The Good Girl by Mary Kubica – Review

Hello lovelies and welcome to another book review. I hope you are having a great day! Today’s review is of: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica. This is an interesting thriller which I originally gave five stars, but reduced to 2.5/three after analyzing the pros and cons of the story.

Challenge Criteria (Popsugar): A book told from multiple POVs /  A book with unusual chapter headings

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Book: The Good Girl

Author: Mary Kubica

Rating:★★1/2

Summary: One night, Mia Dennett enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn’t show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. 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. 

When Colin decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota instead of delivering her to his employers, 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.

What I Liked:

*Colin. I don’t know, but from the start, I liked him even though he was a bad guy. When he decided not to turn Mia over to Dalmar, that was the moment in which I decided he was a good guy and didn’t deserve to go to jail at the end of all this. I mean, imagine if he hadn’t kidnapped her. Dalmar would have sent somebody else to do it and then she might have never gone home. But Colin saved her life. At least she’s alive and not in some dark hole, playing tightrope with death.

*The writing style. The writing style was OK. The chapters Eve Before, and Gabe Before were the most interesting, IMHO. There we learn more about Mia and how her family was coping (or didn’t really care) with her disappearance. Colin’s perspective was great, but I really wanted to get to the end and find out what happened. Note: At first, it’s going to be confusing with the way the chapters skip around, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually.

*The plot. The plot was okay, nothing groundbreaking or super unique.

“I’ve been following her for the last few days. I know where she buys her groceries where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I’ve never spoken to her. I wouldn’t recognize the sound of her voice. I don’t know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she’s scared. But I will.” 

What I didn’t Like:

*Stereotypical characters. Dalmar, the guy who hired Colin to kidnap Mia, is Somali. Judge Dennett and his family are white. The bad guy doesn’t have to be black, and the “good” guys don’t have to be white. When I read Dalmar was Somali, his body was, quote: ‘blacker than anything I’ve ever seen.’ , I rolled my eyes. Of course the bad guy is black. The evil makes his skin darker that anything ever seen. I was liking the book until I got there. Oh, and Colin is Mia’s savior. Guess what: he’s white.

*Mia. Honestly, I felt like she was spoiled brat, even though she’s the victim. She’s always whining about how her Dad was neglectful, how she was always the black sheep in the family. She thinks she’s not acting ‘superior’, but she’s kinda snobby at times. She sometimes acts as if the world revolves around her. The end made me hate her even more.

*The twist and the end. I have a love-hate relationship with the twist and ending. Once you get to the twist, you’ll (probably) be shocked, upset, in denial, and then outraged. I had to read it twice, before I could believe it. It’s good enough to make your emotions fly all over, and you will want to break something once you’re done. But that’s my opinion. You can read spoilers on Goodreads if you want!

“Teenagers believe they’re invincible—nothing bad can happen. It isn’t until later that we realize that bad things do, in fact, happen.”

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I originally gave this five stars. I thought it was amazing how the ending sucked all the emotions out of me. It sucker punched me in the gut and I thought it was great. But, after analyzing and realizing how the ending seriously upset me, I’ve decided to tune it down and give it two point five, rounded to three.

★★1/2

Have you read The Good Girl? What did you think about the story? Let’s chat in the comments!