A review by gareindeedreads
The Good Daughter, by Karin Slaughter
5.0
This one starts off with so much tension and darkness, it's unbelievable. With an epilogue running close to forty pages of tense violence and unspeakable crimes, I was nervous and excited to find out where the other 460 pages took me. I was not disappointed.
The plot for this one is insane and dark and extremely violent. I was surprised at how vivid the imagery was and how many people just were brutalized within the first 100 pages. This novel is not for the faint of heart. Slaughter writes scenes with not only amazing imagery, but also addicting long chapters, as if it wasn't hard to put down to begin with. While I really enjoyed the idea of having Slaughter start off the novel with the insane night that changed the Quinn family forever, I was really curious to see where this would go as this is a rather long novel. At a whopping 500 pages, every paragraph, sentence, and word had a purpose. With so many large and small storylines jam-packed into one novel, I was eager to find answers and clues as I read along anxiously. One thing I find remarkable about Slaughter's writing is how she is able to create such a vivid plot and go back and forth between the past and present time all while building these incredibly deep and unbelievably realistic characters. This novel is not only suspenseful, but I was pleasantly surprised with how emotional and heartfelt it was as well. With something so dark, it was so enjoyable to follow these characters throughout everything as the storyline starts to overflow with palpable tension.
Let's talk about them. So, I quickly found myself just absolutely loving the Quinn family. The good, the bad, the sad, and all of the quirks in between. Slaughter did a wonderful job making this a really character driven novel. Building characters like this is something I find fantastic as a reader. I loved the sassiness and the quirks of these two brave and deeply wounded girls grow up to be just pure badass women. Every character had so much personality, that I was surprised to find myself laughing at some really great one-liners from so many as I read such a dark and twisted novel. With every line of dialogue and every action, these characters really jump off the pages and get right in your face to make their presence known.
As I was nearing the end of this one, I had so many questions and confusion surrounding the plot as I knew certain things were put in this one to keep me guessing and to remember 300 pages later. I was right. The last half of this one is pure terror and dark revelations. I was surprised to get answers for things I didn't even realize were a mystery as people showed their true colors and things were being thrown at me left and right as I neared the end. Without giving too much away, I was really happy with the multiple endings to different storylines with this one and honestly, I didn't guess any of them. Slaughter did a fantastic job ending this novel with peace, but also making you remember that these are situations and the violence in this doesn't just go away. The past 28 years have built these two remarkably strong and beautiful women into who they are today and those scars don't ever leave. I connect with that because as a reader, this is a book that won't ever leave me. Thank you for that, Karin Slaughter. I cannot wait to see what you do next.
*Special thanks to William Morrow for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
The plot for this one is insane and dark and extremely violent. I was surprised at how vivid the imagery was and how many people just were brutalized within the first 100 pages. This novel is not for the faint of heart. Slaughter writes scenes with not only amazing imagery, but also addicting long chapters, as if it wasn't hard to put down to begin with. While I really enjoyed the idea of having Slaughter start off the novel with the insane night that changed the Quinn family forever, I was really curious to see where this would go as this is a rather long novel. At a whopping 500 pages, every paragraph, sentence, and word had a purpose. With so many large and small storylines jam-packed into one novel, I was eager to find answers and clues as I read along anxiously. One thing I find remarkable about Slaughter's writing is how she is able to create such a vivid plot and go back and forth between the past and present time all while building these incredibly deep and unbelievably realistic characters. This novel is not only suspenseful, but I was pleasantly surprised with how emotional and heartfelt it was as well. With something so dark, it was so enjoyable to follow these characters throughout everything as the storyline starts to overflow with palpable tension.
Let's talk about them. So, I quickly found myself just absolutely loving the Quinn family. The good, the bad, the sad, and all of the quirks in between. Slaughter did a wonderful job making this a really character driven novel. Building characters like this is something I find fantastic as a reader. I loved the sassiness and the quirks of these two brave and deeply wounded girls grow up to be just pure badass women. Every character had so much personality, that I was surprised to find myself laughing at some really great one-liners from so many as I read such a dark and twisted novel. With every line of dialogue and every action, these characters really jump off the pages and get right in your face to make their presence known.
As I was nearing the end of this one, I had so many questions and confusion surrounding the plot as I knew certain things were put in this one to keep me guessing and to remember 300 pages later. I was right. The last half of this one is pure terror and dark revelations. I was surprised to get answers for things I didn't even realize were a mystery as people showed their true colors and things were being thrown at me left and right as I neared the end. Without giving too much away, I was really happy with the multiple endings to different storylines with this one and honestly, I didn't guess any of them. Slaughter did a fantastic job ending this novel with peace, but also making you remember that these are situations and the violence in this doesn't just go away. The past 28 years have built these two remarkably strong and beautiful women into who they are today and those scars don't ever leave. I connect with that because as a reader, this is a book that won't ever leave me. Thank you for that, Karin Slaughter. I cannot wait to see what you do next.
*Special thanks to William Morrow for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.