Pieces of Her: A Novel

Karin Slaughter

Aug 2018 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

Now on Netflix! Starring Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote!

Mother. Hero. Liar. Killer. How can you tell when all you have is...

PIECES OF HER

What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?

Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?

But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .

Ratings and reviews

Although this wasn't my favorite book by Slaughter (Pretty Girls was incredible), this was another great, well researched book by her. The chapter by chapter switch-back between past and present keeps unraveling just enough clues and suspense to keep the pages turning and you up well past bedtime. I highly recommend this book and all her books to anyone who likes a thriller that doesn't hold back on the heavy details, but also builds great, feel-good stories around all the well developed characters.

Andrea is celebrating her 31st birthday with her mother in a small restaurant at the mall. This trip explodes into violence as a gunman bursts in killing two people who were talking to Laura and her mom. Andrea is frozen in fear while her mother single handedly confronts the shooter, killing him in the process. Immediately afterward, Andrea's mom tells her that she has to leave. She tells her where to go, hands her the key to a storage unit and a car, money, and she's told to run. So begins journey that Andrea never imagined taking. Who is her mother? Why is she afraid to talk to the police? What Andrea discovers is that her mother has not always been her mother .. she used to live under an entirely different name.. and now thanks to videos of her killing a shooter, her past life has come to haunt her. This is a fast-paced thriller, well-written, with solid characters, both good and bad. Andrea is a little bit like a lot of women ... sort of in a dilemma about what to do with her life. I really enjoyed seeing the changes in her after her 'adventure'. The book bounces back from present day to the events of 30 years ago. As Andrea puts together the pieces of her mother's life, she steps closer and closer to the truth ... a truth that puts her directly in the path of danger. Karin Slaughter is one of my favorite authors and she never disappoints. Many thanks to the author / William Morrow Publishing / HarperCollins / Edelweiss for the advanced copy of this suspenseful thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I could not put this book down, it was great it had my attention until the very last page

About the author

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular storytellers. She is the author of more than twenty instant New York Times bestselling novels, including the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and standalone novels The Good Daughter and Pretty Girls. An international bestseller, Slaughter is published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe. Pieces of Her is a #1 Netflix original series, Will Trent is a television series starring Ramón Rodríguez on ABC, and further projects are in development for television. Karin Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta.