Book Review: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Mary Kubica is the author of the famous book turned movie, ‘Gone Girl’. I enjoyed reading Gone Girl and since this book was chosen by my book club I was interested in reading it.

The front cover teases you with, ‘A twisty, roller coaster ride of a debut. Fans of Gone Girl will embrace this equally evocative tale’ Lisa Garner

The plot is about a rich family whose daughter is kidnapped and as the story unfolds, Eve, Mia’s mother, Gabe the detective, Colin the kidnapper. I settle in to read, expecting to be up all night.

 

The story begins with secondary characters searching, wondering, doubting that their daughter Mia is missing. Than BAM! Chapter 3, only 20 pages in and I am staring at the book with my mouth hanging open, disbelieving, even getting up and putting the book down for awhile.

 

Spoiler alert: On page 20, Mia is home, the case of the missing daughter is revealed, she was gone for 3 months and of course has amnesia. What the? I barely for into the story, Mia’s character hasn’t even been introduced and I know the ending? Granted not the why or how or the family secrets but that she had made it home.

I like to get to know the characters, develop an interest in their story, rout for Mia to make it. The why and how and secrets are interesting too but you need to, as a reader, care first about the characters.

Why did the author stage the plot this way? This is the question I ask myself over and over throughout the book.

The novel is set up from the viewpoint of Eve, Mia’s mother, Gabe, the decective, and Colin the kidnapper. If you think I am missing Mia, nope her voice was not heard alone only through other characters observation. Turns out she is not the main character, rather the three people mentioned above are.

The book is jarring, you have to pay attention to the subtitle of each chapter to figure out which character was speaking in the first person and if it was before or after the kidnapping. The entire book is like this. Back and forth, before and after, those three characters recounting how they saw things. I have never read a book written this way before and do not wish to again. No real story, character development. It was like you walked into a movie that had already been playing, you get the idea of everything but not the back story. The book felt that that, you understand the character’s perspectives but since it doesn’t read like a story, where this is build up and a flow, you don’t really get a full picture of the characters.

The author tries to add a twist at the end, hey it worked in Gone Girl. For me it did not work. I was already past invested in the novel by the end, especially since the last 100pages or so just seemed like filler which is strange because this is usually were a book can redeem itself.

3/5 stars. It was o.k., could regift it, but would not recommend the novel.

Happy Reading 🙂