Absolutely loved this book! The complexities of the story and it's characters kept me gripped from start to finish. I particularly liked that there was actually two plots running concurrently, adding twists along the way.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first foray into Karin Slaughter's work, and I will definitely be picking up some more of her books!

This novel starts off with a flashback to the event that changed Charlie & Sam Quinn's lives forever, and it only gets more dramatic from there. The author weaves the present day easily into the story of what happened before, revealing just enough information here and there to keep you guessing. I like how the Quinn's story intersects with the main plot - and seeing which characters pop up in both.

Phew!! What a read that was, This is definitely apage turner, I could not put it down. Straight from the beginning I was with Charlie her frightening experience escalated as the truth came out and I just wanted to put my arms around her and hug her. It was only after time that I had the same empathy for Sam but the trauma they went through and then the shooting at the school was horrific and gave a worrying insight into law and order in Southern America. The shooting became a peripheral subject as the story developed and the relationship between Rusty, Sam and Charlie took over and became the focal point. A disturbing but enjoyable read that I recommend to everyone.

Karin Slaughter is an author I’d seen around for a while, but I’d never got around to picking up one of her books until now. I don’t know why it took me so long, because from the first few pages of this book I could tell this was a seasoned, skilled writer; her story jumps off the page and draws you in immediately.

The book opens in 1989, as young sisters Charlotte and Samantha are preparing for dinner. There’s no slow build-up here, we jump straight to action as the family evening is interrupted with a home intrusion which has devastating consequences.

Fast-forward 28 years later, and the sisters are living separate lives as they’ve moved on from their traumatic childhoods as best they can. They have both forged successful careers as lawyers, but yet more tragic events in their hometown force the two to come back together and confront their past in a dramatic courtroom drama.

This plot summary might sound fairly similar to other books of this genre, but the simple fact is that Karin Slaughter is a master of her craft. She breathes life into her characters and I was so invested in the two sisters’ characters and the small town life that I could barely put the book down. The author deftly weaves together multiple strands of mystery and tragedy – including murder, rape and a school shooting – spanning almost three decades. It’s emotional, intense and powerful reading; the traumatic events are portrayed so well that they feel disturbingly real, and the dual mysteries both from the past and present day are skillfully unravelled with writing which kept me on tenterhooks.

The Good Daughter has a good mix of everything; it’s a small town mystery, courtroom drama and dysfunctional family saga all rolled in together. It’s the best of both; a character-driven and plot-driven story; it’s definitely one of my favourite novels of this genre I’ve read in a good while, and it might even be a contender for one of my favourite books of the year.

A taut psychological thriller with compelling, larger-than-life characters and a gripping procedural mystery that is unveiled agonisingly slowly, while also dipping back into the past. The very different characters of the two sisters make a great balance (I had no idea they appeared in a prequel which I will now definitely read!) A very satisfying read for any fan of this genre.

3.5 stars. Another good read by this author. I enjoy all her books and this one didn’t disappoint

Another brilliant Karin Slaughter book. I really enjoy Karin's standalone books as she holds nothing back. From the 1st chapter you are gripped and all the way through until the very end as usual what you think is the truth is not the truth! A great book by one of my favourite authors

Before I start I just want to give a quick disclaimer:
When I write reviews I obviously try to be as impartial as possible but for the last 10 years I have girl crushed massively on Karin Slaughter. She is my number one author, I won multiple copies of all of her books, I stalk her on Facebook and auto-buy all of her new releases (even all the novellas). So I will try to be impartial but I love her!!
The Good Daughter begins with a flash back to the most horrific crime you could possibly imagine. Jump to now, we follow Charlie and Sam two estranged sisters who have been pulled back together and forced back to their hometown making them face 28 years worth or buried horror and family drama. Both sisters are formidable characters, they are tenacious, hard faced and determined.
Although it has been a couple of years since I have read one of my beloved Karin Slaughter books, it was nice to be introduced to fresh brand new characters. The Good Daughter differed from many other Slaughter reads as it wasn't just a cut and dry whodunit. We have much more family relations and emotional struggles all relating back to the first horrific incident. Although still with plenty of twist and turns, and many edge of   moments, this is definitely a character driven thriller.
My favorite character, and possibly one of my all time favorite characters has to be Gamma, she is so loving and caring, yet she is strong, strange, determined and unapologetically exceptional. For me she was the true gem of this book.
I absolutely loved the journey that the book had ten us on, it developed and progressed much further than I ever through it would go. I had no idea at any point in the book where it was going to finish. We began in such a tragic, dire situation and ended up in a beautiful heart warming place.

I loved this book, I laughed and cried. Although a true thriller, it was very much character driven, alternating between Charlie and Sam's POV. I enjoyed how differently refreshing it was.

4.5 Star!!

Ive always been a Karin Slaughter fan ever since i read her first novel, blindsighted. She writes complex believable characters so well, and her dialogue, which there is a lot of, is second to none. I have never read a bad book by her and i always come away feeling satisfied. This is arguably her best novel yet.

The novel starts out in a brutal fashion. Sam and Charlies mum is murdered in front of them by an estranged client of their father, Rusty. They are led into the woods where Sam is then shot and buried alive and Charlie flees, believing her sister to be dead. She isnt. This aint a spoiler, it says this info on the synopses.

28 years later and Charlie is involved in an horrific crime which draws her sister Sam back into her life.

Slaughter gets Charlie and Sams fragile relationship perfectly. By the end of the book i really felt for the both of them and the horrors that they had been through. Whilst there is an intriguing murder mystery (which did nor go where i expected it too) its these two characters and their father, Rusty which held my interest. I could have read another thousand pages with them and not been bored.

A fantastic novel. I urge you to read it.



Thanks to netgalley for the review copy.

This was an unpleasant read which really made me feel quite ill from early on. I continued reading because I had committed to reading and reviewing. I do not wish to give any spoilers in the review so will limit my comments. There is a brutal and extremely nasty murder graphically described near to the start of the book and the remainder of the story focuses on the immediate and future impact of this murder and its aftermath on two sisters. Another brutal murder 28 years later pushes one of the sisters to remember what she would prefer to forget. The author uses flashback to indicate what really happened to both sisters on the night of the murder. I found it somewhat irritating that these flashbacks frequently used repeated paragraphs. The relationship between the two sisters is well written but I have to say I did not warm to any of the characters.

This book wrecked me. Not for the faint hearted or stomach.

The opening of this book is stunning and I totally felt the emotions that the author was setting up... It is difficult to review in a way that justifies the five stars without having spoilers, but I would never do that with a book as complex and worth reading as this. Actually I would never do it, full stop.

There are twists and turns, relationships coming and going and all is beautifully captured. The cliche of "couldn't put it down" did not apply to me in this instance. I put it down several times, to catch my breath and consider what I had read. It was that affecting. Built around a school shooting and a small town with too many secrets, there are some lovely characters and also some who irritate constantly. And the whole builds to a satisfying climax.

Recommended for anyone who likes thrillers, emotional reads and thought provoking writing.

I was given a free copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

The first half of this book suffers from a lot of repetition. Samantha tells her story, then we hear Charlotte's version of the exact same events. I understand using this technique if the second version deviates from the first or there's some fresh insight/perspective, but there wasn't. The stories are the same until each character goes their separate ways (I want to avoid spoilers here).

The the repetition starts again when we are told what happens in the school & then later Charlotte repeats all this to the police. Again, that's fine if we're going to be told something new, but we weren't.
This made it a bit of a drudge to get through.

Things significantly picked up however once we were introduced to Mrs Wilson & Kelly. Straight away you start to think something isn't right here. I was reminded of Making Of A Murder, which made me feel uncomfortable. Which a good book in this genre should.

The second half must have been good, because it made me miss lunch! It's served until 3 & I was reading solidly 12 until 3.15!!

I don't want to give any details away, but there were twists I wasn't expecting & I started to really feel for these sisters in a way that I hadn't in the first half. They turned into characters I cared for.

This was my first book by this author & I am keen to read more.

Despite it being unnecessarily repetitive initially, the author kept me page turning throughout the second half without resorting to this being a typical OTT shock every page thriller. The legal scenes were fantastic. As we're the rather terrifying & heartbreaking scenes with Kelly. Great read.

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy smalltown family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father – Pikeville's notorious defence attorney – devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father's footsteps to become a lawyer herself – the archetypal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again – and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatised – Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first 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. Because the shocking truth about the crime which destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won't stay buried forever …

I must seriously ask myself a question now. Why have I never read a Karin Slaughter book before? And I can’t answer that question …

This book just took me to smalltown and I was part of the family. I was devastated when Charlotte and Samantha lost their mother. I was equally devastated when I found out what had happened to the girls afterwards (no spoilers). I cried big ugly tears over this book.

I loved this book and will definitely read more by Karin Slaughter. 5*

At the heart of The Good Daughter is a terrifying act of violence against a family. This act of violence reverberates through time and its effects are still being felt decades later when one of the survivors of the original attack is witness to another shocking act of violence. Despite the indefatigability of the human spirit, are there some events it is simply not possible to recover from? And what does it mean to be good? Atmospheric, compelling and with difficult, complex characters, this is an excellent standalone thriller from the always excellent Karin Slaughter.

Except for a short story that was part of Pretty Girls, I've never read anything by Karin Slaughter before. Many people had amazing things to say about her books and loved them dearly, so I knew my time had to come sometime. And so it did. In a way, this thriller was different than the ones I had read the months before. Maybe its length and therefore the ability to develop the characters better also played a part in that.

The dynamic of the Quinn's and the overall dynamic and structure of Pikeville were amazing and well detailed. A huge part of The Good Daughter was depending on the feeling those two parts portrayed. The world was so well built that I would instantly read another story from one of the characters in Pikeville if it were written.

The repetition of the key event in this book was fundamentally important to the plot, at least in my opinion. It was intense and even though it was repeated it offered more insight in the feelings and horrible experiences the Quinn sisters hat to go through. Near the end it got so intense and heart-stopping that I nearly started crying, which I hardly ever do when it comes to thrillers because I felt so sick of all the bad things that had happened.

It was a lovely reading experience and a lengthy one at that, but I did get something in return from this book for the time I have invested in it.

A strong thriller, but still a little hollow. The charcters have potential but mainly it felt like a stage setter for a series. I would give a sequel a chance in the hope that it takes off, but if it doesn't feel stronger i would bail at the point

A first rate thriller that barrelled along at a fast pace. Gripping yet unsettling. This was not just a story of murders and the solving of them but a strong background story of the main characters and how they had been affected.
The family of small town lawyer Rusty is blown apart by 2 linked events resulting in the murder of the mother Gamma, and life changing physical and mental damage to the two daughters, Charlie and Sam who become estranged. Charlie is still in the same town following in her fathers footsteps as a lawyer . some 28 years after the first incident there is a shooting at e school witnessed by Charlie and this sets off another string off problems. It does bring the sisters back into contact but will the solving of this bring about their reconciliation ? The telling of the tale unravels with forays into the past and present linking characters together in this convoluted tale. Old wounds are opened up and secrets unravelled before the well sculpted conclusion.

A great read. The Good Daughter follows two sisters from a devastating family event that they both carry scars from into the current day when a school shooting will reopen old wounds and provide some unexpected answers. A complex plot but Karin Slaughter keeps the focus and pacing on track and throws in the occasional twist and turn to move the story on. Her style is punchy and pleasing, this novel is a progression in her writing which is good to see, An author to stick with.

<b>3.5 Stars </b>

Karen Slaughter really does pack a punch in this novel and I for one was left floored by the initial few chapters as she certainly knows how to write a story and captivate her audience.

This was actually my first novel by this author and I had read many wonderful reviews about her books over the years but as I am not a huge fan of crime /mystery fiction I had passed her by but something about this book caught my eye and I had to try it.

Not a book for the feint hearted by any means as this one is raw, gritty and quite an intense read. Great characters and well written and I can see why lovers of this genre rate this writer so highly.

The first half of the novel was intense and really engrossing if a little dark and gritty but I did feel the book lagged a little by the end and perhaps that is more my struggle with the crime / mystery genre than the actual story or writing.

Would I try another Karin Salughter....................ABSOLUTELY as I think I have just dipped my toe in the water with this writer and have probably missed out on some of her best books.

My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.