HarperCollins Publishers | August 2017 | 512 pgs
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
This is my first Karin Slaughter standalone book and wow, what a compelling read!
Twenty-eight years ago, Samantha and Charlotte Quinn witnessed the murder and death of their mother. Zach and Daniel Culpepper, who broke into their house were actually looking for the girls' father, who is also Pikeville's most well-known and notorious defence attorney. His clients involve robbers, rapists and even murderers and for this, Rusty Quinn has often received death threats but nothing is serious until this tragedy. After their mother's death, Sam and Charlie Quinn fled for their life but each meets with a different destiny as one fight back while the other escape. Nevertheless, that fateful day remains a permanent scar for both Sam and Charlie, physically and emotionally as they grown into adults and each goes on her own way. And the Quinn family is never the same, again.
Now twenty-eight years later, like a good daughter Charlie follows Rusty's footsteps as a lawyer. Then a mass shooting incident left Pikeville in shock and in rage. Charlie isn't supposed to be at the scene, but she did and it left her traumatised by the sheer violence of it and worst of all being the first witness of the school tragedy. Kelly Wilson, the seventeen-year-old schoolgirl is found guilty for murdering the principal and an eight-year-old girl. As all evidence points to Kelly, Charlie is left with a bit of doubts as the murder weapon couldn't be found and on top of it Kelly's intellectual mind appears to be slightly lower than her peers. Faced with this tragedy which reminds her of the past, Charlie turns to her estranged elder sister, Sam. And both of them will soon discover that Kelly's case would unleash the shocking truth which destroyed their family many years ago.
Well, let me say The Good Daughter surprised me on many levels. Not only it was a good psychological suspense filled with intrigue and twists but it was also filled with heart, too. I've to confess it wasn't an easy read either, as there was violence and it made me ache reading what happened to the young victims as well as the Quinns sisters. Ms. Slaughter knows how to craft her story well and it shows in her writing, the tone and yes, the character development (of Charlie and Sam) too as this is very much about Charlie's story alongside the mass shooting incident. Reading about the Quinns family also struck a chord of various feelings in me; first empathy followed by a wave of melancholy which left a lump in my throat towards the finishing. It is rare that a crime thriller have that kind of effect in me. I'll have to check out her other stand-alones and her series books as well.
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