by Karin Slaughter

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter was a difficult read to get through. Not because the writing was poor, or it was boring, but because the content was incredibly heavy. This book is very dark and descriptive. It was a good book, but haunted me a little. Trigger warning: this book describes sexual assault, addiction, torture, and kidnapping.

The book is about two sisters, Claire and Lydia, who have fallen out of touch over the years after their other sister, Julia, disappeared 20 years ago. Claire is married to a rich, lovely man and lives a glamorous life, while Lydia is a recovering addict and single mother who works hard to make ends meet.

When Claire’s husband is murdered in the middle of the day in an alleyway, Claire is navigating the aftermath of his death. Her house is broken into during his funeral and FBI agents are showing up at her door. She’s confused and suspicious that her husband may not have been who she thought he was. Days later, Claire finds Lydia at her husband’s grave, desecrating it. We then find out that Claire’s husband was the reason that the sisters fell out. Lydia claimed that Claire’s husband tried to SA her and Claire refused to believe it.

Claire tells Lydia about the FBI agents and they work together to start going through the husband’s computer, where they find multiple videos of women being tortured and murdered. This launches a dangerous investigation by the sisters, who are desperately trying to find out if these videos are real, and if the women in them are the women that have been reported missing and all over the news.

I’ll stop there, to avoid more spoilers, but definitely consider your triggers before trying to read this book. The book was very descriptive and graphic when it came to the scenes of harming women. It was hard to get through but it was a interesting read. If you can stomach the content, please still read with extreme caution.