The Good Daughter

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter is an outstanding, intense, exemplary, very highly recommended thriller. It will grab your attention from the first page, become an obsession, and consume every free second while wringing every emotion out of you. Seriously - this novel is excellent.

The prologue opens twenty-eight years ago. After their Pikeville, GA, home had been burned down by someone who didn't like their father, attorney Rusty Quinn, the family moved into an old farm house. Sisters Charlotte (Charlie) and Samantha (Sam) Quinn were in the kitchen with their mother, Gamma, when Zach Culpepper and an accomplice broke into their home, looking for their father. Rusty wasn't there so the men terrorized his family, murdering Gamma, and show more then traumatize and harm the two sisters, leaving both physically and psychologically damaged.

Charlie is the good daughter. She is a lawyer, like her father, and still living in Pikeville. She is currently separated from her husband, ADA Ben Bernard, when she makes a poor life choice. This results in her inadvertently being on the scene and a witness to a horrible crime and tragedy that takes place in the local middle school. The crime horrifies the whole town and causes Charlie to flashback to the trauma from her childhood. Naturally, Rusty, who believes everyone deserves an advocate, will take on the defense.

The Good Daughter is a wonderfully complex multilayered novel. There is heart-wrenching violence, conflicted emotions and struggles alongside humorous and heart-breaking scenes. The writing is, as expected from Slaughter, excellent - sophisticated, detailed, and intricate. The plot is perfectly presented, with the present day contrasted with past events as more information slowly comes to light. The setting, the character development, the twists... are all perfectly executed. It held my rapt attention from beginning, tossed me around through oh-so-many new developments, had me a messy-crying mess at one point, and finally left me speechless and breathless at the end.

How many ways can I extol Slaughter for The Good Daughter? This is a must-read for all fans of thrillers/crime novels. Really, read it. It is an extremely rare you-will-miss-your-flight-if-you-are-reading-it-while-in-an-airport novel. Read it first, then take the flight. You will thank me for very highly recommending it and then I predict you will look at Slaughter's other novels.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book courtesy of HarperCollins show less

A really good example of the genre, The Good Daughter has all the right pieces in terms of characterization and secrets. The plot stalls in a few places in service of lengthy dialogue between characters (some of the characters don't say much to each other, but when they do, it is several pages of dialogue).
There are some moments I found predictable, some secrets obvious to the reader before they are obvious to the characters. That said, there are some surprises too, and Slaughter paces these really well. The two sisters, Samantha and Charlie, are well-crafted in character and there are several characters who really trigger ambivalence, something I actually like.
Content warning as there is graphic description of sexual assault, and show more murder, but that's not unexpected for the genre.
The book also rests on some stereotypes of rural life, but is relatively gentle in its condemnation, painting with a medium width brush, let's say, assigning the worst to specific characters. show less

Whenever I get my hands on a book by Karin Slaughter, I always have this feeling I should put on a seatbelt before I crack the cover. She tends to nibble away at the edge of your comfort zone with stories that are intense, emotional & disturbing. This one is no different.

The book opens in 1989 with a brutal day in the life of the Quinn family. Rusty, the father, is typically absent. He’s a small town lawyer who specializes in successfully defending the dregs of society while dodging death threats. It’s just Gamma & daughters Charlotte & Samantha at home that afternoon when 2 masked men come calling. By the time they’re through Gamma is dead, Sam has been shot in the head & Charlie is hiding at a neighbouring farm. The family has show more been gutted & Rusty makes some snap decisions that will haunt them for years to come.

In present day, 41 year old Charlie is a lawyer who just made a huge mistake. She goes to the local school to set things right. Unfortunately, teenager Kelly Wilson chose the same day to stalk the hallways with a gun. By the time the dust settles 2 people are dead, Charlie is injured & Kelly is arrested. The police response is a tad enthusiastic to say the least & in the days that follow, they form a blue wall to make sure their version of events is accepted.

Rusty, of course, can’t wait to defend Kelly but Charlie is blindsided by memories of the last time she was held at gunpoint. As she begins to unravel, it’s clear there is one thing she needs. Her sister.

We revisit the1989 attack several times during the course of the book. Charlie & Sam alternate as narrators to give their versions of what happened. A few more details leak out each time & as the whole truth slowly emerges, we begin to grasp the numerous connections to present day events.

But it’s not just these events that put you through the wringer. The cast also provokes strong reactions. Slaughter specializes in putting her characters through ordeals that showcase their strengths & weaknesses. As the story progresses, they can morph from good guy to bad & back again, radically affecting how you feel about them. Charlie & Sam are good examples. Both are strong personalities & at several points I wanted to knock their heads together. But there were also times when I wanted to take them to the nearest bar & get them guttered enough to forget what they’d endured.

Rusty comes across as a grandstander who talks a lot but says little. I spent much of the story rolling my eyes at his chatter, frustrated by the way he treated the girls. But just as you grow tired of his obscure quotes & homilies, he’ll slip up & reveal the man behind the persona. From one particularly poignant scene...

“What a rapist takes from a woman is her future. The person she is going to become, who she is supposed to be, is gone. In many ways, it’s worse than murder, because he has killed the potential person, eradicated that potential life, yet she still lives and breathes….”

Several other characters deserve mention. Charlie’s estranged husband Ben is a sympathetic guy who gets dragged into the whole mess. Rusty’s eccentric assistant Lenore has known the girls all their lives & can be counted on for no-nonsense advice. But it’s Kelly who breaks your heart every time she appears. She’s from “the holler”, a trailer park on the edge of town. Her social status & learning disabilities have made her a prime target for mean girls & the cliche of a disaffected youth who finally snapped has the media salivating.

My only complaint (and it’s teeny) is the last 20% or so. Was it badly written? Heck no, it’s freaking fabulous. It’s more a case of everything coming to a head at once. Following a pivotal plot twist, it’s like someone opened a cage full of restless clues & they all came out screaming at the same time. So much is revealed that you’re left reeling, trying to keep up as your brain makes a dozen connections. It has a profound effect on what you thought you knew & you may need to take a moment & look at some of the characters with fresh eyes. There are some jaw droppers here. Hidden agendas, secrets & lies will alter what Charlie & Sam had believed for so long.

This is a layered, engrossing & sometimes uncomfortable read. It’s an unflinching look at the lives of those judged with prejudice because of their social status & family history. There’s rarely a dull moment & you’ll fly through the pages to discover the fates of these characters you’ve come to care about. Just a heads up: there are scenes that are fairly graphic but not gratuitous as they inform the story on several levels.

So if you’re a fan of gritty character driven drama, I’ll just leave you with 2 pieces of advice. Get it. And buckle up. show less

Karin Slaughter deserves a shelf of her own because sometimes it’s not fair to put writing this good on the same shelf as everyone else. The Good Daughter is her latest thriller and it will enthrall you even as it wrings you out emotionally.

Charlotte and Samantha Quinn are sisters whose young lives were torn apart by violence that saw their mother dead and left them with physical and emotional scars. Twenty-eight years later, both sisters have forged successful careers when new violence in their hometown of Pikeville brings them back together. Untangling themselves from this new horror reopens their own trauma and reveals secrets that have remained buried for nearly 30 years.

Slaughter is unflinching in her depiction of brutality. She show more doesn’t linger over it or unnecessarily embellish it, but neither does she let you look away from its horror. She is unparalleled at conveying the devastation of these acts, the physical and emotional trauma they inflict, and the way they alter the course of the lives of the survivors.

The characters are all complicated and well-drawn. Rusty Quinn is a complicated man balancing his strong convictions about the justice system with his love for his daughters. Charlotte carries the emotional pain of surviving while her mother died and her sister Sam, who nearly died, is left with lifelong mobility issues. Even Gamma, their deceased mother, is painted as a brilliant and complicated woman. The pain of these relationships as they fracture and rebuild is incredibly emotional.

As the irregularities of the present day crime in Pikeville come to light, they unlock memories from 28 years earlier and shed new light on the earlier tragedy. Slaughter keeps the pace moving so quickly and skillfully that you may find yourself literally panting along with the characters. One brief courtroom scene is so well done it makes me wish Slaughter’s next stand alone book is a legal thriller.

Slaughter uses violence to better effect than any writer I know. But it is the emotional depth that she conveys that makes this one of the best books of the year. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book. show less

Karin Slaughter's THE GOOD DAUGHTER is so absorbing and unputdownable, I cannot recommend it highly enough. So how can this review do it justice? I’ll try.

Certainly, the most important factor is that this is both a character-driven and plot-driven novel, not one or the other. Although Slaughter has written plenty of great books with that characteristic, this one may be her best or at least one of.

Two sisters, Charlotte (Charlie)13 and Samantha (Sam) 15, and their mother are involved in a home invasion. The mother is killed, and the daughters endure horrors that affect the rest of their lives. Therefore, although the story continues with the aftermath and the sisters’ lives 28 years later, that one event stays with them and affects show more nearly everything they do.

When Charlie and Sam are in their 40s, both lawyers but in different states, they are again brought together. Their father Rusty, also a lawyer, has been stabbed, probably because of a case he is working on. Sam temporally takes over.

There has been a school shooting. Rusty’s client is the apparent shooter, and Sam and then Charlie discover more about her and about the case. Can it be somehow tied to their own home-invasion case of years earlier?

There is so much more to this story and to the characters, but this is the general plot. Remember, though, that THE GOOD DAUGHTER is character driven as well. They are mysteries as much or more than the circumstances.

This short review doesn’t do justice to such a great book. Maybe that’s because I’m always careful to not include spoilers. But do yourself a favor: read it. show less

Karin Slaughter is simply one of the best mystery/thriller writers out there. I am always eagerly awaiting her next book. Her latest, The Good Daughter was an absolutely fantastic read!

1989. The Good Daughter opens with a grab you by the throat, can't look away, opening chapter. A mother and her two daughters (Sam and Charlie), home when they were expected to be out. Two masked gunman, looking for their father Rusty - a lawyer who defends almost anyone. The consequences of that day - horrific. Seriously, take a deep breath before you start.....

And then Slaughter slams the reader again, jumping forward twenty eight years to that same town and to what has happened in that time span. One of the daughters survives and is working as a lawyer show more like her father. When a school shooting occurs, it is exactly the kind of case Rusty takes. Daughter Charlie was there when it happened.

Oh, there is so much going on in this book! The relationships between the girls, the girls and their parents, spouses, friends, enemies and selves are intricately complicated and so well written. And just as intricate is the shooting case - something doesn't add up. The crime and investigation is brilliant, with no way to guess where things were going to end.

But best of all are the twists the Slaughter throws into her narrative. Without spoiling anything, suffice it to say that just when I felt I had a handle on what happened in the past, Slaughter pulled the rug out from under me. It's impossible not to become immersed in this story. Emotional, addictive and simply excellent. show less

Twenty-eight years ago, Samantha and Charlotte Quinn’s lives changed forever. Growing up in the small town of Pikeville things had been mostly peaceful for the Quinn family. Rusty, the father of the family, was a local defense lawyer whose stance on fighting for the “bad guys” wasn’t always appreciated in town. Case in point, the family home was burnt to the ground by someone seeking revenge for Rusty winning a case that allowed a man accused of unspeakable acts to go free. The family had slowly been piecing their lives back together when two men broke into their new home and brought a reign of terror upon the family that damaged the Quinn girl’s lives beyond repair. Their mother was murdered. Secrets were kept. A family was show more broken. All in an act to seek revenge against Rusty.

The Quinn family was never the same after that terrorizing day and twenty-eight years later, they still can’t seem to figure out how to be together. Charlotte has followed in her father’s footsteps by becoming a lawyer and working side-by-side with him in Pikeville. When a local school shooting finds Charlotte as an eye witness, the events of the past will mix with those of the present in a haunting manner. As secrets and long buried memories come boiling to the surface, the Quinn family must face their demons yet again. Does anyone really know the truth about that day so long ago in the past?

THE GOOD DAUGHTER is the definition of a well-written thriller! Slaughter immediately drops the reader into the day that changed the Quinn family forever. This chapter is told by Samantha and the events are seen from her point of view with a cliffhanger ending that leaves the reader in shock. The book then transitions into modern day and Charlotte witnessing a school shooting. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions! Slaughter’s storytelling, especially when it comes to the events of the past, is not for the faint of heart, as some scenes can be quite graphic. Listening to this one as an audiobook, I think really escalated the tension for me and I found myself sitting in my car waiting to finish a chapter before heading into work several mornings! I could go on for days about the beauty of Slaughter’s writing, the masterful way she builds a story, and the fantastic characters she creates. At the end of the day, the moral of this review, is join the #slaughtersquad and go pick up one of Karin’s books today! show less