Girl Unknown

A Novel

By: Karen Perry

Narrated by: Tracy Keating, Conor Maloney, Richard Flood

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Girl Unknown by critically acclaimed author Karen Perry is a powerful new audiobook that "explores emotional danger with relentless, surgical accuracy." (Tana French, New York Times best-selling author of Into the Woods)

How quickly could the family we have created for ourselves unravel - and how far will we go to protect it?

David and Caroline Connolly are swimming successfully through their marriage’s middle years - raising two children; overseeing care for David’s ailing mother; leaning into their careers, both at David’s university teaching job, where he’s up for an important promotion, and at the ad agency where Caroline has recently returned to work after years away while the children were little. The recent stresses of home renovation and of a brief romantic betrayal (Caroline’s) are behind them. The Connollys know and care for each other deeply.

Then one early fall afternoon, a student of sublime, waiflike beauty appears in David’s university office and says, “I think you might be my father.” And the fact of a youthful passion that David had tried to forget comes rushing back. In the person of this intriguing young woman, the Connollys may have a chance to expand who they are and how much they can love, or they may be making themselves vulnerable to menace. They face either an opportunity or a threat - but which is which? What happens when their hard-won family happiness meets a hard-luck beautiful girl?

©2016 Karen Perry (P)2016 Penguin Books Ltd.

Disappointed

The story line had such great potential and as an avid reader, I kept getting considering a return of the novel as the potential was never quite approached. It is believable that a child who was adopted, can suddenly appear claiming one as her father and throw a family unit into insecurity- however adding the wife’s “almost” affair, the husbands‘ lack of fortitude in any situation, and the kids as the killers of the evil interloper are completely unacceptable additions. I would not recommend this book.

Entertaining

Girl Unknown was entertaining - a clever and intriguing story with plenty of twists and turns. The prose were very nice and the performance well done. Nothing to write home about but solid entertainment.

Come for the book, stay for the narration.

Really enjoyed most of this book until the end. Then I wanted to stop but made it through due to the excellent narration. No real characters to root for but if you are looking for a novel where all the characters are deeply imperfect, this will hold your interest.