Review: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (July 29, 2014)
  • ISBN: 9780778316558
  • Source: Publisher

Mia Dennett is the daughter of a prominent Chicago judge.  As the black sheep of the family, she doesn’t necessarily have the strongest of relationships with her parents.

One night, Mia waits at a bar for her boyfriend. When he doesn’t show, she instead opts to go home with a stranger, Colin Thatcher.  That decision puts into motion a series of events that will change her family’s life forever.  Within moments of arriving in Colin’s apartment, he changes from a smooth-moving potential one-night stand to a gun-wielding threat.

It’s Colin’s responsibility to abduct Mia and deliver her to his employer. Yet as they are driving to the rendezvous point, Colin suddenly changes his mind, instead taking Mia to a secluded cabin in Minnesota. Evading the police as well as his employers, Colin soon realizes he can never return to his life. Instead, he and Mia camp out in the cabin, both soon realizing they will never be able to return to the life they once knew.

Meanwhile, Mia’s mother Eve and the detective assigned to the case, Gabe Hoffman, desperately try to find answers to questions about Mia’s disappearance. What they eventually uncover will shatter the Dennett family…forever.

Told from the points of view of each of the key players, the novel alternates between “Before” and “After” Mia’s abduction.  Mia spends their time isolated in the cabin to reflect back on her own life as well and the actions that led to her less than stellar relationship with her parents.  Eve, shattered by her daughter’s disappearance, reflects on her relationship with her daughter, also focusing on the decisions and actions that caused their relationship to shatter. Readers are even given a rare glimpse inside the head of Colin, Mia’s abductor, a rare opportunity to understand his motives and what led him to the position he is currently in. Unlike many other thrillers, readers will have a difficult time not sympathizing with Colin’s situation. Always with the best of intentions, circumstances in his life forced him to take a darker path in life.

The truly genuine nature of the characters are one of the many characteristics that make this thriller shine. They aren’t perfect, yet they aren’t particularly horrible either. They are truly well-meaning individuals forced to make unwise decisions due to circumstances in their lives.

From the beginning, readers know the basics of Mia’s abduction.  We know how, and when, but the why is left unanswered until the final mind-blowing pages.  This novel is often compared to Gone Girl, and unfair comparison in my mind. There was nothing desirable or endearing about the characters in Gone Girl, the only similarities are the shocking revelations made throughout the novel. And, unlike Gone Girl, I didn’t want to hurl the book at the wall when these big revelations were made. They made sense to me, not angering me but instead making me appreciate the author’s writing even more.

Bottom line: if you are looking for a twisty, contemplative thriller, The Good Girl is the book for you. Highly, highly recommended.

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