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Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter
Mother. Hero. Liar. Killer?
How can you tell, when all you have is Pieces of Her?
What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?
Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?
But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.
The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .
My thoughts
Laura and her daughter, Andy, are in the local mall when a man walks in killing two women. Whilst preventing the killer from harming Andy Laura kills him. The police investigate – is Laura actually a killer? Has Laura got secrets?
Then Andy finds her mum in trouble a man has her tied up – Andy hits him and he dies. Laura tells her to go, gives her instructions on what to do. Andy leaves but after following Laura’s instructions she starts to do some of her own investigation into her mother.
As Andy tries to find out who her mother really is we are transported back in time to meet Jayne, Nick and Andrew. It’s the 1980s in Oslo where a murder is committed – Jayne and Andrew’s father is shot. It seems straight forward, the killer takes their own life. Then back in the USA the FBI, amongst other Agencies, are looking into the incident. There is a kidnapped women still missing. They are suspicious. As the net grows ever closer on the suspected perpetrators their actions and decisions will affect the family forever.
Karin Slaughter really knows how to weave a twisty tale, her pacing is excellent and she draws you into the plot so you feel you are almost in it yourself. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to like Laura and Andy but I did, I really liked what the revelation of Laura’s past did to their relationship.
Karin Slaughter continues with her fascinating exploration into family relationships with this cracking read. Her plotting, writing and characterisation is, as always, wonderful and you race through this book to find out what happens.
Whilst I have always enjoyed the series that Karin Slaughter writes these stand-alone books are fast becoming favourites and I would happily recommend Pieces of Her, indeed all of them, to readers.
This is the fourth stand-alone book and the third that I have read, click on the link if you would like to read what I thought of Cop Town and The Good Daughter.
I would like to thanks HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for the eARC of Pieces of Her via NetGalley. This is my own opinion. I have not received any payment in relation to my review.
I read Pieces of Her as one of my #20BooksofSummer challenge books.
Information
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Publishers: Harper Collins Publishers
Buy: IndieBound Barnes & Noble Amazon US 🍏iBooks Amazon UK
Author
Karin Slaughter lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Karin Slaughter is the No. 1 internationally-bestselling author and with more than thirty-five million copies of her books in print around the world is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 37 languages, with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her eighteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter. A native of Georgia, Karin currently lives in Atlanta. Her novels Cop Town, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her are all in development for film and television.
Karin is the founder of the Save The Libraries project, which has to date raised more than $300,000 for the DeKalb County (Georgia) Library Foundation.
Karin Slaughter Books
The Stand Alones
Cop Town, Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter and Pieces of Her
The Grant County Series
Set in the fictional town of Heartsdale, Georgia, (in the fictional Grant County) the narrative takes place from the perspective of three main characters: Sara Linton, the town’s pediatrician and part-time coroner; her ex-husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, who is chief of police; and his subordinate, detective Lena Adams. The series includes Blindsighted, Kisscut, A Faint Cold Fear, Indelible, Faithless and Beyond Reach (also called Skin Privilege).
The Will Trent Series
The Will Trent series takes place in Atlanta and features GBI special agent Will Trent, his partner Faith Mitchell, and Angie Polaski. The first two books in the series are Triptych and Fractured. Later, Sara Linton from The Grant County Series joins the series, and also appears in Undone, Broken, Fallen, Criminal, Unseen, and The Kept Woman. There are also two short stories featuring Will Trent, Busted and Snatched.
Short stories: Karin has written nine short stories.
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