Pieces of Her

by Karin Slaughter

Kathleen Early (Narrator)

The #1 Australian bestseller from the author of The Good Daughter and Pretty Girls

'A novel that sets the standard for psychological thriller writing. Rarely in fiction have the past and the present collided with such force and in such a distinctive and compelling voice' Jeffery Deaver

What if the person you thought you knew best turned out to be someone you never knew at all?

Andrea Oliver's mother, Laura, is the perfect small-town mum. Laura lives a quiet but happy life in sleepy beachside Belle Isle. She's a pillar of the community: a speech therapist, business owner and everybody's friend. And she's never kept a secret from anyone. Or so Andrea thinks.

When Andrea is caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognisable to her daughter. It's like Laura is a completely different person - and that's because she was. Thirty years ago. Before Andrea. Before Belle Isle.

Laura is hailed as a hero for her actions at the mall but 24 hours later she is in hospital, shot by an intruder, who's spent decades trying to track her down.

What is Andrea's mother trying to hide? As elements of the past return and put them both in danger, Andrea is left to piece together Laura's former identity and discover the truth - for better or worse - about her mother. Is the gentle, loving woman who raised her also a violent killer?

• ISBN10: 1504780043
• ISBN13: 9781504780049
• Publish Date: 21 August 2018 (first published 31 July 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Blackstone Audiobooks
• Format: Audiobook (MP3)
• Duration: 15 hours
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Pieces of Her is one of my latest BOTM choices, mostly because I regretted not grabbing it the previous month! I know this isn't a new release, but I just had to try it. Before you ask, no, I haven't seen the adaptation yet. I'm still unsure if I will – I tend to like my thrillers in novel format (maybe because it lets me control the pace a bit more?).

Like most women, Andrea had assumed she knew everything there was to know about her mother. Her assumption is about to be proven wrong as one event changes her life as she knows it.

A public and violent incident in a mall puts Andrea's mother, Laura, in the spotlight. She should be hailed a hero, but people are looking too closely at her – and that's putting everyone at risk. To save her daughter, she will try and throw some distance between them, only for it to backfire on them both.

“Love doesn't keep you in a constant state of turmoil. It gives you peace.”

Yikes. Pieces of Her is one of those heavy-hitting novels that's hard to look away from. Much like the title implies, I quickly found myself trying to piece together the mystery of Andrea. This proved to be far from a simple task.

This novel is told mainly through two perspectives, twenty-plus years apart. The first perspective is Laura's, as she struggles to deal with all the violence that just rose up in her life – while getting to the bottom of her mother's secrets.

The second perspective is Andrea herself, though it may take some time for that to become clear. Set in 1986, it slowly reveals her backstory, leading readers to the inevitably and surprising conclusion.

I'll admit, there were twists that I didn't see coming in Pieces of Her. Overall I want to say that's a good thing, though there are some pieces (no pun intended) that I wouldn't have minded a change in. Perhaps the adaptation does precisely that? Maybe I will cave and watch it. Time will only tell.

Read more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[mrs_mander_reads]

This was definitely full of unexpected twists. I enjoyed it.