Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

Well, that didn't go as I had hoped.

Brace yourself.... less than flattering review headed your way...

I've heard of Karin Slaughter and was pretty excited to receive an advance copy of her latest thriller, Pretty Girls.  But wow.  After reading this, I 'm thinking it would be a really great idea if authors were required to use a rating system much like movies do. Because if this was a movie, it would have been rated worse than an R for sure.

I've really been into psychological thrillers lately, but requesting this one was a bad move on my part and one I'm ultimately regretting since there are so many mental images that I can't give back.  Seriously, the amount of detail and disgusting mutilation of these women was horrific.  I've been a bit addicted lately to watching The Forensic Files and even those come across as more Sesame Street than what's described in this novel.  There's just no way I would recommend this story to anyone I know.  I rarely ever post a negative review - but I would be remiss if didn't share my honest opinion after reading this.  I love a good intense thriller, don't get me wrong - but when it drifts over into the perverted world of necrophilia.  Wrong.  Just all sorts of wrong.

Don't pick this one up.  Just don't.

I still want to thank HarperCollins Publishers and ShelfAwareness for allowing me the chance to read an advanced copy!!  (*All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.)

Description: #1 internationally bestselling author Karin Slaughter returns with a sophisticated and chilling psychological thriller of dangerous secrets, cold vengeance, and unexpected absolution, in which two estranged sisters must come together to find truth about two harrowing tragedies, twenty years apart, that devastate their lives.

Sisters. Strangers. Survivors.

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.

Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping, packed with indelible characters and unforgettable twists, Pretty Girls is a masterful thriller from one of the finest suspense writers working today.

Rating: ** (the only reason I give it 2 stars is because the story flowed amazingly and her writing is intriguing and keeps you hooked - but the story itself was the huge turn off for me).

Recommend: Nope.