Title: Pieces of Her

Author: Karin Slaughter

Book Length (Audiobook): 16 hours 25 mins

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Crime

Read Start Date: July 13, 2019

Read Finish Date: July 19, 2019

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: 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?

My Review: So I gave the book 4 stars because I really did like the overall story, but it wasn’t all good. So the book started off good, a shoot out at the diner, Laura saving the day, but then it started to go a little off track. Why was everyone so worried that Laura had committed “murder”? I don’t get it. They live in Georgia for crying out loud. Does anyone really think that a person would be arrested for murder when that person killed an armed gunman who had just shot up a diner? I think not.

But anyway, okay, so because Laura “murdered” the guy, Laura forces Andrea to move out, but before she can do that a guy breaks in and ties up Laura and starts torturing her. Andrea kills him with a frying pan to the head, which is again, “murder” WTF????? No it is not!! It is self defense of a 3rd person! So okay, ugh, Andrea has to leave town (instead of calling the police like normal people), which sparks the whole series of events. Like who is Laura chick, and why is this trying to kill her? Why can’t they call the police when some guy breaks in? Etc.

After these beginning scenes, the book starts shifting between 1986 and 2018. In 1986 we see the “pieces” of Laura, which essentially tells the backstory of the what/why  of the event transpiring in 2018. This part I found okay, except for a few things. Slaughter seems to repeat herself a lot. How many times did we need to hear that certain people cannot abide things? 5 times. I counted. What I cannot abide is repeating phrases! How many times did we need to hear that Laura was a “yo-yo”? Too many. I also found it irritating that the female characters were either portrayed as meak victims or crazy bitches.

Anyway, if you can get past the writing style issues mentioned above, then the story is actually a pretty good one. It had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. It is fast paced, and I found myself getting into it, even though I had to roll my eyes several times, as mentioned above. I can’t really say anymore without giving the story away, so you will just have to read it and judge for yourself!