Pretty Girls

By: Karin Slaughter

Narrated by: Kathleen Early

Length: 20 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Sisters. Strangers. Survivors. 

More than 20 years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss — a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed. 

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: What could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago...and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it. 

Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping, packed with indelible characters and unforgettable twists, Pretty Girls is a masterful novel from one of the finest writers working today. 

Included with this gripping thriller is Karin Slaughter's chilling short story "Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes." 

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.  (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks

Disgusting waste of credit

I finished this horrible recording to see if it somehow redeemed itself- but it did not. The story and characters are intriguing at first, but it drags on and on with minutia, corny similes and the most gruesome violence and sadistic torture, mutilation and rape. I was literally rolling my eyes and skipping chapters because it got so repulsive, the characters grew more and more ridiculously shallow/ like cartoon characters- the narrator has some interesting variations of different voices, but the writing is so awful, it's impossible to appreciate the narration. This novel was repeatedly popping up as recommended for me blah blah...and DID NOT indicate on the summary that it contained such graphic descriptions of women being tortured and raped. I am disappointed about that. I WILL NOT listen to anything else written by this psycho author.

Wish I could erase the graphic torture scenes replayed over and over in this book.

I could not finish the book. The exhaustive and repetitive torture scenes took up hours of the plot. Explicitly graphic sadistic imagery was used as a substitute for a good plot and engaging characters.

Intense, Dark, Powerful - Page Turner

First of all, yes I would recommend the book and it is well worth a credit. Secondly, the performance was OUTSTANDING! As many reviewers said, yes, it is graphic, violent and loaded with profanity. If you are tender hearted this book is not for you and definitely not for young readers. While I was listening I kept thinking, wow Ms. Slaughter has really put a lot of hours into this book, research and WORK!!! The book is a bit long, but not exhaustingly so. ALL The characters will draw you in, so many layers to the story and it seems it doesn't end. The story truly weaves how crime affects many people and how some people overcome and others just fall deeper into this. It was a page turner for me.
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Too disturbing to finish

This story starts out interesting enough but it turns dark quickly and drags on and on with more gore and porn than actual story..couldn't finish!

Too graphically violent.

I kept waiting for the graphic sexual violence, and the repetitive depressing descriptions of the traumatic aftermath to end so the book could get on with its twists and turns. But the misery and violence was just too awful for me to hear over and over. I had to stop half way although I would have loved to know how the crime unraveled. There should be a warning on the cover of books like these. Thank heavens I had no trauma history myself to be triggered.

Awful graphic details, no interest in finishing

The story would of been just as good without the details of torturing/ murder of women

Needs a trigger warning and better description

It's pretty much 15 hours of super detailed rape. Don't get this book if you want to listen to a snarky lady make fun of cheerleader moms.

Terrible!

Don't waste your time and money. The content was vulgar. I'm sorry I used a credit.

Definitely needed the trigger warning, but..

Pretty Girls kept popping up as a recommendation but I guess I kept skipping it because so many of the reviews mention disgusting scenes of violent rape. It doesn't take much for me to squirm and that is definitely not a topic that I can think of lightly.
Despite all that, the story itself sounded good to me and I felt like I hadn't heard a truly suspenseful thriller in a long time, so I decided to finally give it a shot.
First things first, the reviews are absolutely true. You're made to immediately like characters that find their way into a violent killing. Then further down the line it gets worse. If you plan on reading this book, do prepare yourself for some seriously, seriously messed up stuff. Ive never had to take so many breaks from a book.
The reason I didn't stop listening, though, is that he story felt like it had a lot of unfolding to do and I wanted to know where all this was going.
The gruesome details are really spread throughout the book, so there isn't any avoiding them, but the story has lots of twists and was incredibly suspenseful during multiple chapters. It really kept me on my toes.
All in all, I did enjoy the thrilling story, but I can't "unsee" the disturbing images painted in my head. That definitely doesn't sound like a recommendation does it?
Narrator was excellent

Fantastic listen. Ignore bad reviews!!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. Once I started My To Do list got ditched and I could not stop listening.

Any additional comments?

I can not figure out why this book got so many bad reviews claiming it as too gory and the sexual violence was too much. The writer only included enough to make you realize how bad the perpetrator was. Without it you would never have known or gotten the full effect of the story. If you tend to be very sensitive to this subject matter, don't listen to this book. If you are not, you will probably love it!