Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

I think it was my mom who first introduced me to Karin Slaughter. My mom devours books by Karin Slaughter and Tess Gerritsen, but I always kind of…forget about them.

I’m not sure why. Because they’re supposed to be mom-books for me? Every time I read a book by one of them, I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I actually like it (Karin Slaughter a little more than Tess Gerritsen, to be honest).

So a couple of weeks ago, I read ‘The Good Daughter’ by Karin Slaughter and made the resolution to read more Karin Slaughter.

I discovered ‘Pretty Girls’ by Karin Slaughter on the airport on my way to Madrid, but ended up buying ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ by Heather Morris instead. I saved Pretty Girls though, and it was one of the books I ordered for my holiday to Gran Canaria (although I didn’t read it until I got back home).

They can’t walk down the street or order a coffee or stand on a corner without some idiot making a comment about how attractive they are. And the women smile because it’s easier than telling them to go fuck themselves. And less dangerous, because if a man rejects a woman, she goes home and cries for a few days. If a woman rejects a man, he can rape and kill her.

Over twenty years ago, Julia went missing. Her sisters Claire and Lydia stayed behind with their parents, forever wondering what happened to Julia.

Now, Claire’s millionaire husband is brutally murdered. After discovering some files, she asks her estranged sister Lydia for help.

They end up chasing the truth. What happened to Claire’s husband? What happened to Julia all those years ago? And could the two incidents be connected?

Maybe that’s why Claire had perfected the art of invisibility. It was a form of self-preservation.

Ok, I’m just going to start with the bad thing this time. It took me a long time to get into ‘Pretty Girls’ by Karin Slaughter. Sure, a slaying at the beginning pulled me in, and of course, I had some questions about why the sister disappeared, and why Lydia and Claire weren’t on speaking terms any more.

But for the first few chapters, I had no problem putting Pretty Girls down and not picking it up after finishing work.

I do have to be honest though. When I first started reading the book, I wasn’t in a good head space and I actually put it down because I couldn’t concentrate. So I can’t say if it’s the writing or my head that wasn’t great in the first bit.

Also, there are a couple side-characters and I would’ve loved to know more about some of them, while I wondered why one was even mentioned, and why one specific one was so in-depth.

Anyway, I read the rest of the book in one day. In fact, I stayed up until 1.30am to finish reading Pretty Girls. At one twist, I felt my heart in my throat and according to my Fitbit I had a heart rate of 117. That’s how you know you’re reading a good thriller.

The twists and turns, the questions. Even I wasn’t sure who to trust and what was real or not. When I closed the book, I was only wondering how people can think if things like these and then I realized that there are people out there who actually do this kind of thing, probably serving as inspiration for Karin Slaughter.

So yes, go read ‘Pretty Girls’ by Karin Slaughter. Just make sure you don’t get near the ending before you want to go to sleep because you’ll want to finish the book (and then you’ll lie awake for another hour overthinking it).

Add ‘Pretty Girls’ by Karin Slaughter to your Goodreads to-read-list, or buy the book at the Book Depository or on Amazon.

Happy reading—

Petra

P.S. Just a warning: this is not for the faint of heart. The book is very graphic and includes murder, violence, gore, torture, rape, and assault.