Book Review: The Good Daughter

THE GOOD DAUGHTER | Karin Slaughter
06.13.2017 | William Morrow
Rating: 5/5 stars

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 broken. All in an act to seek revenge against Rusty.

She had seen this before. She knew that you could put it all in a little box and close it up later, that you could go on with your life if you didn’t sleep too much, didn’t breathe too much, didn’t live too much so that death came back and snatched you away for the taking.

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?

Nothing ever truly faded. Time only dulled the edges.

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!

Note: I listened to this book on audio and highly, highly recommend you give it a shot that way! The narrator is fantastic!