(70)The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Monday, August 4, 2014


Mia Dennett has always been a disappointment to her father, Judge Dennett.  He always had plans for his two daughters to follow in his legal footsteps, yet Mia never wanted to do exactly what her father wanted.  Instead she found an interest in art and went to school to be an art teacher.  So rather than being the high powered attorney like her sister, Mia is an art teacher in the inner city, making just a fraction of what the rest of her wealthy family makes.   One day Mia doesn't show up at work and with the help of Detective Gabe Hoffman, the Dennetts discover that Mia left the bar the night before with a strange man and she hasn't been seen since.  Slowly Detective Hoffman starts to piece things together and realizes that she was kidnapped by a man, Colin Thatcher.   He doesn't know why, there has been no ransom demand, he doesn't know where they have taken her.  And then Mia is found and they are still no closer to having answers.  She has blocked everything out from her time away and demands to be called Chloe.  Who was behind her kidnapping and why did they kidnap her?  And what happened to cause her to block everything out from those month?

The Good Girl is one of those books that will keep you guessing.   It is told in alternate voices from all sides of the kidnapping.  Mia's, Mrs. Dennett's, Detective Hoffman's and the kidnapper.  Colin Thatcher.   The further you get into the story the more you start to put together why Colin did what he did.  He didn't plan for things to turn out the way they did, but it happened and he just goes with it, regardless of his regrets.  Over her months of captivity, Mia starts to understand Colin more than she ever thought possible.  Some would call it Stockholm Syndrome, others would call it more. But it is easy to become sympathetic to Colin, to Mia, and Mrs. Dennett.  It is clear early on that the Judge is just a cold-hearted jackass and it is easy to see where the friction between him and Mia started. Meanwhile, the Detective is a compassionate man just trying to do his job and help a heartbroken mother. I will say that about three-quarters of the way through the book I started to suspect the big "twist" but that didn't stop me from racing to the last page to find out if I was right.

Bottom line, The Good Girl, is a very suspenseful novel.  The alternating voices makes it really hard for the reader to see things as "black or white" and I loved that.  I think by the time you get to the end of the book your head will be spinning from the wild conclusion, but aren't those books the best?


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