Mary Kubica

Good Girl

The Good Girl

Aine Meehan

This book did remind me of Gone girl in terms of the fact that it has an equally strong plot. I liked the characters, and this is where Kubica excels. They were believable, and you emphatised with some of them, and wanted to slap others. 
The plot centers around the kidnapping of Mia, a misfit in her world of affluence, who goes largely ignored and denounced as the "black sheep" of the family. 
As the plot thickens, we begin to realise that all is not as it seems in this wealthy family, and that Mia might not be the spoilt little rich girl rebel we think she is. 
This was one of those reads that I just couldn't put down, I kept on reading to find out what would happen and hoping the ending would not let the novel down. I was not disappointed. 
An enjoyable easy read, just a tad on the "dark side". I will be looking forward to any further books by this author.

I really enjoyed this one! I was super intrigued since this one kind of tells you did what but your goal is to figure out the WHY. I found it to be interesting to know all of the key players and their actions but just wondering about their motives. It was fun to switch it up from the usual thriller who dun it? Excited to continue with this authors backlist!

Kerry Kalinoski

Rebecca Shaffer

I really tried to enjoy this book, but just couldn't. It started out OK, but as the book went on I became more & more disinterested in the characters, and found the writing style annoying. I couldn't connect with anyone in the book except for Eve, the mother, and even that was a stretch. Then the plot twists towards the end were not inspired, and actually sad. The ending actually made me regret reading it all the way through. :(

Brittney Browne

While I don’t believe comparing it to Gone Girl is fair, this was an enjoyable read by itself. If you think it’s going to be Gone Girl, you’ll be disappointed. Yes, the Stockholm Syndrome was obvious from the beginning, but I’m not sure it was supposed to be a secret. From the time Colin and Mia meet its obvious that’s where this book will go. The before/after storytelling I also found enjoyable. The question was refocused to “will she “escape”?” To “how will this unfold? What happened in that cabin?” I was emotionally wrecked by the outcome and then the surprise at the end was just the icing on top. Maybe I should have seen it coming, but...oh well. 

I also thought the use of the 3 different perspectives really enhanced the storyline. I realized by the end that a character i thought i knew, Mia, as described through 2 of the characters, I actually didn’t know at all. 

This book left me thinking about it for days after i finished it - a sure sign of a good book for me.

Lauren Tabor

kendall p

i was expecting something very different from this book. i don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t what i got. 

there’s nothing thrilling or suspenseful about this book. it reads like a contemporary family drama. 

sure, the ending had a shocking factor, but i figured something like that was going to happen. 

none of the characters are likable expect gabe and eve but yet they still had their issues that i didn’t agree with. 

very middle of the road book. not excellent, not terrible.

Celeste Richardson

For this and more of my reviews, as well as my friend Petrik's reviews, check out my new blog, Novel Notions. 

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Wow. I definitely didn’t see that ending coming.

Have you ever read a book where the last chapter completely changes the entire book for you, and how you view all of the events that preceded it? That’s what happened to me with this book. Before that final chapter, I found the book compelling, but honestly kind of predictable. This is the story of a kidnapping, told from the perspectives of three people: the mother of the kidnapped girl, the detective on the case, and the kidnapper. Each chapter is from one of these perspectives, from either before or after an unspecified event. 

Getting multiple sides and angles of the story like this maintained my interest. The back and forth flow of the timeline kept me from ever bogging down in the story. When the book first started, it felt like none of the characters, the kidnapped Mia included, had many endearing qualities. While they might look good externally, there was so much whining and self-pity and fury from all sides that no one was very likable. All of these characteristics were completely understandable considering the circumstances, but made the characters unpleasant. 

The mother becomes maudlin and borderline crazy after the disappearance of her daughter, as I’m sure I would in her place. She strengthens as the book progresses, but she’s incredibly weak and full of denial in the beginning. The detective likes to throw his weight around too much in the beginning for me to enjoy his perspective, though he does improve throughout the book. The kidnapper is enraged and scared and way harsher than he needs to be, if only he would communicate with his captive a bit better. Again, this improves throughout the book.

As I stated earlier, while I found the story compelling there were very few surprises for me. There were things that were supposed to be twists that were hinted at and foreshadowed so strongly that I was basically just waiting for the characters to realize the things the reader already knew. But again, that final chapter provided a twists that I most certainly didn’t see coming, and it completely changed the book for me. I was honestly tempted to go back and reread the book, just because of that final chapter. 

There’s not much more I can say about the book without giving anything away. It’s so hard to write a good review for a mystery novel! I will say that, when it comes to modern mystery/suspense novels, I’ve read some that were better than this one, but I’ve read many more that were worse. I can see myself trying more of Kubica’s work in the future.

Brittany Womble

A true nail biter. I listed to the audiobook on a road tip and I couldn’t so much as pause it. I was always anxious to know “what’s next.” I thought I had it figured out until the very very end. I definitely recommend this if you enjoy thrillers and suspense. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Arianna scasino

This book was so good, but certain parts felt like they were dragging.

Sarah S

I would never recommend this book. Very slow pace, no depth, and extremely predictable. If that wasn't enough, the multiple storyteller style of the novel was incredibly repetitive.

Waste of time.

chloe mcpherson

** spoiler alert **
           *This Book Does Include Spoilers! Read at your own RISK*

This book is one of my all time favourites, it just honestly blew me away and was not at all what I was expecting.

Essentially you are following Mia who happens to go home with a guy she had never met whose name is Colin. He was supposed to kidnap her and deliver her to his employers, but instead decides to take her to a remote cabin, as a way of 'protecting her'. And you also follow Mia's mother, Eve and a detective, Gabe Hoffman as they stop at nothing to find her.

Okay so first I thought this was going to be a pretty cliche book, girl gets kidnapped, falls for kidnapper ect. But I got so much more than that.

So Colin was hired to Kidnap Mia, but as he was delivering her to his employers he panicked so he decided to take her to a cabin to keep her safe.
As the story progressed Mia and Colin do get closer and do essentially fall for each other. 

What blew my mind was the fact that Mia, had ARRANGED her own kidnapping for a way for her fathers dirty secrets to get exposed. So really she would have been safe with her 'kidnappers' she she paid them, and Colin, turned a fake kidnapping in to a real kidnapping.

So Mia and Colin end up falling in love, Colin ends up getting passports and what not so they both could leave the country together but before they can leave the cops have found them. And the ending literally broke me and shattered my heart into a million of pieces. 
Colin ends up getting shot and dies. I cried like a bloody baby!! It was like i felt what Mia was feeling.

I just Loved colin and Mia and think they deserved way better. I still feel pain when i think about this book!
I would 100% recommend you read this!

Samantha Seeman

Very interesting. I can actually say that I did not see that ending coming.

Juliana Callahan

I rated this one 3.5 stars but I rounded it down to three. It was a very basic plot line, none of the characters felt particularly original and I didn't care for most of them. I will admit that the ending was quite shocking and that was what bumped this from a 2.5 to a 3.

SnarkByThePage

Not great. Writing wasn’t smooth, not a great flow to the story, predictable end.

b.andherbooks

Privileged white girl is kidnapped, and after she is returned has Stockholm syndrome and selective amnesia. Alternating between the POVs of her mother, the lead detective on the case, and her kidnapper in "Before" and "After" the kidnapping chapters, the reader is led to wonder why was Mia kidnapped, why did her kidnapper not hand her off to the man who hired him to take her, and why is her family so shitty?

I was compelled enough to finish, but the ending just made me mad and not in a "wow that was so worth the anger" way. Fans of "Gone Girl" will probably enjoy, but this wasn't really for me.

Ally Wagner

This book ruined me. The plot twist at the end blind sighted me, but damn did it make sense. I was upset at what happened with the two of them and I’m a bitter as fuck.

Good Girl

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