Mia Dennett's father is a well-known judge in Chicago, while Eve, her passive mother, tries to be the perfect wife. As an inner-city teacher living on her own, Mia does not conform to the life her affluent parents expected of their daughter. After being stood-up once again by her boyfriend, Mia makes the grave mistake of going home with a charismatic stranger she meets in the bar. But Colin Thatcher is after more than a pleasant one-night stand, as Mia realizes when she tries to leave.
What was supposed to be a simple abduction and delivery of Mia to another person changes when Colin realizes he wants to keep Mia for himself. Instead of leaving her at the drop- off point, as instructed, Colin drives Mia to a rustic, remote cabin in the Minnesota woods.
Detective Gabe Hoffman is doing everything he can to find Mia after she's reported missing, even though her father is sure there's nothing wrong and Mia will return on her own. Eve agrees with Gabe and defies her husband in the search for her daughter. As days turn into weeks, the relationship between Mia and her captor evolves into an improbable connection. When Mia is finally located and returned home, the situation is far from resolved, and the culmination will alter the lives of all those involved.
THE GOOD GIRL, Mary Kubica's debut, is a tightly woven thriller utilizing an uncommon technique of first- person narrative. Eve, Gabe, Colin and finally Mia, tell their own perspective of the situation with each chapter devoted to a different character's involvement in the storyline's progression. It's quite a unique and effective writing tool adding to the suspense and drama, while engaging the reader's interest from start to finish. A great debut novel for Mary Kubica.
"I've been following her for the past few days. I know
where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry
cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of
her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I
will."
Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite
wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-
city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her
on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show,
she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his
smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems
like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will
turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.
Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion
plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes
an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia
in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police
and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Eve, and detective
Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one
could have predicted the emotional entanglements that
eventually cause this family's world to shatter.
An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The
Good Girl is a propulsive debut that reveals how even in
the perfect family, nothing is as it seems.
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