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A review by markoestes
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
4.0
I'm a huge fan of Gillian Flynn and Gone Girl, so reading the description of The Good Girl piqued my interest enough to delve into another psychological thriller that had all book lovers buzzing. While the turnstile narrative between three of the four leads was reminiscent of the altering voices of Nick and Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, it turned out to be the sole comparison to Flynn's game changing work. Where Gone Girl had many rich layers and blistering commentary on the morbid sensationalism of true crime stories in the media, The Good Girl only had a good set up and plot going for it. It doesn't warrant a book club discussion about many aspects of its narrative. Although, without spoiling anything, there are certain avenues the book could have taken to bring forth a conversation about certain disorders the character(s) might have experienced, but those opportunities were dropped right before they had a chance to breathe.
That doesn't mean The Good Girl is just a trite, pulp read without layers. The main characters have a thematic overlap going for them that isn't too hard to spot. Going further into detail on that tip will require spoilers which I'm not doing here.
It shouldn't have taken me this long to read this book, but I blame the plot dragging drastically in the middle into mundane territory. Unlike other books in this ever growing popular sub-genre, the story didn't keep up the pace it started and ended with. Again, "spoilers" will need to be divulged in order to demonstrate where the lag begins and ends.
In conclusion, The Good Girl was a great thriller that seemingly has echoes of Flynn's Gone Girl in it, but only in spirit. I am looking forward to pick up Mary Kubica's other two novels real soon.
That doesn't mean The Good Girl is just a trite, pulp read without layers. The main characters have a thematic overlap going for them that isn't too hard to spot. Going further into detail on that tip will require spoilers which I'm not doing here.
It shouldn't have taken me this long to read this book, but I blame the plot dragging drastically in the middle into mundane territory. Unlike other books in this ever growing popular sub-genre, the story didn't keep up the pace it started and ended with. Again, "spoilers" will need to be divulged in order to demonstrate where the lag begins and ends.
In conclusion, The Good Girl was a great thriller that seemingly has echoes of Flynn's Gone Girl in it, but only in spirit. I am looking forward to pick up Mary Kubica's other two novels real soon.