Pieces of Her

By: Karin Slaughter

Narrated by: Kathleen Early

Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The gripping standalone thriller from Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author Karin Slaughter, now a major Netflix series starring Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote

She’s the person you think you know best…

But what if you don’t actually know her at all?

Andy Oliver thinks she knows everything about her mother Laura.

Until, in a moment of terrible danger, Laura steps forward into the line of fire.

Now, Andy must embark on a desperate race against time to uncover the secrets of her mother’s past.

Before they both run out of time…

Praise for the Number One bestselling author:

‘Passion, intensity, and humanity’ Lee Child

‘I’d follow her anywhere’ Gillian Flynn

‘One of the boldest thriller writers working today’ Tess Gerritsen

‘Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivalled’ Michael Connelly

‘A writer of extraordinary talents’ Kathy Reichs

‘Fiction doesn't get any better than this’ Jeffery Deaver

‘A great writer at the peak of her powers’ Peter James

'Karin Slaughter has – by far – the best name of all of us mystery novelists' James Patterson

‘With heart and skill Karin Slaughter keeps you hooked from the first page until the last’ Camilla Lackberg

‘It’s big, dark, rich, satisfying, and bloody – like a perfectly cooked steak’ Stuart MacBride

©2018 Karin Slaughter (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

‘Slaughter has outdone herself with Pieces of Her–a novel that sets the standard for psychological thriller writing’ Jeffery Deaver

‘Amongst the world‘s greatest and finest crime writers’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

‘An intriguing tale that surrenders its secrets carefully and gradually’ Guardian

‘A solid thriller’ Daily Mail

‘Captivating at every turn’ Female First

‘Slaughter judiciously keeps the characterisation of her imperilled protagonists to the fore’ Guardian

‘Smart, gripping and packed with enthralling characters, this darkly addictive tale will reel you in from the get-go’ Heat

‘Buckle up for an exhilarating read’ Prima

‘Slaughter skilfully juggles her twin time frames and delivers a taut, complex and unusually thoughtful thriller’ Mail on Sunday Event Magazine

"The tops of the Tupperware."

For thirty years, Andrea's life had been an unsatisfactory drift and she'd been relieved to return home from her miserable New York existence to nurse Laura, her mother, through cancer treatment. Then a celebration of her 31st birthday turns to horror when a young gunman shoots two people only to be stopped and killed by her mother. Returning home, Laura tells her she must go, cannot stay even one more night. It was as if she were someone Andy didn't know at all - where had the kind and loving woman gone?

Written in alternating present and past chapters, the full story of her mother's youth is revealed. Descriptions are vivid, the story moves at a steady pace and characters are mostly well developed. And herein lies the problem: both the main protagonist, Andy, and in large part her mother, are such annoyingly silly people it is very hard to relate to them. However, the background story is sufficiently interesting to carry the reader onward, the text well written. But frequent repetition also cluttered the book, as if the reader needed periodic updates on what has gone before,l leaving a book which would have benefited in losing perhaps four or five hours of the sixteen of this book.
Narration is by Kathleen Early, whose pleasant voice is well modulated, with a steady pace but without clear definition of voices of the characters. It was a fine reading rather than an actual performance.

An enjoyable, stand alone mystery thriller perhaps better read in print where repetitious chunks can more easily be skipped.