Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Warning -- those of you who are die-hard Karin Slaughter fans might not want to read further. Or you can comment after you've read the book and this review!

The synopsis and premise were intriguing -- Andrea found out that her mother was not just some 55-year-old suburban cliche mom but was someone who had a really sordid history that she had had hidden from Andrea for 31 years, no -- that she had LIED about her entire life. When Laura kills a spree shooter at the mall and garners police suspicion, Andrea goes on the run and finds out the truth along the way. Told in past/present chapters with alternating voices, the story is at first confusing and unengaging. After the first couple of switches, the reader figures out how it's all connected.

This is not part of any series, but is a standalone. It's meant to be a suspense thriller for adults, but it reads more like YA fiction. Although the protagonist is 31, her thoughts, emotions and behavior are more like that of a teenager. Andrea (and how I hated the nickname, "Andy", not only because it was a dead giveaway of a supposed twist plot point, but my daughter's name is Andrea and I am so glad she never wanted to use that as a nickname) narrates alternating chapters as she's "on the run" where she spends all of her time vacillating, crying, making stupid decisions, angsting, having stream of consciousness repetitive thoughts in her head. She seems incapable of even forming complete sentences. Her character was so annoying that I was a breath away from just tossing the book down the stairs and never finishing it. But, I slogged on and got exactly what I expected. A long, drawn-out story about an adult daughter (Andrea) finding out that her mother (Laura) wasn't at all who she had pretended to be.

I had high expectations for this because I've read many other books by this author (who I almost never forgave for THAT ending). I was disappointed and, as I said, I had to force myself to finish. I didn't like ANY of the characters, I didn't care about what Laura had done, I thought the resolution and conclusion were both far-fetched and there was way too much drama in this for my taste. Way too much TELL and rambling description. No doubt I'll hear from other readers about how wrong I am, about how this book is "brilliant" and they "couldn't put it down", etc. and I say -- great! To each her own opinion. That's why we write reviews.

I'll hesitate in the future to request another KS book that is not part of her usual series style fare, but I thank the publisher, William Morrow, and Edelweiss for the e-book ARC of this to read and review.

Standalone -- not part of a series.