COMING TO NETFLIX!Mother. Hero. Liar. Killer. How can you tell when all you have is…PIECES OF HERWhat if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a … town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?
But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.
The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .
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Slaughter has outdone herself with Pieces of Her — 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.
Great author!
Andrea is celebrating her 31st birthday with her mother in a small restaurant at the mall. This trip explodes into violence as a gunman bursts in killing two people who were talking to Laura and her mom. Andrea is frozen in fear while her mother single handedly confronts the shooter, killing him in the process.
Immediately afterward, Andrea’s mom tells her that she has to leave. She tells her where to go, hands her the key to a storage unit and a car, money, and she’s told to run.
So begins journey that Andrea never imagined taking. Who is her mother? Why is she afraid to talk to the police? What Andrea discovers is that her mother has not always been her mother .. she used to live under an entirely different name.. and now thanks to videos of her killing a shooter, her past life has come to haunt her.
This is a fast-paced thriller, well-written, with solid characters, both good and bad. Andrea is a little bit like a lot of women … sort of in a dilemma about what to do with her life. I really enjoyed seeing the changes in her after her ‘adventure’.
The book bounces back from present day to the events of 30 years ago. As Andrea puts together the pieces of her mother’s life, she steps closer and closer to the truth … a truth that puts her directly in the path of danger.
Karin Slaughter is one of my favorite authors and she never disappoints.
Many thanks to the author / William Morrow Publishing / HarperCollins / Edelweiss for the advanced copy of this suspenseful thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
A great (non Will Trent) read. Loved the way the past and present stories were presented and then weaved together. The main character could be excruciating in her indecision and silences, but it was also realistic.
A smart new thriller by Karin Slaughter. I had previously read her book COPTOWN and loved it, so was expecting that style of writing again. Boy, was I wrong! With PIECES OF HER Ms. Slaughter takes on a more complex story. What hasn’t changed is her superb storytelling.
Andy, 31, meets her mother Laura for breakfast at the mall diner. Like most daughters, Andy thinks she knows everything about her mother. But she is about to find out how wrong she is. A gunman enters the diner and starts shooting. When he threatens Andy, Laura turns into a fighting machine. As Laura is being taken to the hospital she tells her daughter to say nothing. When Andy sees her mother then in the hospital Laura tells Andy she must leave town and gives Andy some very clandestine-type instructions. Is this now a spy novel?
Like most mothers, Laura did have a life before motherhood. But her life was definitely not the norm. She has worked hard to keep her previous life a secret, totally unknown to her daughter. Andy is stunned by this side of her mother that she had never seen before the incident. She has no idea what is going on.
This is a story of the bond between a mother and a daughter – what depths a mother will go to in order to protect her offspring. It is told in alternating story lines – the daughter in present, alternating with the mother’s past life. The story is intense – dark, at times. I found it an interesting read but couldn’t lose myself in it. Even though Laura and Andy were such strong female characters I really did not find any of the main characters very likeable. But the story kept me guessing right along with Andy.
Every one has secrets, but nothing could have prepared Andrea for the secret her mother Lauren has been carrying for the last thirty years. One moment they are in the mall, talking to a patient of her mothers, then a knife wielding attacker comes out of now and the next thing she knows her mother is standing in front of her taking the assailants weapon from him and using it to kill him. She wonders where in the world did this woman come from, her mother is your average fifty year old woman, one who leads a normal domesticated and relatively quiet life. This woman is someone else entirely, at the moment, physically she looks nothing like the mother who raised her, there is a power radiating off of her that she has never seen before, and the look in her eyes is downright haunting. Andrea has no idea what to do, the cops are talking about her mother possibly facing charges, and her mother is telling her to be quiet about the incident, certain it will all work out. It’s baffling to say the least; Andrea begins to wonder who is this woman, and what has she done with my mother?
Pieces of Her is a chilling tale of secrets, deceit, mother-daughter relationships, resilience, and the lengths one will go to to protect the ones that they love. I loved this newest offering from Ms. Slaughter, her engaging tale pushed boundaries, twisted my thoughts, and had me guessing right up and until the very last page… it’s was downright spellbinding!! I also appreciated that the story revolved around a mother – daughter relationship and put them front and center of the story; it was refreshing to see a woman calling the shots, and quite fascinating to watch them maneuver through all the obstacles they were facing to stay alive, and get to the truth. If you enjoy pulse pounding thrillers, then I highly suggest you get your hands on this one, this enthralling tale is sure to keep you captivated from beginning to end!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest opinion.
Another page-turner by Karin Slaughter full of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end.
Thirty-one year old Andrea “Andy” Cooper and her mother Laura Oliver are at the mall celebrating Andy’s birthday. Fatal violence ensues and Andy and Laura get caught up in it. While Andy processes the event as a victim likely would, her mother acts with authority and experience and it’s all captured on film. Now, the investigation focuses on Laura, and the dominoes begin to fall as Laura’s life hangs in the balance, literally. Another crisis prompts Andy to run at Laura’s instruction. Escape has been prepared for years. Why? Andy discovers that her mother is not who she thought she was. Not even close.
With Karin Slaughter’s meticulous attention to character detail, Andy and Laura’s characters are talentedly developed and convincingly explored through alternating timelines from Andy in present-day 2018 and Laura in 1986. One may think that finding out your mother had a secret life once upon a time would be quite glamorous. If you are familiar with Slaughter, then you already know that is not the case in this book. It is ugly and flawed and manipulative. It is violent in every sense of the word. It’s about more than mothers and daughters. It’s about what dysfunctional love can do to a person, deadly secrets, and what it means to destroy the world. I absolutely love everything Slaughter writes. Pieces of Her may be different than what she has had published in the past but it’s just as good. Check it out!
Wow. Another fantastic read from Karin Slaughter! Pieces of Her is a stand-alone novel, separate from the Grant County or Will Trent series, and it will shake you.
Andrea is bumbling through life with no real plan. She moved back home to look after her mother several years ago and hasn’t left. While out for a coffee, the unspeakable happens; a man with a gun starts shooting up the mall. What happens next sets off a series of events leading Andrea on the journey of a lifetime; discovering who her mother really is.
Told in both past and present, Pieces of Her keeps you on your toes as you try to work out how the two are connected. From start to finish, I was hooked. Compelling characters, twisted plot, action, deception, and everything in between.
Definitely a top read for me this year.
This is my first book by Karin Saughter and after reading this, I am going to check out some of her older books. This was a roller coaster ride of a book that kept me turning pages until 2 a.m. just to find out how it all ended. I had a few things figured out before the end but there was still a lot of surprises that I never saw coming.
Andrea is 31 years old and living with her mother. She had lived in NYC but came home to help her mom through her cancer scare and never went back. She is a dispatcher at the police department and lives a pretty basic life without any close friends or family other than her mother and her step father who are divorced. Andrea is socially awkward and can’t has trouble speaking at all in social situations. Her mom, Laura, has always been the strong person who helped her through her life. When Andrea and Laura are caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognizable to her daughter. Andrea begins to question who her mom really is and when he mom tells her to run and hide, she is determined to find out about her mom’s past – for better or worse.
This is an incredible book about the love between a mother and a daughter and how far a mother will go to protect her child. I thought that Laura was a wonderful multi-layered character who had a lot of secrets and Andrea, despite her social awkwardness, showed a lot of strength to help her mom. This is a fast-paced thriller, well-written, with solid characters that will keep readers guessing until the end.
I’ll admit I read another Slaughter book not long ago and wasn’t all that impressed. I took a chance on this one because a friend recommended it to me and I’m glad that I did. The way she wove together the past story with the present was seamless. I’m excited to hear that Netflix has picked this book up and can’t wait to see who they cast as the strong, fierce females of this story. Its a whole new take on a mama/daughter drama that’s for sure.
One of the best books I’ve recently read. Riveting story with lots of surprises.
Pieces of Her is a character-driven thriller focusing on themes of self-discovery, the tension of mother/daughter relationships, and a search for the truth.
I love domestic suspense, so this was a great one for me. There are many of Slaughter’s trademark gory scenes and some really great plot twists, but overall this is a character driven novel exploring the complex relationship between mothers and daughters and how that relationship changes as we realize our mother had a life totally separate to us before we were born.
It was interesting and had lots of plot twists. It was not my favorite of her books, but certainly a good read. It was a bit unbelievable at times. The story is about a troubled young woman, Andy, who sees herself pretty much as a loser in life. Her mother is a very strong, confident woman and her stepfather is the nurturer in the family. There is a tragic shooting at a shopping mall, and this leads to a number of rather fantastical events that unravel her mother’s past, that Andy never knew about. Hence, the “pieces of her” that Andy discovers. It leads to danger and tragedy. The ending was a bit unsatisfying to me. I still recommend the book.
This is probably one of my least favorite books from Karin Slaughter so I was actually a little disappointed was that a mother who past life was in pretty much a cult her brother was dying and they were rich and her boyfriend was a psychopath and she had a daughter it just wasn’t that great!
Author Karin Slaughter just keeps getting better — and her latest contemporary thriller will satisfy fans and new readers alike. She keeps the tension hopping by moving back and forth in time in a novel that is as much about a mysterious murder in an upscale mall diner as it is about the true nature of a woman who was once involved in a deadly terrorist cell. Years later, her daughter stumbles across aspects of her mother that had been concealed — and this growing awareness radically alters the course of the daughter’s life. The nature of the mother-daughter relationship that is twisted up in each woman’s struggle for identity and meaning comes into focus as the violent actions form a crucible for character and an opportunity for redemption. Who are we really? Slaughter takes us to the very last page before revealing the mysteries of her central characters.
A very good Karin Slaughter book. A lot of action and a good plot. Karin never disappoints.
Pieces of Her was a tangled mystery that the reader begins to self-unravel halfway through the book. It’s the whys I ended up wanting to know! After finishing the book, I felt it was longer than it needed to be. I did not particularly care for any of the characters here, and Andy was the most irritating to me. Sure, we follow her as she grows and matures throughout the experiences laid out in this story, but following her was painful for me. The book is a good story and worth the read though.
BOOK REVIEW
/ 5
Kim Slaughter is the queen of gruesome carnage and I love it! I’ve read some of the Will Trent series and loooove them! I was expecting the same well-written macabre settings in this one. It was well-written, has plenty of violence, but it’s not as dark as the other books she’s written that I’ve read.
Rather than reading a physical copy, I listened to the audiobook. It has great narration, but I think I would have been better off reading the actual book. The different timelines would have been easier to follow.
None of the characters are particulary likable, although there are quite a few detestable ones. The story centers around Laura and her daughter, but mainly focuses on Laura. And trying to figure out exactly who she is.
This is going to be a Netflix series—coming out soon—and I’m super hyped to watch it! I was more than satisfied with this story and think it’s worth the time to read!
First book i have read by this author. I fell in love with this author’s work after reading this book!!!!