With the awards this book has been nominated for, and the constant mentions to Gone Girl, I thought hey, this might actually be a good thriller. I’ve read a few thrillers lately - this is a new genre for me - so I was excited to try another one out. The problem for me, because I can’t just go along for the ride, I tend to guess the ending way too early. Sometimes I don’t mind this because I end up going on a whirlwind trip trying to see if my guess is correct. But most of the time, the story is poorly done, or the writing is off, or the characters are just downright boring that the rest of the read is the same. Well, queue The Good Girl.

Let me start by saying that this ending was given away too early. I mean seriously, leave us in suspense a little bit longer. Even the big reveal in the epilogue, the only time that we hear from Mia herself, comes as no surprise. I was not taken on a joyride. And I hate to sound so mean, but the writing itself was boring. At about 50 pages in, I already wanted to put the book down. Sadly, I have this thing where I must finish every book that I start. And I don’t know what is worse, the fact that I had to finish the book or that my book club is reading a different Mary Kubica book next month.

There was one thing that I found interesting and I want to give it kudos. I recently took a writing class. One week, the professor had us sit down and write a short synopsis of our three main characters, their wants and ultimately, what might change about them during the story. We then sat in groups, reading aloud and the other students would vote for the character they wanted to tell the story. I feel this was a huge high-five to Kubica. Most authors probably would have told the story from Mia’s point of view. There is plenty of great stuff to work with there. But instead, she decided to tell it through the eyes of Mia’s captor, mother, and the detective searching for her. Excellent decision and I think the only reason that saved this book from getting a 1 star on Goodreads.

With the amount of time I have, and the fact that I have a lot of books to get through this year, I really regret wasting my time with this one. Ugh, those impulse grabs in the library. I should know not to grab one from that front display unless it’s on my list. I think that I have officially learned my lesson with this one.

Happy reading everyone!