“Thrilling and illuminating.”—LA Times“A hypnotic psychological thriller.” —PeopleA chance encounter sparks an unrelenting web of lies in this new gripping and complex psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl.She sees the teenage girl on the train platform, standing in the pouring rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked … rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked away. But she can’t get the girl out of her head…
Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit, takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family’s objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.
Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow’s past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she’s willing to go to help a stranger. What starts as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated.
More Praise:
“Hypnotic and anything but predictable.” —Kirkus, starred review
“A superb psychological thriller…stunning.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Look out for Mary’s newest chilling tale, Local Woman Missing.
Order your copies today!
Don’t miss these other pulse-pounding thrillers by New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica:
- The Good Girl
- Don’t You Cry
- Every Last Lie
- When the Lights Go Out
- The Other Mrs.
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While I enjoyed reading Kubica’s debut, The Good Girl, Pretty Baby had me absolutely entranced. There was something utterly haunting about the psychological aspects of this book that, to me, felt scarier and more intense than a kidnapping or disappearance. I just couldn’t put the book down until I’d finished it. That, to me, is the mark of a good psychological thriller – now matter how disturbing, I’m still locked in until the very end!
This was a great read! To the horror of her family, Heidi – a wife and mother – offers refuge to homeless teenager Willow and her infant daughter. While Willow’s disturbing past slowly comes to light, Heidi questions if she’s really just doing a good deed, or if she’s helping Willow and her daughter for selfish reasons.
Fiction. Suspense. An entirely different genre than I usually read. A definite page-turner, well written with layer upon layer of plot surprises, well developed characters. I really like this novel. It was out r book club choice for August.
OH MY GOSH!
I love Mary Kubica’s books, great psychological thrillers and Pretty Baby is definitely one! I was sure that I had figured out the the girl and her baby…but I was so wrong. Heidi, Willow, Ruby and Chris will keep you turning pages way into the night. The character development is excellent giving more insight with each alternating chapter as written in their own first person voice. There are twists and turns you won’t see coming and the ending was just the ultimate shocker. I read some of the prologue to When The Lights Go Out and I can’t wait to read this one. Mary Kubica writes amazing suspense, she is a master at keeping you on the edge of your seat!
I’m working my way through Mary Kubica’s back list of novels, starting with The Good Girl (which I loved). She has a terrific storytelling voice and manages to get into the heads of each of her point of view characters so well, blurring the lines of black and white so that everyone’s motivations and goals (for better or worse) are ultimately revealed.
Pretty Baby tells the story of Heidi and Chris Wood, a typical married couple with a typical 12 year old daughter. They’re a family with ups and downs, marriage and adolescent issues that are presented in a realistic way, drawing us into their story. Heidi is a “bleeding heart” as Chris describes her, who works for a nonprofit helping refugees. When she sees a homeless teenager with a baby on several occasions, she feels compelled to reach out to her and offer her help.
Told from the perspectives of Heidi, Chris and Willow (the teenage mom), what starts out as an act of kindness becomes something much more twisted and complex. I thought, having read The Good Girl, that I might anticipate Kubica’s plot line– I was wrong. She’s written another original story about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. This one is a page turner until the very disturbing end.
Very good story which moved along well. Look forward to reading more from this author.
It was a great read. Better than I expected.
Grabs your attention from page one and does not let go until the end. Liked the way the author used 1st person narration from different character perspectives to give a full picture view of situations that are critical to story. Though some outcomes were predictable, there are still many twists and turns to keep readers attention.
I read it a while ago and don’t recall all the plot details, but I do remember enjoying it.
Heidi Wood, a social worker, is out to save the world in Kubica’s domestic suspense, Pretty Baby. Much to her husband Chris’ dismay, Heidi can’t turn her back on anything in jeopardy, be it a wounded bird, a stray cat, even a homeless vagrant.
When she first spots Willow, a scruffy, emaciated girl appearing much younger than the eighteen years she maintains with a four-month-old infant in tow, Heidi’s generous nature and own tormented past make it impossible to ignore the young woman’s plight, particularly in windy, rainy Chicago.
Despite anticipating her family’s resentment, she offers Willow a warm and safe place to stay and soon discovers there may be some inkling of truth to “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.”
Besieged by memories of her once smiling and angelic infant daughter Zoe now twelve years old, sullen, and needing her mother merely as a target for which to launch cruel and unjustified remarks, we wonder if Heidi’s kind act is more a solution to her own emotionally paralyzing needs.
Not long after, Heidi discovers a blood spattered tee-shirt and finally rationalizes Chris’ fear of the girl killing the family as they sleep . . . because maybe, just maybe, Willow’s done that very thing before.
Chris eagerly awaits the day his emotions and opinions will once again matter to his wife. All the while, his willowy, blonde, and intensely sexual coworker is becoming more than the occasional fleeting daydream.
Willow has plenty of nothing. Unless you count secrets, loyalty, and the will to survive. Kubica unfolds the suspense splendidly through narratives delivered by Heidi, Chris, and Willow. Bursting with compelling subject matter: sexual abuse, abortion, cancer, infidelity, and murder, Kubica leaves no stone unturned.
At times, the plot lulls, but the author quickly rebounds, again ensnaring readers with her distinctive, almost hypnotic style, easily establishing her place on our list of favorite twenty-first century suspense writers.
Excellent book. Impossible to put down.
Ended abruptly and felt like it was tied up quickly to end the story.
I found this book engaging from the beginning. Wanting to understand the characters kept me engrossed from beginning to end.
Enjoyed reading it. Memorable!
All I can say about this book is hoy twist! What an amazing book with wonderful writing. I couldn’t put it down!
My first try with this author, and after I finished this book, I bought another of hers. Well-written and keeps the reader guessing. There were many areas where too much time was spent in one of our main character’s thoughts, but easily skimmed over without losing the drift of the story. Heidi spys a teenage girl at the train station with a tiny baby. Obsessed with how tragic this is, she soon befriends the young girl and takes her into her home with her husband and teenage daughter. The story then is told by Heidi, our teenage girl Willow, and by Heidi’s husband, Chris. The story does indeed spin out of control, but not the way you would assume. Great read!
Enthralled from the very beginning!!
I gobbled this book up in just a few days. I loved the character development, the plot twists and turns. An emotional, thrilling read. Couldn’t and didn’t want to put it down.
Page turner!