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    The Good Daughter
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    The Good Daughter
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    The Good Daughter
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Good Daughter

    Written by Alexandra Burt

    Narrated by Hillary Huber and Ann Marie Lee

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    ‘A stunning read from a superb storyteller.’ Clare Mackintosh

    From the #1 ebook and Sunday Times bestseller, comes the tale of a young woman in search of her past, and the mother who will do anything to keep it hidden…

    What if you were the worst crime your mother ever committed?

    Dahlia Waller’s childhood memories consist of stuffy cars, seedy motels, and a rootless existence traveling the country with her eccentric mother. Now grown, she desperately wants to distance herself from that life. Yet one thing is stopping her from moving forward: she has questions.

    In order to understand her past, Dahlia must go back. Back to her mother in the stifling town of Aurora, Texas. Back into the past of a woman on the brink of madness. But after she discovers three grave-like mounds on a neighbouring farm, she’ll learn that in her mother’s world of secrets, not all questions are meant to be answered…

    The Good Daughter is a compelling take on a genre that shows no sign of slowing down. The perfect read for fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateFeb 23, 2017
    ISBN9780008197933
    Unavailable
    The Good Daughter
    Author

    Alexandra Burt

    Alexandra was born in Fulda, Germany, a baroque town in the East Hesse Highlands. After the birth of her daughter she became a freelance translator, determined to acknowledge the voice in the back of her head prompting her to break into literary translations. The union never panned out and she decided to tell her own stories instead. Alexandra is a proud member of Sisters In Crime, a nationwide network of women crime writers.

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    Reviews for The Good Daughter

    4/5

    523 ratings49 reviews

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    • 4/5
      4.5 stars.

      The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter is an utterly spellbinding mystery that is also quite heartrending.

      Twenty-eight years ago, thirteen year old Charlotte (Charlie) Quinn, her fifteen year old sister Samantha (Sam) and their mother Gamma are brutally attacked in their home by two masked gunman. The perpetrators were searching for patriarch Rusty, a reviled criminal defense attorney whose client list features such lowlifes as rapists, killers and drug dealers. In the present, Rusty’s clientele is much the same and Charlie is a criminal defense attorney who is currently separated from her husband, ADA Ben Bernard. Following a one night stand with a stranger, Charlie discovers she and her hook-up have inadvertently switched cell phones. Going to the local middle school to exchange phones, Charlie finds herself in the middle of a school shooting that stirs up all of the unresolved trauma from her past. In the aftermath of the devastating shooting, two people are dead and Rusty quickly agrees to represent the alleged shooter, Kelly Wilson, and Charlie is forced to confront the demons that have haunted her for the last twenty-eight years.

      Charlie is not one to mince words and she might have a tough outer shell, but she is still clearly traumatized by the attack that forever altered her family’s lives. At one time blissfully happy with Ben, her caustic tongue and endless haranguing in recent years have finally driven him to leave her. Making no progress in fixing her tattered marriage, Charlie’s one night stand with a stranger is completely out of character and she is deeply ashamed of this decision. Now a witness in the case against Kelly, Charlie is stunned to realize she harbors doubts about Kelly’s guilt despite the fact the teenager was literally caught red-handed at the scene of the crime.

      As events play out after the shooting, Charlie must finally deal with the trauma from the childhood attack. Although she shares office space with Rusty, she is NOT his legal partner and they manage to put aside their ideological differences. Their exchanges are playful but their discussions lack depth or much substance. While Ben knows about what happened to Charlie, her past is clearly still affecting her behavior and decisions, yet she refuses to discuss it with him or anyone else.

      The Good Daughter is a dark and gritty mystery but there are surprisingly humorous, laugh out loud passages that lighten the storyline. The characters are brilliantly developed, deeply flawed yet personable and even some of the “bad” guys manage to elicit sympathy. The two story arcs seamlessly flow together and it is impossible to say which storyline is more compelling. Karin Slaughter brings the novel to a jaw-dropping, twist-filled conclusion that wraps up all of the loose ends. An absolutely enthralling mystery that fans of the genre do NOT want to miss.
    • 4/5
      A bit gory but a good read. Opened up something within that began to heal while reading it.
    • 3/5
      This was just an okay book for me. It started out promising enough but quickly lost steam. It got a little confusing as the chapters jumped from Dahlia to Quinn to Aella to Memphis. I figured out the 'mystery' pretty early on and it was just a matter of waiting for the characters to put the pieces together. The characters didn't have a lot of depth to them and the book itself was pretty slow. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
    • 3/5
      Twenty eight years ago Samantha and Charlotte's life is torn apart when something horrific happens to their family. Twenty eight years later the estranged sisters are back together and have to deal with their past.This is the first book I have read by Karin Slaughter. I decided to try a stand alone rather than a series. First impressions are that I enjoy the book to a degree.The story begins with the family tragedy and then does return to the events through out the story. The story is very gritty and hard hitting with graphic details of violence and gore. I quite enjoyed the story as a whole and was satisfied with the twists and the ending. What I did find however was that I found the story overlong. At times I was ready to either give up or flick pages when something would happen and my interest was drawn back in.I can't say that is book is the authors best or not as it's my first read. However there was enough that I did enjoy for me to pick up another at a later date.
    • 4/5
      I had trouble getting into this at first because of how it bounced around but once I hit the halfway point I really could not put it down.

      Not a light fluffy read or something that I will read again but a good read all the same.
    • 4/5
      I haven't read a Slaughter book in a while and am very glad I got around to reading this one. Some good twists and turns and I couldn't help but like Rusty, Charlie, and Sam. The only thing that bothered me was the repetition involved with the "what happened to X" bits. I think it that had been done differently, I probably would have gone with a solid five stars. I liked the shit out of this book.
    • 5/5
      I read a 700 page book in 2 days, if that doesn't tell you how good it is, nothing else will!
    • 5/5
      So far the best Karin Slaughter book I've read. I was surprised to find out all the players actually involved. It's nice not to guess everything early on.
    • 5/5
      This book is about so much. It's a mystery on top of a mystery. It's about family relationships. There are terrible tragedies. It has tons of heartstring pullers. The Good Daughter kept me 100% interested for the entire read. I definitely recommend it.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent novel. It is a stand-alone story so if you have not previously read any of Karin Slaughter's work don't worry there is nothing to catch up with, no need to know background standing in the way of simply enjoying this fantastic novel.This is a powerful story, defining the meaning of good and evil. Questioning the deeper motives of people and examining the reasons why people do as they do.The same set of circumstances viewed by different people can have very different outcomes. As a reader, it is necessary to be paying close attention to the smallest of detail in this closely plotted story but the reward is a total involving, thoroughly gripping novel which lingers in the mind a long time after reading it is finished.
    • 5/5
      Great Legal Thriller! Although very graphic, it was a total winner. A real page turner!
    • 5/5
      Karin Slaughter's THE GOOD DAUGHTER is so absorbing and unputdownable, I cannot recommend it highly enough. So how can this review do it justice? I’ll try.Certainly, the most important factor is that this is both a character-driven and plot-driven novel, not one or the other. Although Slaughter has written plenty of great books with that characteristic, this one may be her best or at least one of.Two sisters, Charlotte (Charlie)13 and Samantha (Sam) 15, and their mother are involved in a home invasion. The mother is killed, and the daughters endure horrors that affect the rest of their lives. Therefore, although the story continues with the aftermath and the sisters’ lives 28 years later, that one event stays with them and affects nearly everything they do. When Charlie and Sam are in their 40s, both lawyers but in different states, they are again brought together. Their father Rusty, also a lawyer, has been stabbed, probably because of a case he is working on. Sam temporally takes over.There has been a school shooting. Rusty’s client is the apparent shooter, and Sam and then Charlie discover more about her and about the case. Can it be somehow tied to their own home-invasion case of years earlier?There is so much more to this story and to the characters, but this is the general plot. Remember, though, that THE GOOD DAUGHTER is character driven as well. They are mysteries as much or more than the circumstances.This short review doesn’t do justice to such a great book. Maybe that’s because I’m always careful to not include spoilers. But do yourself a favor: read it.
    • 5/5
      Excellent twists and turn but half way through the book I can guess who is the real shooter in school.
    • 5/5
      Twenty-eight years ago, two masked men broke into defense attorney Rusty Quinn’s home with a plan to kill him and steal the money he allegedly had hidden there. Rusty wasn't home but his wife and two daughters were. Things take a turn for the worse when they shoot Gamma Quinn, Rusty's wife. Charlotte runs for help but the killers shoot Samantha in the head and bury her alive.

      Fast forward to modern times where Charlie is still living in the same town and working as a defense lawyer alongside her father. When a series of events lead her to be at the school at the same time an active shooter is there, she is forced to remember the emotions and memories of her own decades old tragedy. A security video recording seems to suggest the shooting itself was not what it first seemed to be and Charlie needs some help to mount a defense on behalf of 18-year-old Kelly Wilson, the girl who is charged in the shootings.

      While Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series is one of my favorites, you just can't go wrong by picking up any of her books. This one is full of twists and turns, but is still an intriguing story filled with fascinating characters. Slaughter brilliantly alternates chapters between time periods and perspectives and expertly clears up the events in both tragedies. The Good Daughter is a stunning work of psychological suspense by an expert in the field, Karin Slaughter.
    • 5/5
      Slaughter never ceases to amaze me. There's just so much death in this book, and you will NEVER guess the ending.
    • 2/5
      This is a 500-page book that could've/should've been a 250-page book. There were just so many details that went nowhere, except to reinforce the cleverness of the characters and they ended up dragging the book down.

      For example, when looking around her father's hoarded office, she notices that his chair squeaks and is a little wobbly. Is that enough? Nope. We have to read, "Sam sat in Rusty's unsteady chair. The squeal from the height actuator assembly was loud and completely unnecessary. A simple can of spray lubricant could eradicate the noise. The arms could be tightened down with some Loctite on the bolts. Replacing the friction rings on the casters would probably improve the stability." AAARRRGH. Enough already!!! Just look through the damn office!

      One of the sisters, Charlie, jokes about the possum that likes to hang out at her house. She jokes with her sister, "That's Bill. He's my lover." The other sister, Sam, is ready with the usual buzzkill, "Possums can transmit leptospirosis, E. coli, salmonella. Their scat can carry a bacteria that causes flesh-eating ulcers." Would a girl from a small town in rural Georgia really say that? Or do we just have to get constantly dragged through the pages with more examples of her superior intellectual capacity? I guess us dum reeders knead the remindin!

      A tiny annoyance that for some reason I could just never get over, not even after 500 pages, was that they all called the mother "Gamma." Supposedly, it was because they could not say "mama" (?????) and also because she was a brilliant physicist/scientist/gamma-rays-and-all-that. I just for the life of me could not stop reading it as "Gramma" or as a nickname for Grandma. (I've also studied linguistics and don't believe for one second that any infant could make a G sound before learning how to say M.)

      Ok, so I've been harsh. Karin Slaughter is actually a very good writer-- this book was just not my cup of tea. I will say that one hugely redeeming quality of this book was that there was no "miracle baby" at the end, even though all signs were pointing to the magical-redemptive-vagina. THANK you for that! It earns one more star for not taking the cliche way out.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely, 100% amazing! So much action and twists and turns in this book! I was completely enthralled the whole time! There was never a boring moment!
    • 4/5
      This is the story of a terrible childhood incident which is re-told as an adult. Something happened to Charlie and her sister on the day their mother was murdered. Their adult lives follow very different courses and they come back together again only because their father is unwell.The full details of the childhood incident are not revealed at the time. But the story gradually unfolds as it is tied up in another terrible situation. It is complex, but reasonable easy to follow. I liked the characterisation and especially the way that the sister's lives turned out to be very different.I expected to like this book because of the author, although I have only previously read the Grant county series.Thank you to Netgally for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
    • 3/5
      Two sisters witness the murder of their mother and then are near victims of the killer. 20+ years later there is a shooting at the middle school that brings the estranged sisters back together to solve the crime, as well as uncover the truth about the death of their mother.
    • 1/5
      Slaughter indeed. Utter rubbish....
    • 4/5
      Charlotte (Charlie) and Samantha (Sam) are teenagers when 2 masked gunman enter their home and wreak havoc on their lives. One gets away, the other is left for dead. Now, 28 years later, in the midst of a school shooting, the sins of the past are fresh again.
      Well written, this novel examines family relationships, grief, recovery, and moving on with one's life. This is my first Karin Slaughter novel, but it will definitely not be the last! She masterfully weaves a story with many complex characters and a complicated plot.
    • 5/5
      I have not read any books by [[Karin Slaughter]] for a long time, completely forgetting how excited I am of her books. Also this book has grabbed me from the beginning.It is about a family of lawyers whose daughters had to watch in childhood, how their mother was brutally murdered, how one daughter was seriously injured during the incident while the other was raped. After all these years, everything comes up again. Who was the culprit? What must revenge look like? Are familiar persons the perpetrators?
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable, if not meandering read.


      Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product

      I'm reviewing the latest Karin Slaughter book, The Good Daughter. When two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint, one runs for her life and the other is left behind. 28 years later we visit to discover "Who is the good daughter?". This was my pick for my most highly anticipated July read, so what did I think?

      ^^ [Blows out a long puff of air] #TheGoodDaughter is another stonker of a book. Weighi ng in at approx 585 pages, you can imagine how big it is. Now this is not a problem, but it does make me wonder if all of it is going to be necessary, even before I started the book. And I have to say I don't think it all was.

      ^^ Yes, this is a great story. Between the pages there's love, laughter, loss and sadness. I was truly taken by this family and all they went through, then and now.

      ^^ Yes, Karin Slaughter can definitely write well, and easily made me feel for her characters; their pain, their heartbreak, the good times and the bad. This psychological thriller is all about the family drama, the terrible things the two girls went through, how their family suffered, and how they finally found themselves and their new roles in life. Albeit with the emotional and physical scars, to remind them of their suffering.

      ^^ But no, to too much detail. Now, I understand I have an ARC copy and the final edition could be whittled down a lot, and I'm not sup posed to moan too much about 'editing' because of this, I cannot help but point out that I felt some of the chapters were just too long and a bit meandering. I also understand this provides great insight to each character, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I do think it's a point to mention when I found myself skim-reading some of the slower chapters. You know, those meaning to give you a bit of breathing space in between the fast paced action ones. Trouble is, there wasn't enough action packed scenes for me either.

      ^^ In addition, I think the "Who is the good daughter?" theme is slightly misleading, unless I just didn't get it, I never did find out. Maybe this is why this is the first of a new series, and the best is yet to come?

      ^^ I take it someone must have told her about the rhyming thing... The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter?

      Overall: An enjoyable, if not meandering read. I'm a fan of Karin Slaughter's work, and have to say that although this is not my favourite book of hers, I'm now eager to read the following books in the series to see how this book falls into place with those to come. Although, I'm not sure what is left when this book covers everything... Sadly, three stars, which fits with Amazon's "It's OK", rating. It wasn't awful, it wasn't my next rave about book, just okay.

      What did you think?
    • 4/5
      The Good Daughter kept me going for all 600 plus pages although I was a little uncomfortable with some of the violence...Its the riveting story of a family tragedy and the aftermath still going on 28 years later...there were two Good Daughters, which one was the better? Maybe Karin could have titled it "The Good Daughters".. Charlie and Sam were survivors in a world filled with horror and pain, even though I don't think they considered themselves survivors...I won this on Good Reads, and although the violence made me a little uneasy, I had to finish to see the end....
    • 5/5
      Another excellent novel by Karin Slaughter!
    • 4/5
      Another superb read by Slaughter. An unusual novel ostensibly set at a school shooting where one knows who did it although not why. The latter is, naturally, the focus of the novel but mostly somewhat in the background until its close. There are 3 or 4 other parallel stories involving the family of the main protagonists - a dysfunctional family although understandable due to a trauma they endured in the past. It's set in rural Georgia and while no deliverance the culture has a strong role to play. Nicely written and a full story but not overly complex. I particularly liked the fact the chapters weren't short and staccato.
    • 5/5
      Twenty-eight years ago, Samantha and Charlotte Quinn’s lives changed forever. Growing up in the small town of Pikeville things had been mostly peaceful for the Quinn family. Rusty, the father of the family, was a local defense lawyer whose stance on fighting for the “bad guys” wasn’t always appreciated in town. Case in point, the family home was burnt to the ground by someone seeking revenge for Rusty winning a case that allowed a man accused of unspeakable acts to go free. The family had slowly been piecing their lives back together when two men broke into their new home and brought a reign of terror upon the family that damaged the Quinn girl’s lives beyond repair. Their mother was murdered. Secrets were kept. A family was broken. All in an act to seek revenge against Rusty.The Quinn family was never the same after that terrorizing day and twenty-eight years later, they still can’t seem to figure out how to be together. Charlotte has followed in her father’s footsteps by becoming a lawyer and working side-by-side with him in Pikeville. When a local school shooting finds Charlotte as an eye witness, the events of the past will mix with those of the present in a haunting manner. As secrets and long buried memories come boiling to the surface, the Quinn family must face their demons yet again. Does anyone really know the truth about that day so long ago in the past?THE GOOD DAUGHTER is the definition of a well-written thriller! Slaughter immediately drops the reader into the day that changed the Quinn family forever. This chapter is told by Samantha and the events are seen from her point of view with a cliffhanger ending that leaves the reader in shock. The book then transitions into modern day and Charlotte witnessing a school shooting. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions! Slaughter’s storytelling, especially when it comes to the events of the past, is not for the faint of heart, as some scenes can be quite graphic. Listening to this one as an audiobook, I think really escalated the tension for me and I found myself sitting in my car waiting to finish a chapter before heading into work several mornings! I could go on for days about the beauty of Slaughter’s writing, the masterful way she builds a story, and the fantastic characters she creates. At the end of the day, the moral of this review, is join the #slaughtersquad and go pick up one of Karin’s books today!
    • 5/5
      One of the BEST books I've read all year. Karen Slaughter is an amazing story teller.
    • 4/5
      Such a great book.Loved the characters and the way the story was told from different perspectives. The characters had so much tragedy in their lives that set the stage for so many hurdles during their adult lives. Loved how the author wove a story of family drama around a school shooting situation and then threw in several twists and turns. It was clever and well written. I look forward to reading more of her thrillers.
    • 4/5
      Great story that pretty much kept my attention the whole time. I do think that I figured out a part of the story early on but there were so many interwoven mysteries that I still wanted to continue. Karin Slaughter uses this novel to deal with sensitive issues such as rape, grief, and familial secrets in her usual intriguing way. The main characters were so well developed that I kind of wasn't ready for it to be over....even after over 500 pages.