Strangely for me, this was the first book by Karin Slaughter that i've had the chance to read. I've always seen the books on the shelves, been recommend them countless times by friends but not got around to reading one. Well I think after this book that i'll be reading a lot more from Karin!

This story focuses on two sisters, Charlotte & Quinn, who had a horrific event occur to them when they were younger. Many years later Charlotte has become a lawyer like her father but events of the past won't stay buried. Events go between past and present helping the reader to figure out what happened and why. So much action in this book! Lots happens to the sisters in both the past and the present and I couldn't stop reading until I reached the end. I love a book with strong female characters and this was no exception. It's a very tense book and I was extremely surprised when the truth and the why of the mystery was revealed. It's definitely a book where you'll want to go back and reread what you missed.

This book was amazing! It kept my attention throughout the entire book. I have read all of Karin's book and this was one of my very favorites! There were so many twists and turns and I never saw the end coming!

The Good Daughter

The Quinn family, Rusty, Gamma and their two daughters Samantha & Charlie are not the most popular residents in Pikeville. Rusty being a defence lawyer defends the undesirables which leads to an arson attack on the families home and then later a home invasion which leaves Gamma dead. 28 years later and we find Charlie has followed in her fathers footsteps to becoming a defence lawyer. Having gone through what she went through when she was younger she then has a harrowing experience at a school which brings back what happened when she was younger. For me the story started out very exciting then it started to get quite long and drawn out with the ending gathering momentum and picking up again.

Reading this book was somewhere between watching an intense tennis game with your head whipping back and forth, and being repeatedly slapped round the head with a crowbar. It starts with violence and ends the same way.

Rusty defends the indefensible. He represents the scum of the earth, the killers, the rapists and in general any kind of criminal.

Obviously even criminals have a right to a defence, it is a part of democracy and an important part of western society. They have rights just like every other person, however a lot of people disagree with that, especially when some criminals commit the most heinous of crimes. Unfortunately you can’t kill every murderer or lock away rapists and throw away the key.

Charlotte, Samantha and Gamma become the victims of an act of vengeance when one of his clients decides to make Rusty pay. The evening ends with blood, gore and death. The girls witness the death of their mother and subsequently have to fight for survival, and one of them ends up in a shallow grave.

The story is trauma driven, and takes a close look at the legal system and the issue of morality. Someone has to defend the criminals, regardless of what the majority thinks it is part and parcel of the way democracy works. The question is whether those who defend them should have to risk life and limb to do so. Should they be vilified for simply following the rule of law.

The intensity keeps you on your toes, and the brutality may make you wince, but most of all the emotional turmoil makes this an invigorating read.

Wow!!!!! Haven't read a Karin Slaughter book for some time. Have to give 5 stars for this one. Great psychological thriller.
Loved all the characters especially the 2 sisters Sam & Charlie and their father Rusty.
What a story they tell between them. The horrendous day the witnessed their mothers murder, Sam being shot and buried and the ordeal Charlie endured.
In their own but different ways both sisters survive, both though have many buried heartaches.
They haven't seen each other for twenty years, another brutal shooting and their father being stabbed brings them back together.
Further heartache sees the girls sharing their secrets and solving both the old and new case.
Fantastic read.

A standalone thriller that ACTUALLY thrilled me! At times sharply, darkly funny and poignant, the data of the Quinn family and the tragedies INB the wake will leave you rooted to the edge of your seat!

The story begins with an attack on a mother and her two young daughters, Sam and Charlie Quinn, in their own home. The description of the brutality of the assault is graphic, visceral and thoroughly unsettling and is a sustained piece of brilliant writing, though not for the easily offended..
The plot then moves forward almost thirty years where Charlie is, this time, a witness to another horrific gun crime. As the plot proceeds to its conclusion it is obvious that this is not a whodunit ( there are only a couple of candidates) but why.. Essentially this is a character piece about the relationship between the two sisters and their parents and it is in that part of the story that this book is at its best.
A very accomplished book from a very accomplished author.

A riveting read. Interesting characters and an original setting. Very much enjoyed this novel.

A great thriller of a book with plenary of twists and turns.

The book starts with the horrendous event happening to Sam and Charlie in there childhood and then moves to present day.

Charlie gets caught up in another horror. And the Bol tells this in a really good descriptive way, I could feel her fear and was wishing we well the whole way through.

A really good book and an author I will definitely read again.

Sam knew that this was exactly how Gamma would've wanted to be remembered: head straight, shoulders back, teeth ground, forever stalking joy.

Twenty eight years ago something terrible happened to the Quinn family - Charlie and Sam, daughters of Rusty the local defence lawyer and his scientist wife Gamma.
On an ordinary morning Charlotte's memory is triggered 'a person who has been up close when a gun is fired into another human being never mistakes the sound of a gunshot for anything else.'
And we are off, fast paced, beautifully written this is the story of an old defence lawyer who thinks he has found a 'unicorn', old scars and new pain. Beautifully written and bitter sweet. Just great.

The anticipation of a new Karin Slaughter book is always breathtaking, so to have an advanced review copy thanks to Netgalley was one of my biggest treats this year. A standalone book, not featuring Will or Sara is always going to be different. However, it's definitely Karin Slaughter. Right from the start you're hooked, and invested in the story. I needed to know why the initial shocking and terrible events had happened, and what the aftermath would be. After seeing the dreadful events in the farmhouse with 15 year old Sam, 13 year old Charlie and their mother, Gamma, we forward to the current day, 28 years later, where an equally explosive event takes place. And Charlie is at the heart of it. It takes a good portion of the story before we learn whether Sam survived her teenage trauma. The effects of such a dreadful incident on a family are explored in detail. Rusty, well meaning country lawyer, who defends the bad guys, is at the heart of what has happened to his wife and daughters. We don't fully see the effect on him - on the surface he's remained the blustery lawyer, underneath we see glimpses of him as a caring dad, who has been aware of every nuance of his family's lives. There's a great deal of humanity in this novel, exploration of family relationships, and no shying away from the effects a traumatic event can have on the rest of your life. Who is the mysterious Huck and what has he done? is another question we ask that isn't answered until the end - and it wasn't what I expected at all. It wouldn't be Karin Slaughter without a twist. Fabulous read yet again.

I have been hearing about this book from a long time. It keeps coming in my Goodreads feed. Finally, I get a chance to read this book.
This is a psychological thriller. Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy small town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home.
It has left a deep scar in their life and has haunted them in their memory.
After twenty-eight years, Charlie(Charlotte ) has become a defense lawyer following the footsteps of her father. But when a tragic event occurs in her Pikeville, whole town is traumatized. She is the prime witness on the scene, but it's a case which can't help triggering the terrible memories she's spent so long trying to suppress. This is the main theme of the book.
I do not know how I feel about this book. Do I feel good or do I feel disappointed?. I am kind of torn between two extremities. At initial stages book was interesting, but as the story progressed I kind of felt bored. The long conversations, lengthy description of the situations, and boring description of the mood of the characters make the story slow. I kind of felt sometimes, 'Oh come on!!, move to the point'.
But the book still has thrilling situations and makes you decipher the plot. It could have been better if the story was little fast-paced by cutting all the drama.I have a kind of mixed feelings about this novel.

A moving thriller from Karin Slaughter, the first book I've read of hers. Not a happy storyline but well written characters made this a page turner.

Best book of 2017 (so far!).Just brilliant delivers intrigue, page turning and genuinely sympathetic characters with a decent side order of twists and turns.I am biased I suppose I've enjoyed all of Karin Saughters work.

SICK BRUTAL GRAPHIC!

First-person SICK BRUTAL violent BRUTAL

WHO ENJOYS THIS SICKNESS?

This book opened with a bang, literally. A family watches their mother murdered and are taken out and shot. This opening was heartwrenching, but it sure did get my attention. And if that wasn't enough they added next a school shooting. Wow. This was a can't put down read with a slow point in the middle. The beginning and end pulled me in and kept me up late turning pages. The two sisters, Charlotte and Sam will linger with me awhile as I felt so entrenched in their story. I love books by Slaughter and this one does not disappoint. Great summer read.

Charlie and Sam know their family aren't the most popular in Pikeville. The arson attack on the family home was hint enough of that. But when they and their mother are subjected to a terrifying home invasion their lives are ripped apart. Gammy, their mother is dead, Sam shot and buried and Charlie has fled in terror, the only witness to the terrible crimes committed. Twenty years later Charlie works with her father as a lawyer. He's still despised in their town for his role a defence lawyer. One day violence is visited on Pikeville again in a shocking tragedy that leaves the town devastated. Charlie is one of the first witnesses on the scene, bringing back memories she has long tried to suppress. But her secrets and her towns secrets aren't going to stay hidden for much longer.


Shocking, thrilling, heart breaking....just a few descriptions for this novel. Once again Karin Slaughter has created a cast of characters you immediately become attached to. The family in this novel are fractured but the dynamic between them is a joy to read. The little asides and arguments we all have are written elegantly and are often quite amusing. The tragedy in the story is sensitively handled even in it's most shocking and hard to read moments.


This has been marketed as The Good Daughter 1....I'm certainly hoping their are many more instalments to come.


I received this from Netgalley for an honest review.

I have read and enjoyed many of Karin Slaughters books and this is one I would put to the top of my list of most enjoyed. A really good plot, believable characters who I felt I knew by the end. I could not put this down, could not wait to get to the end but also did not want it to finish as I was enjoying the read so much. Thoroughly recommended, what more can I say!

This story unfolds gradually, revealing more of the truth about past events as spoken by those who experienced them. Two sisters undergo horrific trauma, but the true reality of what happened to each of them has remained suppressed, known only to a tiny number of people, including the perpetrators.

It's instinctive in most of us to want to find a hero and a villain in every story we read; in this novel that need becomes part of the story and leads to a twist even more shocking as a result. It's a very clever story, very well told, but...

While still happy to award this novel four stars, because it is a great read, i was left feeling as it it had all drawn to a close rather rapidly, once the original story was told. Slaughter carefully leads us along the path taken by her two leads, Charlotte and Sam, both during and after the events that changed their lives irrevocably. She draws us fine pictures of each woman and presents us with a villain to dislike, but then shows us that he's not perhaps as one-dimensional (and therefore awful and to blame) as much as we thought. This side of the book is excellent. However, i wish she had used her obvious talents to work deeper into the story that re-unites the sisters and allows for their eventual healing; the school shooting that promises to end the life of a child-woman who may actually be innocent of the crime. All the loose ends are wrapped up so fast i really felt I had missed something.

A good story, but it could have been great.

I simply loved the book. Although it started slow, once you got involved in the book it was hard to put it down. The story revolves around two sisters and how a tragedy turns their world upside down. A beautiful book.