My rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ I liked it a lot
"A missing girl in the news reminds Julia Carroll of herself: nineteen, beautiful, blonde hair, blue eyes.
Julia begins to dig deeper and plans an article for her college paper. She becomes gradually more obsessed with the case, never imagining how close she herself is to danger.
Includes an extract from Karin Slaughter’s gripping new novel, Pretty Girls."
"Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes" by Karin Slaughter is a prequel to the author's latest full length, stand-alone novel, "Pretty Girls", which was published in July 2015. This novelette can be read stand-alone, however it will be best appreciated in conjunction with "Pretty Girls" (no required reading order).
The third person narration follows Julia Carroll during one day in her life: Monday, March 4, 1991.We get a detailed and deeply insightful glimpse into Julia's life and innermost thoughts: her insecurities, her relationships, her family. This way we are introduced to Julia's two younger sisters, Pepper (i.e. Lydia) and Sweetpea (i.e. Claire), who feature in "Pretty Girls".
If you are looking for a who-dunnit story, this isn't the one. "Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes" is a very suspenseful and engaging tale where tension builds to the main, and more than somewhat predictable, event on the very last page, in the same way an old ghost tale would.
Karin Slaughter's writing style is the real strength of this piece; it grabs you and keeps you hungrily turning pages to the very end and then leaves you wanting more.
Fortunately, this volume contains the prologue and the first chapter from "Pretty Girls", which picks up straight from where "Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes finished". Unfortunately, the story has such a strong, action-filled beginning that I was left with the compulsion to immediately get my hands on it!
Undoubtedly a quick, worthwhile read.
[ARC received via Edelweiss]
About the Author
Karin Slaughter is the #1 internationally bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including the Will Trent and Grant County series and the instant New York Times bestseller Cop Town. There are more than 35 million copies of her books in print around the world.Follow Karin Slaughter:
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