The book follow Claire Scott - an upper class housewife in her late thirties whose somewhat mundane existence crumbles when her loving husband of eighteen years, Paul, is stabbed and killed right in front of her eyes. This is not Claire's first brush with tragedy. Twenty-four years ago her eldest sister, Julia, disappeared without a trace after a night out on town with friends. Losing Julia tore her family apart, and now tragedy has struck again. Newly widowed and grief-stricken, Claire struggles to cope with her husband's untimely death. When she discovers some shocking video recordings on his computer - videos that may very well be linked to the recent disappearance of another young girl - she is shook to her very core. The more she looks into it, the more she comes to realize that she might not have known Paul at all. And the deeper she digs into this dangerous world of depravity and murder, the closer she gets to discovering what happened to her older sister all those years ago.
The first thing you have to know about this book is that it goes to some extremely dark places. Of all the thrillers I've ever read, I do think this is by far the most graphic one. The book describes the torture, mutilation, rape and murder of young women in sickening detail, and if you are squeamish, this is definitely not the book for you. There were several times I actually had to put the book down to process what I had just read before continuing on. It was extremely disturbing. I felt so angry and disgusted while reading it, which I suppose was what the author was going for in the first place. However, it did make me hate the main antagonist so much that his ultimate downfall brought me great pleasure, so at least there was some joy to be had at the end.
Family is obviously a bit part of the story, as the trauma of what happened to Julia still haunts Claire's family all these years later. Her other sister, Lydia, has been completely estranged from her family for many years, ever since she launched some shocking allegations against the now deceased Paul. Lydia was struggling with a serious drug addiction back then, and so her own family did not trust her to tell the truth. She has since turned her life completely around, raising her seventeen-year-old daughter with the help of her supportive boyfriend. Seeing the two sisters reuniting and start trusting each other again was pretty heartwarming. Even though there's plenty of bad blood between them, and even though they have not spoken for years, Lydia still shows up for her baby sister when she needs her. I liked seeing how the family finally had each other's back after years of being torn apart by secrets and lies.
Despite leaving me with quite a bit of trauma, Pretty Girls was actually a very good read. This is my first Karin Slaughter book, but she is obviously a very experienced and talented mystery thriller writer. The story was super exciting, with plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. There are multiple POV's throughout the book (Claire, her sister Lydia and their father's letters addressed to Julia), and the different characters all had distinct and recognizable voices. The mystery of what happened to Julia twenty-four years earlier was worked seamlessly into the current-day mystery, and once all the secrets were finally out in the open, I caught myself audibly gasping. Safe to say I did not expect that twist!
If you're in the mood for a well-written mystery thriller with an engaging mystery (and if you have a strong stomach), I highly recommend this one. I will be checking out more Karin Slaughter thrillers in the future.
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