Pretty Girls
A Novel
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4.2 • 4.6K Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Lee Child says it’s “stunning… certain to be a book of the year.”
Kathy Reichs calls it “extraordinary… a major achievement.”
Gillian Flynn says of Karin Slaughter: “I’d follow her anywhere.”
Sisters. Strangers. Survivors.
More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.
The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.
Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping, packed with indelible characters and unforgettable twists, Pretty Girls is a masterful novel from one of the finest writers working today.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Karin Slaughter kept us on our toes with this chilling novel about two women pulled apart—and brought back together—by horrific crimes committed two decades apart. We were repeatedly stunned by unexpected twists and awed by the bestselling American author’s crafty storytelling. Pretty Girls features compelling female heroines who overcome staggering obstacles and press on to find some closure. Slaughter intersperses the suspenseful narrative with a grieving father’s first-person revelations, boosting the story’s emotional wallop.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Claire Scott, the heroine of this gripping standalone from bestseller Slaughter (Cop Town), thought she knew everything about her architect husband, Paul, but her posh Atlanta life is turned upside down when he's fatally stabbed in an alley and she uncovers a series of nasty videos on his home computer. Paul's dark side is what drove a wedge between Claire and her sister Lydia 18 years earlier, when Lydia accused Paul of attempted rape. At the time, Claire sided with Paul, and the sisters stopped speaking. The family was already splintered following the 1991 disappearance of Claire and Lydia's older sister, 19-year-old Julia, who vanished near her University of Georgia dorm. Paul's death brings Claire and Lydia back together as they begin peeling back the layers of everything that the meticulously organized Paul kept hidden. Chapters from the girls' father's journal, written to the missing Julia, form a poignant counterpoint to the chilling violence of this unsettling tale.
Customer Reviews
Pretty girls
This book was definitely a page turner. But it was extremely gruesome in some parts, they were just so vile. The author has a wicked imagination. If you’re into it that’s cool, I’m happy it’s over.
Too graphic for 5 stars
Do not read this book unless you can stomach horribly graphic descriptions of violence, torture and sexual abuse of women. Repeatedly. Well written, yes. Suspenseful, yes. Sick, for certain. There are better ways to be entertained than this read.
Woah
4.5 stars and honestly close to 5!! It’s the last chapter for me! This was so beautiful in a totally graphic and descriptive way. The underlying family bonds really got me. The trigger warnings are totally valid on this one and wouldn’t recommend to the faint of heart but if you can stomach the tough scenes this one is a must read! Every time I thought it couldn’t get more dark or twisted it did. This left me totally shocked at so many different points and truly kept me on my toes. The hype was real.