Karin Slaughter

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.

a novel

Pretty girls

Pretty Girls

Ruthie C

 There is kindness in so many unexpected places. 

This book is great and the writing is superb but it was such a dark book even for me and I watch horror and stuff and I felt in the whole book there was always something new in the story with I feel was pretty overwhelming but still a great book 

Ida 

Fascinating story, so many twists and turns. I loved it. Also set in my backyard! 

Ava DeFrances

Very disturbing!!! One of the more graphic, gut wrenching, nauseating, trauma filled books I’ve read. It definitely hooked me but the content and the amount of detail/length of the book is why I gave it a lower score. 

Alicia Evans

This one was intense. If you are curious about the book be sure to look up content warnings ahead of time because the topics in here are dark and are not for the faint of heart. I won’t lie the book started off slow and is incredibly detailed but once the storyline hits it hits. I was very intrigued by how everything came to be and like how my audio included a short story that started it all. It was interesting to see how it all began and how the events of that night started the tragedy that occurred in the book and how it all came back to light nearly two decades later. 

Priscilla Stanfield

Wack ass book 🤯 edge of my seat the whole time!

Kara M

It’s honesty one of the most dark and twisted books I’ve read.. left me sick to my stomach along with trust issues. I would recommend to other if you enjoy thrillers! The one thing I couldn’t stand they kept on introducing so many different characters. I could not remember all of their names, and exactly what their role was sometimes lol. ￼

Sàrah Cearfoss

Relieved to finally finish this book.. 

7.5/10

It’s honesty one of the most dark and twisted books I’ve read.. left me sick to my stomach along with trust issues. I would recommend to other if you enjoy thrillers! The one thing I couldn’t stand they kept on introducing so many different characters. I could not remember all of their names, and exactly what their role was sometimes lol. ￼

Lee Child says it’s “stunning… certain to be a book of the year.” Kathy Reichs calls it “extraordinary… a major achievement.” Jeffery Deaver says that “fiction doesn't get any better than this.” Gillian Flynn says of Karin Slaughter: “I’d follow her anywhere.” See for yourself what these #1 New York Times-bestselling authors are talking about. 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.

A Novel

Isabella 

past me bit off more than she could chew. it was brutally horrifying. avoid this if you want to keep your peace.

Sandrin

Claire Scott can destroy me with a tennis racket any day of the week. This book messed me up real good.

★★★★★
5.00 STARS 

A very terrifying, disturbing and heart-wrenching story of a family that fell apart by a very hideous event in their past. The story was slow-paced and took its time to build up its progress. The horrifying details of the gruesome part appalled me and made my stomach turned. But nevertheless, I was pretty much amazed at how the author can paint each chilling graphics into the minds of her readers. Well, atleast it was for me. 

I particularly loved the father's diary entries so much. It was so heartbreaking, the pain and grief was filled and evident with each and every word he conveyed. It made me cried so hard, especially the last entry. It was so painfully sincere and beautiful. 

First time picking up a book by Karin Slaughter. I loved and praised her writing so much that I would probably, definitely going to pick up and read more of her works.

rhegan🧋

i need 5 years to recover from this.. i thought i was fine but i’m literally crying by the end of this.

i’m just thinking ab the amount of therapy claire and lydia are gonna need after this, hell they should have gotten therapy when julia went missing😭. 

honestly i think that was the happiest ending we 
could have gotten given the circumstances 

i wanna hug my sister after this💔

Alecx Motus

Man oh man this was a book in its own league. I understand now what other people meant when they said it was too graphic. I was also terrified and disturbed but it made me want to read even more. The twists and turns kept coming and I loved that about this book. Right when you think you know what's going on, it goes on another level of disturbing and just keeps going. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers/mysteries!

wauwa

This took me forever to finish, I had been very busy and couldn’t fit reading into my schedule. I finally finished it and maybe I’m just too emotional but I’ve been left a sobbing mess. That’s really how much I loved this book.

Jule

Sis ... what happened.
The last chapter got me tearing up. Beautiful way to end such a creepy book! Loved it

Lara Engle

If you liked Gone Girl and the Saw movies, you'll love this book. At times, I seriously wondered what I'd gotten myself into, it is so disturbing. But it's a compelling, twisty thrill ride from beginning to end.

Kaitlynn

Wow... just wow. LOVE THIS BOOK. Definitely a little true crime vibe but I was sucked in from the first chapter!

miranda

I’m actually embarrassed I read this book.  It was recommended and I have all the regrets now.  Regret that I wasted my money, regret that I wasted my time and regret that I have that book in my mind now.

I will say that the writer is talented and can definitely throw in some twist.  However, this book was extremely dark and extremely graphic and violent.  I agree with another reviewer, why do women write such graphic books about other women being tortured and killed.  No respect and I will probably not support this author in the future.

Trigger warnings:  suicide, drug use, kidnapping, rape and horrific torture of women.

Barbara Williford

I’m actually embarrassed I read this book.  It was recommended and I have all the regrets now.  Regret that I wasted my money, regret that I wasted my time and regret that I have that book in my mind now.

I will say that the writer is talented and can definitely throw in some twist.  However, this book was extremely dark and extremely graphic and violent.  I agree with another reviewer, why do women write such graphic books about other women being tortured and killed.  No respect and I will probably not support this author in the future.

Trigger warnings:  suicide, drug use, kidnapping, rape and horrific torture of women.

this started out a bit meh but it was a solid, highly entertaining, even a bit creepy read after the first 50 pages. yes, i understand the hype now.

rumbledethumps

The story is certainly well-told, but probably just a story I didn't care for. What started as an interesting mystery, turned into a pretty average domestic thriller.

Colleen

3.5 Stars

This review contains spoilers. Not all of them are hidden because they pertain to certain things that people should be forewarned about before reading Pretty Girls.

This is the story of a teenage girl who vanished without a trace. Twenty years later and after a long estrangement, her two sisters, Claire and Lydia, are thrown back together by a similar disappearance and are quickly caught up in events much larger than just them.

Pretty Girls is quite possibly the most disturbing book I have ever read. Because of that, this book is somewhat hard for me to rate. The plot and the characters were gripping, but there was an insane amount of violence and much of it felt gratuitous. 

I am not a squeamish person. I have read my share of dark stuff both fiction and true crime. In college, I took all of my electives in Psychology and was particularly interested in abnormal psych. I have read plenty of stuff about serial killers and psychopaths. So when I say this book is disturbing, I am trying to issue a sincere warning. That isn't to discourage people from reading this book, but I feel the need to forewarn friends of how graphic this book is.

 Pretty Girls has just about every type of violence and violent offenders other than maybe pedophiles. It has rapists, psychopaths, sociopaths, torture (both physical and emotional), sadism, kidnapping, stalking, voyeurism, snuff films, necrophilia, desecration of corpses, and a brief mention of cannibalism. Plus some less violent things such as drug addiction, alcoholism, parental neglect, embezzlement, corruption... and probably more, but you get the point. This was a veritable smorgasbord of horrific things. Oh wait... I don't think there was any incest. Ok, so other than incest and pedophilia, this book has the Full Monty of psychos. While reading this, I had the same thought that I did when I watch the movie Running Scared: "Holy cow, how many bad people can you fit into one place?!"

And these horrible acts are described in traumatically explicit detail. There is no fade to black. This book revels in the minutiae of brutal human suffering. It not only describes rape and torture but also describes the perpetrator becoming aroused by it. In detail. I had the disturbing feeling that real life sadists probably read this book and were turned on by it. The story is permeated with the putrid stench of the worst of the human race.

The book did not scare me, but it left me feeling anxious and unnerved. I confess, I had to eat a lot of chocolate ice cream and watch cute animal videos to restore my emotional equilibrium. It was easy to get sucked into the story while I was reading it, and I would binge read big sections. But once I put it down, I kept having a hard time picking it back up and would wander away for a couple of days at a time because it was hard to knowingly thrust myself back into the emotional state triggered by this book.

The story alternates between Claire and Lydia plus letters written by their father to their missing sister. I did not like most of the characters initially. At first I only liked the father and Rick. But Claire and Lydia grew on me as the story went on. I liked the father's letters best. They were lyrical, intelligent, and haunting with a southern flair that reminded me a little of Special Topics in Calamity Physics. It was a very convincing portrayal of a grieving parent looking for answers to a tragedy. But it is pretty bad when you look forward to something that depressing because it provides a break from the violence. 

So why did I keep reading despite all of the appalling violence? Because Slaughter really can write. Yes, it was more than morbid curiosity. The writing was really good. The plot was fast-paced and engaging. I did guess one of the bigger twists, but beyond that, I had NO IDEA what was going to happen. A big part of that was the anxiety of not knowing whether this would be the sort of book were good triumphs over evil or the sort where everyone dies horribly in abject misery. I won't tell you which it ended up being. But this was definitely a page turner. But beyond the plot, there was a lot of raw emotion in this book. I found myself very invested in the characters. Both of the sisters grew on me more and more throughout the book. They were complex and interestingly flawed characters who changed as the as the story went on. And that is what books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train utterly lacked for me: that emotional depth and character development. If you are going to put horrible characters in a book, then explain why they are horrible. What made them that way? What are their motivations? What is going through their heads? I need more than just a speedy plot and morally bankrupt people. Even the most dreadful people in this book were still interesting characters. (view spoiler)[It really says something about Slaughter's writing ability that despite of all the terrible things that happened in the story, I still felt Paul's emotions. It was pretty genius that the author could instill just enough doubt to make it hard to decide what to believe. That even after everything, hearing those declarations of love still tugged somewhere deep. (hide spoiler)] 

Pretty Girls still loses some points for the extreme violence. Although I have to say despite the gratuitous violence, it did not feel as sensationalized as a lot of other thrillers are. I would probably still recommend this book to people as long as they can handle the sadism. But that recommendation comes with a strong warning. Read at your own risk.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

A Thrilling and Twisted Tale of Deceit and Betrayal

Karin Slaughter's "Pretty Girls" is a chilling and fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The story is told from the perspectives of Lydia, Claire, and their father, each with their own secrets and motivations that slowly unravel as the story progresses.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the way the author kept me guessing about which officers were trustworthy. It added an element of suspense and kept me invested in the story. The twist of Paul being alive was a pleasant surprise and added another layer of complexity to the plot.

The reveal that Paul's dad and his accomplices were the ones responsible for the murder and abuse of Julia was a particularly interesting twist. However, I do agree that I would have liked more exploration into what initially drove Paul's dad to commit such heinous acts.

While the overall story was engrossing, there were a few moments that stretched believability. I found it hard to believe that officers would willingly take pictures with a deceased and mangled victim, let alone that Paul would willingly have those photos to use against them.

Overall, "Pretty Girls" is a well-crafted and suspenseful novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. The twists and turns of the plot make for an engrossing read, and the characters are complex and intriguing. If you're a fan of thriller novels, this is definitely one to add to your reading list.

A Thrilling and Twisted Tale of Deceit and Betrayal

Karin Slaughter's "Pretty Girls" is a chilling and fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The story is told from the perspectives of Lydia, Claire, and their father, each with their own secrets and motivations that slowly unravel as the story progresses.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the way the author kept me guessing about which officers were trustworthy. It added an element of suspense and kept me invested in the story. The twist of Paul being alive was a pleasant surprise and added another layer of complexity to the plot.

The reveal that Paul's dad and his accomplices were the ones responsible for the murder and abuse of Julia was a particularly interesting twist. However, I do agree that I would have liked more exploration into what initially drove Paul's dad to commit such heinous acts.

While the overall story was engrossing, there were a few moments that stretched believability. I found it hard to believe that officers would willingly take pictures with a deceased and mangled victim, let alone that Paul would willingly have those photos to use against them.

Overall, "Pretty Girls" is a well-crafted and suspenseful novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. The twists and turns of the plot make for an engrossing read, and the characters are complex and intriguing. If you're a fan of thriller novels, this is definitely one to add to your reading list.

It's definitely graphic, and the story is absolutely wild. Kinda reads a little like a true crime book. My socks weren't totally blown off but it was close and it was most definitely shocking enough!

Rebecca McCombe

Page turning thriller. Another vile villain from Slaughter with this one a bit more fleshed out than her follow up novel, False Witness. 

Paige Paul

Jenna Pascale 

Woweee - this one was a doozy. Quite the ride from the very beginning. 

It’s taken me a bit to get around to reading this one but I finally did it! My first Karin Slaughter book, but definitely not my last. 

There are so many aspects of this book that I truthfully cannot even put into words or begin to wrap my head around. The twists start from very early on and keep going. I don’t think there was a single moment in this book where I stopped guessing. There was always a theory, a prediction, an edge of your seat moment. Hell, the entire book had me on the edge of my seat from cover to cover. 

Fair warning: this is a HEAVY read. The amount of description and detail will either make or break this book for you. It is well worth the uncomfortable moments and gory descriptions in order to see it through to the picture perfect ending, but please make your decision wisely. This book is NOT meant for someone who is not an active thriller reader or someone who cannot handle the dark and gory side of things. 

Overall, the execution was impeccable. The alternating POV’s kept you on your toes and aware of every detail. The plot was fulfilled with little to no plot holes and Slaughter’s writing style was perfect. Highly recommend for those looking for a darker, thrilling read while still pulling at your heart strings.

Pretty girls a novel

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