Saturday, August 12, 2017

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter


Paul has always been there for Claire.  He is a successful architect and she has never had to work.  Instead she has led the typical successful suburban life with tennis and shopping.  He came into her life back in college where she was still reeling from the disappearance of her sister, Julie, a few years before.  Julie was never found and her loss tore Claire's family apart.  Her parents divorced and her sister Lydia escaped into drugs and terrible men.  But Paul took her away from all that and gave her a wonderful life.

Then tragedy strikes again.  On the way from a restaurant to their car, the couple is attacked in an alley.  Claire survives but Paul is knifed and loses his life while trying to save her.  In the days after, Claire is reeling and unable to fathom how she will ever move on.  Then she opens a computer file on Paul's computer and life will never be the same.  Apparently her wonderful husband hid lots of secrets and none of them are good.  Soon Claire is pushed into the fight of her life as she attempts to solve the mystery of what Paul was up to and to put her shattered family back together.

Karin Slaughter is one of the stars on the mystery/thriller scene these days.  Her plots are compelling and she can make the most unusual events seem inevitable.  Claire isn't an ordinary heroine; when the reader meets her she is dependent and spoiled, thinking only of herself.  Watching her rise above her decades old stupor to do something to help others is empowering and the reader is firmly on Claire's side.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

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