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The Good Daughter
The Good Daughter
Karin Slaughter | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.2 (25 Ratings)
Book Rating
Charlie and Sam grew up in Pikeville, Georgia, with anything but an idyllic childhood. When the girls were teens, they were part of a brutal assault at their family's farmhouse. The attack left their mother, "Gamma," dead and profoundly affected their father, a prominent local attorney. Years later, Charlie remains in Pikeville, a lawyer like her father, and trying to keep the past behind her. All that changes when the town witnesses violence yet again--and Charlie is right in the thick of it. Suddenly, she's forced to confront so many of the emotions she's buried for years and to fully deal with exactly what happened to her family so many years ago.

Slaughter's latest novel starts quickly out of the gate--with a brutal, graphic, and spell-binding description of the assault and attack on Charlie, Sam, and Gamma--and it never lets up from there. <i>Seriously, this book never lets you take a breath or a break: it's just constant action and second guessing. </i>

Told from the points of view of both Charlie and Sam, including their varying memories of the incident at the farmhouse, we are forced to see all the events and violence through the eyes of the two sisters alone. As I mentioned, this keeps you guessing--and reading. I completely put down the other novel I was reading at the time (FINAL GIRLS) to read this: I had to know how it ended.

All the characters in this book are entwined, and Slaughter does a great job of depicting the small town of Pikeville. It's a mystery at its core, sure, but it also goes deeper with commentary on race, class, and how modern society deals with mass tragedy. The characters are well-drawn: I immediately found myself intrigued by Sam, Charlie, their father (Rusty), the descriptions of Gamma, and by a slew of small-town folk, including Rusty's secretary Lenore, and Charlie's estranged husband, Ben. Slaughter is excellent with the details.

Indeed, <i>she's great at doling out those "whoa" moments.</I> The plot never lets down; in fact, it continues to pick up as the novel continues on. I truly gasped a couple of times and found myself going "wow"! That's not easy to do once, let alone consistently.

This is a beautiful book at times--the way the plot and characters weave together. It even makes you laugh at moments, despite some truly somber subject matter. I found myself a bit irked at times by Charlie and Sam's fighting (I've read a lot of books with sisters fighting as of late), but if that's my only nitpick, that's not bad at all.

Overall, a great mystery that keeps you guessing and surprised to the very end. Excellent, fascinating, and deep characters. Definitely worth a read.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 08/22/2017.

You can read my review of Slaughter's novel PRETTY GIRLS <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1374683896?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">here</a>;.

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Charlie&#039;s Farm (2014)
Charlie's Farm (2014)
2014 | Horror
Run of the mill Slasher
I had high hopes after hearing good reviews for this. Unfortunately it's pretty standard low budget slasher stuff. For a short film it's slow to get going and then just goes through the motions to an abrupt ending. The man playing Charlie is a beast to make Kane Hodder look small. The gore effects are pretty good. Feels very similar to the Hatchet films.
  
Black Mirror  - Season 1
Black Mirror - Season 1
2011 | Sci-Fi
This first season is nearly flawless. Charlie Brooker really knows how to do dark and alternative futures. The last episode is my favourite out of the 3, it's a piece of technology I'd be intrigued to have myself. All 3 episodes are strong though, all with fantastic casts and storylines. They're all interesting takes on social media, technology and pop culture and sadly you could almost imagine these happening now.
  
PT
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
TV investigative reporter Charlotte "Charlie" McNally is trying to find a great story for November sweeps. And it might have just landed in her lap with a tip from the widow of an apparent suicide. The story started rather slowly, but once it got going, I couldn't put it down.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/03/book-review-prime-time-by-hank.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Marriage Story (2019)
Marriage Story (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Drama
I enjoyed Marriage Story, for as much as one can enjoy that type of situation. It was frustrating and heartbreaking, and had some funny spots thrown in. It was a raw story of a family going through a divorce. (Granted, it was a family that had access to money for bulldog legal teams, so it was both, "easy," and ugly.) Adam Driver was great in his role as Charlie.