It’s true what they say – there are no new ideas. The themes, especially, have been beaten to death. There wasn’t anything special about this. I’m not saying it was a bad novel, but feeling indifferent once it’s over is usually a bad sign for me. (There’s also some subtle racism which felt lazy and unnecessary.) The pacing of events felt clunky, resulting in a story that moved pretty slowly along with the ho-hum characters, who lacked depth and unique voices. Being damaged is so sexy, you need the right aesthetic. He was written, seemingly, to be brooding and dark, but I found myself rolling my eyes at him extra hard at how much time he took to get the perfect “brooding” stubble beard. The mother was annoying, the detective was a silly caricature of what a detective should be, and Colin was a dud. I couldn’t drum up much emotion for them. And the story itself – the clues, the “twists,” the climax and small reveals – were tame and uninspired. The prose was average when it should have been vibrant and sharp. While I usually like novels that pull off the before/after trope, this time around it just didn’t have the same punch.

A little twist ending that I enjoyed (if you’re paying attention you can figure it out beforehand), but overall, without Mia being given a voice, the events that happened to her feel detached and impassive. Mia’s perspective is saved for the epilogue. Told in three parts – Colin, Mia’s mother and the detective on the case – the story bounces back and forth between Mia being missing and Mia being found. You have to be a special kind of psychopath to want to abduct someone for the “joy” of getting to take care of an adult-sized baby. Then you have to empty their piss pots and make their food? Getting their dirty, unwashed ass on stuff.

The last thing I want to do is come home from work and have to take care of a person chained up in my basement. Like, I get home from work and all I want to do is take off my bra and lay face down on my mattress while I make exhausted noises and eventually my husband asks me what’s wrong and I can trick him into rubbing my back.

My god, doesn’t it just seem like SO MUCH WORK? Who would want to kidnap someone? But instead of taking her to his boss, he whisks Mia away to a remote cabin and keeps her for himself.Īs one would if they were kidnapping another human being. Colin, her kidnapper, is hired to do the dirty work. Filed Under: I was playing mindlessly on my phone.Īfter all of the glowing reviews I’ve read for Mary Kubica, this was actually a disappointment.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica