Good Me Bad Me was a hard read and I do not think this book will be for everyone. If sexual assault, violence against children, or bullying is a trigger for you then you need to skip this book. That being said, once I started reading it I could not put it down and I read it in one sitting. So if you can stomach the content it is definitely a worthwhile read. The story is told from the perspective of Milly, a teenage girl who has turned her mother in to the authorities after she endured years of horrific torture at her mother’s hands and was forced to watch her abduct and kill numerous children. This book is an intense character study of Milly and how she reconciles what she has lived with while trying to integrate in to a foster family and society and be a “normal” girl. This book is certainly a slow burn, but I thought the author did an excellent job of putting me inside the head of such a tormented, complex character. 4 chilling stars.

UK author Ali Land has dedicated her new breakout psychological gripping thriller to mental nurses everywhere. In fact, it happened to be a conversation the author had with a teenage girl when she was working as a mental health nurse that sparked the idea for the book.

Ultimately this became her chilling debut hit, GOOD ME BAD ME. An Interview with Ali Land

Land, once a full-time nurse to a full-time writer. It seems her former career has inspired new talent in the area of mental health; crosses psychological thriller. This is one highly courageous debut novel, and can only imagine how difficult this was to write — as she delves into the disturbing mind of a teenage girl.

Milly (Annie) tries so desperately to be good. However, is this possible? A strong contender for debut of the year!

“ . . . The playground. That’s what she called it. Where the games were evil, and there was only ever one winner. When it wasn’t my turn, she made me watch. A peephole in the wall. Asked me afterward. What did you see, Annie? What did you see?” . . .

“Forgive me when I tell you it was me. It was me that told.”

Annie’s mother Ruth is a serial, killer. (Peter Pan Killer). Her mom kidnapped and murdered children.

Annie has finally turned over her mom to the authorities. She loves her but she must keep her from killing other children.

Now she has a new family with a new name. Milly. This is her chance to start over.

Or so she thinks . . .

A foster dad named Mike. A psychologist, an expert in trauma. His wife Saski and daughter Phoebe. (Phoebe is not so nice). Phoebe turns out to be a bully, making it more difficult for Milly. She turns others at school against her.

Milly has enough problems with the stress of her traumatic childhood, sexual abuse, the guilt of her mother and the damage she has inflicted on her daughter, plus the upcoming trial, and now this girl and this family.

Plus, the voices in her head. The continued taunting voices from her mom. The lessons she taught her.

She curls up in the floor. She read once that people who are violent are hotheaded, while psychopaths are cold hearted. Hot and cold. Head and heart. But what if you come from a person who’s both?

What happens then?

The person Milly wants to run from is also the person she wants to run to. Game on.

Milly has secrets. What is she hiding?

Will she ever be normal growing up with an abusive and murderous mother? Good or bad?

She wants desperately to do the right thing, but her mother’s voice urging her on to do bad things. A child groomed and sexualized from a very young age, now fifteen. She has to take the stand.

“Good me. Bad me. Siamese twins inside of me at war.”

The upcoming trial and the dreams. Now another toxic home. What happens when the trial is over? Can Milly fit in anywhere? Maybe she thinks there may be no place.

A skillfully woven plot, with an unreliable narrator, GOOD ME BAD ME is heart wrenching, engrossing, terrifying, disturbing and filled with horror, tension, and suspense.

This unsettling yet gripping tale will keep you glued to the pages. The author does an outstanding job of portraying mental and physical damages and trauma to a young disturbed girl and its outcome… A struggle between good and evil.

For fans of Ruth Ware, Candice Fox, Wendy Walker, Louise Jensen, Jennifer Jaynes, and Jennifer Hillier. Looking forward to seeing what’s next. (love the cover and the twisty conclusion).

A special thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

JDCMustReadBooks

Compelling! Explosive! Dark! You can forget about doing anything else while reading this book. I ate little, slept little, thought about little else but this book. It will be talked about and discussed and it is amazing that this is a debut book. Millie is the daughter of a serial killer, her Mom. Millie actually turned her Mom in to the Police, she wanted the killing and torturing of children to stop. While waiting for the trial to begin, Millie (real name Annie) is placed with a foster family, Mike, a psychologist, his wife Saskia and their daughter Phoebe. Very few people actually know who she really is. Phoebe is a bully, life at school for Millie becomes very hard. Millie counts the days until the trial is to start. Her Mom's voice is often in her head, and while Millie despises what her mother has done, she still wants to please her. Her Mom began grooming Millie at the age of five, and this included sexual abuse. Millie wants a new start, a nice new family but she is, after all, her mother's daughter. This book gripped me from the very beginning, it is more than intense.

Good Me, Bad Me is one of those propulsive thrillers you can’t put down, even though you ask, “Why am I reading this?” It is Ali Land’s debut novel and succeeds at drawing readers in and never letting go.

It begins cryptically, narrated in the first person by a young teen named Millie asking to be forgiven for telling. It soon becomes clear that she is talking to her mother, who has been arrested after Millie went to the police and exposed her as a serial murderer. She is now living with a foster family while preparing to testify at her mother’s trial. The family has fostered many children over the years and Mike, the father, is a mental health professional. His wife, Saskia, seems troubled and their daughter Phoebe is resentful of yet one more problem child to take their attention away from her.

Millie has spent her lifetime appearing calm and normal on the surface while hiding secrets underneath and it would be naive to think that changed after she turned her mother in. She still keeps her secrets and some are quite terrifying. Some are more mundane, such as never telling Mike and Saskia how Phoebe torments and bullies her in school.



Good Me, Bad Me asks what happens to a child raised by an abusive, murderous mother. Land asks how elements of nature and nurture will influence Millie and whether she will choose good or bad. For Millie, she wonders if she even has a choice.

I thought the story was well-paced and engrossing, though I was not surprised by Millie’s secrets, not even her final secret. Those events did follow naturally from her revealed character. It may seem strange that Mike, a professional in mental health, would be oblivious to his daughter’s pain and his wife’s addictions, but there is a reason “Physician, heal thyself.” is a quote nearly everyone knows. Phoebe is the shoemaker’s daughter…and while she seems flat compared to the other characters, her circumstance seems realistic.

This is an entertaining, fast-paced thriller and many people will enjoy it a lot. I keep telling myself I am not going to read another “bad seed” book, but you know, when they are this much entertainment, I can’t seem to stop myself.

Good Me, Bad Me will be released September 5th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Good Me, Bad Me is one f*cked up character study of the daughter of a serial killer.

15 year old Annie, daughter of the notorious “Peter Pan” serial killer is struggling with the darkness inside her. For the majority of her childhood, she witnessed her mother kidnap and murder children. Annie was forced to participate in her mother’s sick and twisted games. She also was subjected to years of physical, mental, and sexual abuse.

When finally turns her mother into the police, Annie is given the opportunity to start over and create a new identity. She is taken in by a foster family and assumes the identity of “Milly.” Milly strives to be good, but she constantly hears her mother’s voice urging her to do bad things. Milly can’t let go of her mother and she is acutely aware that her mother was grooming her to be just like herself. What choice will she make? Will she revert back to Annie or embrace Milly?

Told through Milly’s voice, little snippets of her relationship with her mother are revealed throughout. These parts are the hardest to read--at times, I had to put the book down and just walk away as the dark, brutal images got under my skin.

Good Me, Bad Me is not for everyone. There isn’t much action, as the majority of the book the reader is in Milly’s head learning about what she is thinking and feeling vs.what she did with her mom and what her mom did to her. Since I tend to like books with twisted and disturbing characters and stories, this one worked for me!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Courage. To move forward, to face the future, to live. Milly must have courage.

Born Annie, Milly faced a life unable to be even slightly understood by anyone else. The daughter of a serial murderer. Kept in the house with the playground - the room where it all happened. She was forced by her mother to be an active participant in the life she chose for them - bringing home innocents from her day to make them her own. After 9 innocents came in but never left, Annie could no longer go along, she went to the police.

Now Milly lives with protective family of a psychologist while preparing to face the past. She is her mother's daughter so Milly must choose how the past will influence her future.

It's tough to write a review that dissents from what seem to be the prevailing opinions. This book was disturbing and twisted with complicated characters, for certain, but it's hard to agree with reviews and statements calling this book a great work psychological suspense (to summarize) as it was entirely predictable. On the positive side, he author wrote a convincing portrait of a psychologically broken girl and the unspeakably horrible environment she grew up in. However, I kept expecting a twist I couldn't see coming from far away and that never materialized. I hope to see more from this author, as I think the book shows promise and an expertise in character.

Ohhhhhhh my goodness!! I love a good psychological thriller and Good Me Bad Me is one of the best I've read all year!!!!! Ali Land brilliantly writes a twisted, dark and frightening tale that will just about give you motion sickness with all of the unexpected twists and turns!! I thought the storyline was extremely well thought out and the pacing was perfect. If found Ali Land's writing style edgy and captivating which added so much to the mysteriousness of the plot. I stayed up waaaaay past my bedtime glued to my kindle because this story was completely and utterly engrossing. Ali Land has truly wow'ed me with this 5+++ star novel and I am so excited to see with what she comes out with next!! Good Me Bad Me is a novel you do not want to miss!!

This was a great thriller! When young Milly is placed in foster care awaiting the trial of her abusive, killer mother, she is both frightened and happy that the nightmare is finally over. But her kind and compassionate foster father has a daughter, Phoebe who is jealous of all the attention given to others and begins to bully Milly at home and school. But Milly has her own secrets and will not take it all in stride. Groomed from an early age to obey her mother and desperate for love, Milly has a dark side of her own that is revealed after the trial. Often painful to read, this was a chilling and fascinating look at the consequences of abuse and the ability to survive in an often-hostile world.

Milly is starting her new life with a foster family with her new name to hide her true identity, you see Milly is really Annie, the daughter of a serial killer awaiting trial. Not only is Milly a serial killer’s daughter but she herself is the one that went to the police and turned her mother in to stop her from killing any more children.

Now living in the home of Mike, a psychologist working with Milly, and his family including his wife and daughter, Milly finds herself trying to come to terms with her mother. Her new life isn’t exactly easy for Milly either though, Mike’s daughter makes a point to bully Milly not liking that her parents didn’t keep their promise of no more foster children and Milly also has to prepare for her mother’s upcoming trial in which Milly is the key witness.

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land is one that caught my attention after seeing tons of great reviews on the book so since it sounded right up my alley I thought I would fall in love with this book. When finished however I rather thought the story was more of one that is just alright, it’s good but not as great as I was expecting it to be.

My first issue with this one came with getting used to Milly/Annie’s narrative in the story. It really does fit the character quite well but it also took some getting used to for me since Milly spends alot of time in her own head speaking with her mother and going over events.

Once I got used to that though the book picked up and took off but then my second complaint came into play… There was no amazing twist or shocking reveal in my opinion. The story really just seemed to go right to the obvious to me so I was left with wanting a bit more unfortunately. Perhaps this is just because I read so much but that did end up bringing my rating down a bit more.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

All I can say is wow, a must read, could not put it down. Looking forward to the next one by this author. Would highly recommended

Good Me, Bad Me is a twisting thriller that will have you guessing until the end. I love thrillers, psychological thrillers even more and this one does not disappoint. The author is actually a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Nurse so she really gets how the adolescent mind works and does a great job in showing you how a young child can be affected by the goings on in the home.
Throughout the book there are hints as to who "Killed" but your thoughts will jump back and forth until the last page.