Pretty Girls

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Fair warning, this book is very much a thriller and contains graphic moments of sexual content and violence. However, that's part of what makes it so enthralling within it's genre. I might be too much for some to handle but if you're up for it, I can't even begin to recommend this book enough. Amongst the world's greatest and finest crime writers' YRSA SIGURÐARDÓTTIR Read more Look Inside Details

The author's trademark of complex plots coupled with character studies makes Pretty Girls another standout.” — The Associated Press

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In 1991 Julia Carroll disappeared. Her body was never found. In the following years the family coped in very different ways. The mother while forever quietly grieving, moved on and made a new life for herself. The father spent years looking for any clue as to what happened. Sisters Claire and Lydia grieved in very different ways and were estranged having not spoken in many years. Now over twenty years later, there has been another disappearance of a teenage girl and a murder of a middle-aged man that seem to be connected. This causes the sisters to reunite. A lot of people like that sort of thing, but I personally felt overwhelmed beginning around the 30% mark, and it didn't really let up until the end. I didn't have a problem with the violence until that point, but then it just got to be too much, especially because the nature of the brutality toward the rape and murder victims is extremely unsettling. After I was well into the book I started to realize that the gruesomeness might be too much for me. I was starting to skip over the descriptions (very graphic descriptions) and feeling quite bothered. Other readers may not have an issue with it but I just felt a bit overloaded with details of such horrific acts. I ended up having to skip over quite a few parts. The two sisters join forces to continue searching for the truth about Julia’s disappearance, and must face the consequences of Claire learning some very disturbing secrets about her husband. Julia had a happy family life – she was the eldest of the siblings and in part felt responsible for her sisters’ wellbeing. But living at the college dormitory gave her a sense of independence – she and her roommate had been best friends for a long time. Was Julia about to put herself in danger with her relentless and paranoid pursuit into the unsolved cases?

I don’t even have time to touch on the weird beauty stuff in this book. Claire’s beauty is mentioned constantly, as is Lydia’s chubbiness. In fact, the dude torturing her BY WATERBOARDING HER WITH HIS OWN URINE, manages to get a couple of digs in about how she’s gained so much weight, he doesn’t even want to rape her anymore. Apparently, that’s how we’re supposed to know that he’s a REALLY bad guy.

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Throughout the book my heart hurt for all of the families. I can't even imagine some of the things described happening. There really are some things that can't be unseen. Heartfelt and heartbreaking you could feel the love Sam had for his family as he bared his soul in letters to his missing daughter. This is also a book with absolutely no fluff. You can't skim anything because you'll miss crucial elements or reveals. It's intricate and layered. This author clearly spent a great deal of time plotting out her story before writing it because everything happens for a reason, every piece of the story has a purpose, and by the end, they all fit together. One reason I'm always wary of thrillers is I rarely find them satisfying but this book gave every single answer to every single question. I'm a fast reader and will usually breeze through full-length book in an afternoon but it took me 2 days to read this (3 technically since I read the first 10% one night, and the rest over 2 days) because there was just so MUCH going on in it...