Book review: The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

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The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter is powerful and poignant.  With a beautifully structured plot involving flashbacks combined with present day narrative, Slaughter creates a story that is emotionally riveting from page one.

The novel opens with a scene from twenty eight years ago when two young sisters are practicing relay under their mother, Gamma's tutelage.  It soon become clear that they have recently moved into the 'higgledy piggledy' house because their own home has been burned to the ground in an arson attack prompted by their lawyer father  Rusty's insistence on defending clients that would otherwise be disenfranchised.
Within hours their family has been decimated... their mother shot, and the two girls facing death at the hands of two of their father's ex-clients.



Fast forward twenty-eight years and a school shooting once more necessitates Rusty defending a disenfranchised girl with a low IQ accused of shooting her teacher and a young pupil at her high school... The problem is , Rusty's daughter Charlotte, is a key witness.

Slaughter's rich characterization really encapsulated Rusty and Gamma (the girl's parents) for me. With seemingly effortless skill she paints the picture of two eccentric but totally in love people through the eyes of their daughters.

The Good Daughter is all about making a journey of discovery, letting go , accepting, moving on and most of all its about truth and being true to your inner core.
I found this book enthralling and immensely believable.  The sense of place... that small town mentality with a huge divide between the very rich and the very poor was palpable.  The emotional torture of the sisters was convincing.

One of those reads that'll leave you panting for more.  I loved it!