Pieces of Her

By: Karin Slaughter

“Love doesn’t keep you in a constant state of turmoil. it gives you peace.”

Andrea, Andy, had a seemingly normal life with her mom and stepdad, who were divorced. While living at home was not ideal for a woman her age, she went back home to help her mom when her mom had cancer, and never left. She got a job as a police dispatcher and worked nights. Andy and her mother, Laura, went to a diner for lunch on her birthday And that was the day when everything changed – Andy’s life and everything that Andy knew about her mother. While at the diner, a shooter began shooting into the diner. Laura rushed toward the shooter, and as he pulled out a knife, Laura put her hand up and the knife went through her hand. Video of the incident showed Laura’s face as serene. This unfolded a series of events that led Andy to believe that her mother is not who she makes herself out to be.

I personally loved the first 100 pages of this book, and then it went completely downhill. There were so many characters and nicknames that it got confusing. The characters lacked any depth. When you find out who some of them really are, it’s rushed. The story gets so convoluted that it gets confusing at times.

The book alternates sections between the present and the past until they eventually line up – nothing new or creative there. It was very easy to figure out how all the pieces went together. I was never held in suspense, I was never turning pages so quickly so that I could figure out what was going to happen. In fact, I forced myself to finish this and was very bored by it.

I’ve never read any other books by Karin Slaughter, but if this is any indication of how her other books are, I won’t be read them.

However, if you enjoy Karin Slaughter books, and want to give this one a try, you can do so here.