Pretty Girls: A Psychological Thriller Novel Exploring Secrets and Lies Among Sisters Paperback – February 7, 2017

This story’s highly disturbing but at the same time really good because the characters are well thought out and it throws in a crazy plot twist that becomes a page turner for the rest of the book. The torture descriptions were horrific and hard to read but it brought up the intensity in the story by several levels when it came to understanding the pure evil monsters/men responsible for the crimes. The last letter was heartbreaking but comforting and I’ll be reading more books from this author because the writing’s great!

The plot of this book is incredible. And a good read but veryyyy disturbing. I didn’t want to keep reading but I couldn’t stop reading.I probably wouldn’t recommend this to someone because it is seriously twisted and gave me nightmares, but I am still giving it 4 stars because of the juicy plot.I also always enjoy sisters and families against the world.

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter is an absolutely gripping read from start to finish. The storyline is intense and emotional, centered around family, loss, and the unbreakable bond between sisters. Slaughter masterfully develops the characters, especially the strong female lead, making them feel real and deeply layered. The plot is full of twists that keep you guessing without ever feeling forced.My only minor critique is that some of the chapters felt a bit long, which occasionally slowed the pacing—but even then, I couldn’t stop reading. If you enjoy dark thrillers with emotional depth and strong character arcs, this one is a must-read.

Good story, and some likable characters. Way too graphic at about 2/3 of the way through. The descriptions of torture were more than what was necessary to get the point. And for the last 1/4 of the book I largely skimmed the overly wordy and repetitive text just to finally get to the resolution. I found each of the interludes took me too much out of the flow of the story and mostly just annoyed me. The reveals in those could have been done within the main parts of the story. Overall a good read, and I would have given it four stars if it hadn’t been for the unnecessary and over the top depictions of violence and torture.

PRETTY GIRLS [2015] By Karin SlaughterMy Review Five Stars*****I was already a fan of Karin Slaughter's novels two decades ago when I was renting books on tape to “read” during the extensive driving that was required by my job at the time. It was more recently (2018) that I decided to read both her GRANT COUNTY and WILL TRENT series in chronological order. A few were re-reads but even those were exceptionally entertaining. Slaughter quickly ascended to the list of my top five authors on the planet Earth. I was “blown away” by the sheer power of Slaughter’s works, and as I commented in a review of her debut novel BLINDSIGHTED [2001] she is the author that set the new gold standard for excellence. I had already read the entire WILL TRENT series before I began the earlier GRANT COUNTY books. She did not stop writing after half a dozen novels, or continue to write but with diminishing returns. We refer to "Early Cornwell", "Early Patterson", "Early Koontz".. and at least in my case "Early Stephen King" for a reason.The NYT Bestseller PRETTY GIRLS was released six years ago but it was the first standalone novel I’ve read by Karin Slaughter. It was so riveting that I would have stayed up all night to finish it if I hadn’t had commitments. Even so, I finished it in two sittings. I absolutely LOVED it. That was hardly a surprise to me. I have commented in the past that I become so completely mesmerized by her novels that I become almost oblivious to my immediate environment. I think there could be a tornado roaring like a train, a home invasion in progress, or a house fire blazing and I would still be holding my Kindle in a death grip reading her words and turning pages. She has the power to invoke what I like to refer to as “immediacy”. As a reader I feel like I am right there in the moment.This doesn’t need to be a long or wordy review. Amazon has logged 8642 ratings so heaven only knows how many readers rated this bestseller on Goodreads. I just looked it up and the answer is a whopping 205,017 (to include 18,548 reviews)! Tess Gerritsen, also among my top five favorite writers, commented that Slaughter is “One of the boldest thriller writers working today”. Translated that means that Slaughter does in fact “write with a razor” and her characters and scenes cut to the quick. If a reader doesn’t want to encounter raw realism and brutal reality, then stay away from Slaughter. Her works slice to the bone and deliver a visceral punch to the gut and a precordial thump to the heart that sends our emotions in freefall. Like Gillian Flynn has been quoted so often “I’d follow her anywhere”. I have to read the rest of her standalone works on my Kindle. I intentionally wanted to parse them out to prolong the thrill, but PRETTY GIRLS was so d--- great I’m not sure I can wait.The most impressive characteristic of Karin Slaughter’s works IMO is that the creative genius she possesses does not seem to give any indication of waning. Her ability to take the reader into the darkest most depraved minds and acts of sadistic predation on women sets her apart from anyone writing today. She doesn’t hesitate to “pull the trigger” on the sickest and most shocking scenes with forensic details that are not for everyone. Slaughter’s peers are writing crime fiction that tackles the same underlying theme of violent crimes against women, and their works include riveting thrillers that knock my socks off. It isn’t that the works of giants like Gerritsen and prolific authors like Hoag cannot deliver the goods on this theme. There is just “something” about Slaughter that goes where no mainstream crime fiction queen has gone before. Gerritsen called it “bold” and I think that’s putting it mildly.I have to say as I am ready to post my own “two cents worth” that I am surprised by not only the number of negative reviews I see but also by their relevant fervor about the visceral impact and graphic depiction of violence in PRETTY GIRLS. This is a small percentage of readers when you consider the whole of course. In any case, I find it annoying those readers post reviews saying they cannot bear to finish the book…that there ought to be warnings about the content, and so on. Good heavens. If you don’t want your emotions and your sensibilities to be stripped raw then don’t read Karin Slaughter’s works.

Claire and Lydia have been estranged for over a decade now but the death of Claire’s husband brings them back together unexpectedly. You see, Paul wasn’t the man that Claire thought he was. He was a rapist, a sadist and a murderer. He was making films of him torturing and killing and violating these teenage girls and selling them to the highest bidder all around the world making millions. When Claire and Lydia find this out and finally find out that their long missing older sister was one of these girls they’re ready to call the police but when Paul shows up, not really dead and kidnaps Lydia, Claire does everything in her power to save her sister and make sure Paul pays for what he’s done.This plot line was good, and had the potential to be really great but it was so hard to read. The whole book was in third person and it got confusing sometimes to read, especially in the beginning when you didn’t know who all the characters are. The action didn’t really start to ramp up until about 80% and it was pretty predictable. Not as good as everyone was hyping it up to be. I think the story would’ve been a lot better if it was from different pov’s and you could feel and hear what the person was thinking throughout the book.

I will warn you, the torture and murder descriptions are brutal. Possibly the worst I have read. However, they got to me, as I’m sure they were meant to. The story was gripping, the mystery, twists and turns were shocking, but also made sense. And I cried at the end. I couldn’t have asked for more from this book.