Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes

By: Karin Slaughter

Narrated by: Kathleen Early

Length: 2 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Michael Connelly calls Karin Slaughter "unrivaled among thriller writers." This gripping, unforgettable short story - releasing shortly before Karin's highly anticipated new novel Pretty Girls - proves it.

A beautiful young girl was walking down the street - when suddenly …

Julia Carroll knows that too many stories start that way. A beautiful and intelligent nineteen-year-old college freshman, she should be carefree. But instead she is frightened - because girls are disappearing without a trace.

Fellow student Beatrice Oliver and a homeless woman called Mona-No-Name are missing, both gone after being snatched off the street. Julia is determined to discover the reason behind their disappearances - before she's next.

©2015 Karin Slaughter (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ends with no resolution

I have read most of Karin's books and they leave me wanting more. The way this book ends left me very uncomfortable. Am I to assume the result?

Timely!

On October 6, 2018, this story is incredibly timely. Unfortunately, nothing is better after more than 25 years!

Simply horrific content

This writer has a new constant reader in me. I suggest her to anyone reading these words. I’ve yet to be disappointed by her work.

Ends with a Twist and a Punch!

Outstanding and highly engaging story. The narrative really pulls the reader into the time and place of the story, evoking a strong sense of nostalgia (the story is set in the year I graduated college). I'm seeking out more of this author's (and this narrator's) work!

Journalism student catastrophizes

Good biographical slice of life. Julia likes to worry and magnify and catastrophize. Becoming a journalist and spreading her worldview is therefore natural. Our country has become so safe that we need to read, see or hear about horrific events to satisfy our innate need to experience fear and danger. Just for fun as long as they happen to someone else.

But exaggerating fear of specific traumas is akin to hypochondria in the way it increases your real risk of getting traumatised. You could get distracted from basic situational awareness or create a self fulfilling prophecy.

I’m reminded of a line in “Student Bodies”: “Great physical beauty can be a handicap too.” (As a pretty girl steals a handicap parking spot from a blind student whose seeing-eye dog was struggling to drive into it. Good movie. Sorry about that spoiler.)

Prequel to Pretty Girls is PHENOMENAL

This book is fabulous! I don’t think it matters if you read this or Pretty Girls first, but this one is the back story and SIGNIFICANTLY less graphic than Pretty Girls. This book gives you the backstory to the Carroll’s, particularly Julia.

too short

The narrator is amazing but this story is not complete. It would have been so much better if it was the whole experience the Juila had.... ended too abruptly.

So incredibly bittersweet!

*** SPOILER ALERT!!! ***

If you haven't already read Pretty Girls, please don't read my review. I mean, you could still read the review. It won't take anything away from Pretty Girls if you haven't already ready it. I just don't want someone to be upset that they weren't at least given the heads up, first.

Reading this after Pretty Girls just makes Julia's disappearance worse. We get a first-hand sense of who she was, how she thought, how she felt about others, and the plans she had for her future. A future she would never get to live out.

Two girls have already gone missing, and Julia wants to bring awareness to the gravity of the situation. The statistics of how roughly one woman goes missing every 2.5 weeks and how easily it is to go from going about your day to never being hard from again. Unbeknownst to her, though, she'll be one of the statistics she was preparing to write about.

Clip from another book

Basically a clip from another one of her books just a view from Julia's side before she's "taken"

**

Was just a little surprised at how short the short was. I didn't realize when I chose the book I guess. I love this authors other books and the writings. Love the twist at the end.