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Pretty Baby  By  cover art

Pretty Baby

By: Mary Kubica
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell,Tom Taylorson,Jorjeana Marie
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Publisher's summary

“Thrilling and illuminating."—LA Times

"A hypnotic psychological thriller.” —People

A chance encounter sparks an unrelenting web of lies in this gripping and complex psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl.

Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit and takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family’s objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.

Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow’s past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she’s willing to go to help a stranger. What begins as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated.

©2015 Mary Kubica (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Pretty Baby

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Not worth your time.

I spent the entirety of this book telling myself to have an open mind; scolding myself every time I felt the author was "reaching" for big descriptive words at a time when simplicity could have worked better; knocking myself down a peg when I felt I should just stop listening, wasting away those precious hours I spent listening to this book.

I felt the book was pointless, depressing, weak, trying-too-hard-to-impress. Overall a giant waste of my time.

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131 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Mundane

I struggled to finish this book. The extremly slow unwind of the story was just too much for me.

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77 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Implausible and imitative

What would have made Pretty Baby better?

I hate to say this about a woman writer, but this book has terrible portrayals of women and that bothered me. You have a neurotic woman pining for a baby, an adolescent who is repeatedly raped, negligent/unsympathetic social workers, and a predatory femme fatale. So I don't know that it could have been made better.

What was most disappointing about Mary Kubica’s story?

There are some really bad stereotypes of the foster care system and adoption. The details-- and myths -- about abortion are truly troubling. The whole approach is derivative of "Gone Gone" (alternating viewpoints of husband and wife, unreliable narrators) without the subtlety of Gillian Flynn. You have to take gigantic leaps to believe certain portions.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

I think they were given a tough job, given the nature of the book. The male was fine; the woman reading the Heidi parts had some incredibly treacly lines to read so I can't fault her performance except to say it was annoying. She should ask someone from Nebraska how Kearney is pronounced.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Pretty Baby?

The whole idea of a teenager taking a bus to Fort Collins, finding a house on foot, and then getting away with what happens in this book begs the question of whether this was vetted at all as a manuscript.

Any additional comments?

Ok. "Gone Girl" was an amazing success but can we move on?

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75 people found this helpful

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Don't waste your time

This book was a total let down and very predictable. The summary is the best part. Narration was good, though "Willow" sounded like she should blow her nose all through the book. I read the reviews, some of them were like wow what a great book. I think I listened to a different book then they did. Ideas weren't bad but it could have been so much better. Very disappointed.

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70 people found this helpful

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sorry it wasn't good.

It was long and drawn out and the ending wrapped up quickly yet unrealisticly. Sorry, not a good one despite the reviews.

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54 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Loses Steam

I felt like this book had a lot of potential that wasn't realized. The end really pittered out for me. I would have liked to have heard more from Heidi at the end, and it ended at an unsatisfactory point in the story to me. However, the narration was sublime. That part was excellent! Overall - the premise was interesting but it never really lived up to itself.

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48 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

cliché upon cliché

Not sure why I finished it-- could only bear to listen to it while doing household chores.

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48 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Deserves Awards!

Great psychological thriller. Actually believable with few holes. I could not put it down. Well written. Perfectly narrated. I will recommend to everyone!

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45 people found this helpful

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not what I expected! BETTER!

has a lot of twist to it, at first I was a little lost and was just going to stop listening, I'm so glad I didn't!! I recommend this book highly!

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45 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Surprising twists from beginning to end

This book will keep you asking questions the entire time. If you like Gone Girl or Girl on A Train, I think you will like this one.

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40 people found this helpful