom are certain that Kelly is guilty of this sorrowful crime. This drudges up memories of past events, and they have to figure out how to avoid danger and work together to heal old wounds in order to figure out what really happened.

There are gruesome descriptions of what happened to people during crimes committed in this book. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Living with seeing these things takes a toll on a person. It marks your soul. Sometimes, you get stuck and hyper focus on the worst things that ever happened to you. The story of Charlie and Sam shows how living with these things and keeping terrible things a secret can affect our mental and physical wellbeing- it’s not healthy! If you’ve experienced trauma, please get help.

Content Warnings

lhamilton2835's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

4.25

Suspenseful, drew me in. Beware lots of possible triggers. This is one that I rewinded to relisten to anything I missed. I cared deeply for the lead characters and what happened to them. I will read more by this author.

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jkingdom's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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bettinab's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

Karin Slaughter is one of my favorite authors and an auto-buy for me, especially her Will Trent series. I read this book with some delay and unfortunately, it wasn't my favorite. It feels more like a family drama than a thriller/crime. I went in with different expectations and somehow didn't quite fully connect with the story. There's little mystery, twists are far and few between and also rather obvious. Somehow the story dragged on and was rather slow-paced. At the same time, the characters are fleshed out well, reasonably albeit not totally likable. As usual, there is rather graphic violence - although the author seems to have dialled it down a bit for this book, compared to some of her others. Overall, this wasn't a bad read, but just not what I thought it would be and ultimately, it felt like a fairly significant departure from Slaughter's usual - and best - work.

Content Warnings