Wow! What an absolute gem of a book this is!

I have to admit to finding it a bit difficult to follow initially but I am so glad I persevered, because what a book it turned into.

It is very well written with a very clever plot. It is a thriller that will keep you turning the pages and make your heart beat just that bit faster. Suspenseful, intriguing and compelling.

Don't think about it, add it to your to be read list as soon as possible, you won't be disappointed!

When I got this from NetGalley in exchange for a review, I was so unbelievably excited. Way too excited for a normal person. I **LOVE** Karin Slaughter! Her books are the highlight of my reading calendar.

I knew going in that I would love this book, however, I didn't realise I would love it this much! It is full of twists and turns, and suspense, and emotion. There's humour. There's 'eh?' moments. You can't put it down because something is always just about to happen!

In Pieces of her, we meet Andy: a thirty one year old sponger, living in her mum's garage, working a job she doesn't particularly like, and generally not having much direction in life. And then we have her mum Laura, who has survived cancer, got a professional, established career in speech therapy and wants more for her daughter than what she currently has. On Andy's thirty-first birthday Andy and Laura experience one of the worst things you could in today's world- a mad man shooting up the restaurant they are having birthday breakfast in. What happens next changes Andy's perception of her mother forever.

Karin's writing here is as excellent as usual, she weaves her words so we can get into the mind of the characters right from the start. We know what Andy is feeling when the gunman enters the breakfast diner and wreaks havoc on those innocent people, we can feel the pain Laura is feeling when Andy has to rescue her in her own home. The violence is graphic, the descriptions all to real. It is scary but thrilling and you just want to read a little bit more before sleep. Then a little bit more in your lunch break. When your boss has to remind you that there are still 4 working hours left in your day, you know it's good.

With The Good Daughter (Karin's last standalone) I wanted more once I'd finished - in a good way, I really wanted a series from it. I feel the same with this. Karin's standalone's are AMAZING, but as a series?? Yes please.😊

I would say this is my favourite read of 2018 so far. It's heart wrenching and it's raw.

Oh and Pieces of her is also being developed for television.... just, yeh, that! 😊

Laura is the mother who will do anything at all for her daughter. The lengths she has gone to become more apparent as the book progresses and I found her character to be really psychologically interesting. I found that the sections of the book that explored her life were by far the most thrilling.

By contrast Andrea is the daughter who really doesn't know her mother at all. she is quite an immature character, drifting through life with no real ambition or purpose. She is reactive, rather than proactive, and this becomes all too apparent when she is forced to go on the run after "a very bad thing" happens to her and Laura. Whilst on the run she discovers more about her mother's past and her own childhood and this brings more danger into her life.

A Karin Slaughter book usually grabs me from the first sentence, squeezes my heart, constricts my lungs and ratchets up my stress levels until I almost can't take any more. Reading her books is akin to riding the most exhilarating rollercoaster known to humankind. This book did grab me at certain points, but there were also a lot of slow sections and I'm surprised to note that this took me 4 days to read. I would still recommend it though, because it's Karin Slaughter!

Thanks go to the publishers and net galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

As always, Karin delivers a masterpiece! I wa hooked from the first page ‘til the last! My only compliant is, Karin needs to write more quickly...I need another book, soon!

Another standalone from Karin Slaughter so although it’s very different from the series, it gives her a chance to explore less criminal issues and more human and Psychological ones.

This one gets inside the head of a mother and her daughter. When, following a shooting at a local restaurant, the mother reacts in a way no one expects least of all her daughter, there’s a lot of questions to be asked. Who is this woman? Who is her mother really and what made her into that woman she kept hidden from her family?

Imagine if you were that daughter. What would you do, how would you feel etc? Well there’s a lot of insight and consequences wrapped up in this exploration of the question. Less thriller as you might expect from Karin and more Psychological thriller

The scene setting is not really a focal point of this novel apart from the fact that this has to take place in a fairly small seaside town in America. Somewhere without a real name or identity so the action can unfold. Somewhere you might return to to be with your mother, and then to find answers. An outsider in a small town.

Fast paced and nicely done. the last third of the book is payback indeed.

Having read The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter I was looking forward to this book and think it's even better which I wasn't sure it could be, really glad to have got that wrong. Andy (Andrea) is the only daughter of Laura and looks to Gordon her step Dad and her Mum's ex as her real Dad as he is the only father she has ever know. She returned home from New York which had never really worked for her to help look after Laura when she was diagnosed with Cancer, that's what I thought cheery start but don't be fooled it is anything but what you'd expect because the drama starts very quickly when a gun man lets loose his load where mother and daughter are have a spot of lunch on Andy's birthday. So obviously this is a birthday that will never be forgotten and a life that will never be the same. In order to protect her 31yro girl Laura steps in between the gunman and Andy and ends up killing the Gunman. Then things escalate very quickly as the body count increases and the clueless Andy has to learn more about life in a week than the whole of her previous 31 years. That also includes who she is and well you need to read it because this is one of the best thrillers to come out so far this year in my opinion that is. I'm very grateful to NetGalley for my copy and whatever they are charging on release it more than worth it. This thriller will keep you going right up to the last page and it will be impossible to predict even for those that cheat and jump to the end because without the rest of the story you will not have a clue what is going on as it twists and turns doubles back and then takes a new path. Don't take my word for it you really need to read it and every page., Well that's my thoughts anyway.

A great read with lots of twists and turns. It tells the story in two parts what was going on in the eighties and also current day. The only reason I gave this four and not five stars is that I found it a bit slow to get into at first. This is the first book of Karin’s I’ve read but I’ve just bought the good daughter to read next.

Karin Slaughter does it again. Always brilliantly written, this is one of my favourite books this year. I loved reading about the mother\daughter relationship.

Im used to Karin’s books being rather more sinister like Pretty Girls or The Good Daughter, you won’t find that with Pieces of Her. It’s more of a thriller that swings from past to present telling an intricately weaved story of a mother and daughter relationship

The alternating chapters from the past and present let you slowly piece together the story and its eventual outcome. .

Pieces of Her is a slow burn but is still a page turner.. . Just when you think the chapter might be dragging on too long, Karin changes the direction of the story and the characters involved so you never can predict the next twist.

I spent the majority of this book confused and lost. I'm usually fine with flashbacks but in this case it made me confused, there was so many characters and stories to keep track of.
The last 20% was probably the best part. Everything coming together and started making sense for me.

Bring a big fan of Karin Slaughter, I was very excited to receive ‘pieces of her’ and I was not disappointed.

This is a thriller about the relationship between a mother and daughter and how much you really know about a person.
Laura and her daughter Andrea have a very close mother/ daughter relationship, but are also very independent women.
An incident takes place during a birthday celebration that leave one of the pair frozen in fear, and the other deals with the incident with calmness, defusing a dangerous situation with the authority and precision as someone who was military trained. This leads the other to wander how much she really knows about the other.
A fast paced and exciting book, which kept me hooked all along. A brilliant stand alone novel.

What an amazing convoluted book ; I just loved it. The past aligning with the present made it possible to make initial guesses of what had happened but the story itself developed in a way that new aspects kept arriving which made me rethink time and time again. The characters are so well described that they are real people covering the full gamut of society from ultra rich to relatively poor, strong characters and weak ones all intermixed with a highly emotional charged story. A fantastic author with the ability to string along until the ver6 end of the book.
L intermixed

What an absolute pleasure it was to read 'Pieces of Her'. A race against time,a conspiracy plot,a family drama or a daughter trying to understand her mother,the story was all of these and more.
This is one of the best Karin Slaughter stories I have ever read ,it is involving,emotive and resonant.
Andrea(Andy)has her whole.life turned upside down when her mother and her are involved in public incident. The witnesses who filmed it send it into a viral frenzy that alerts people who have been searching for Laura,Andrea's mother,for thirty years.
Neatly moving back and forth between Andrea and Laura's stories,between past and present,each woman is piecing together who they were and who are they are becoming.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder for allowing me to read this in return for an honest review.

Karin Slaughter has written another brilliant book. I was hooked from the start. There is a lot to the plot and the whole book is really cleverly written. All the details of Laura's secret life have been so carefully thought out and they are a riveting read. I read this book in one sitting. I had to know who Laura really was and what the ending would be. I would definitely recommend this book and any other book by Karin Slaughter.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

When I first started reading this book I wasn’t sure if I was going to like because it kept flashing back in time, with two different points of views, because of this I struggled with the first half of the book. However, as I carried on reading all the pieces of the story come together nicely and I raced through the second half of the book.

The writing style that Karin Slaughter has used makes the book easy to read. I liked the way the characters developed along with the storyline and everything becomes gripping.

I would have liked to read more point of views from some of the other characters as well. It might just be me being picky about it, as apart from that one thing I personally couldn’t find any other fault.

If your looking for thrilling psychological book then this is the book for you.

I would like to thank NetGally and HarperCollins UK for my Advance Digital Review Copy in return for an Unbiased review.

Being the worlds biggest Karin Slaughter fan I will struggle to be objective.
Told in duel times, the book starts with Andy and her mum Laura having brunch when a teenage gunman enters the restaurant and starts shooting. Pieces of Her follows Andy as she escapes across the country to save her life and flee whoever is after her. Slowly discovering and piecing together Laura's life before Andy and the huge secrets she has been hiding for 30 years.

I love all of Karin Slaughter's books; the writing is always so easy to follow with brilliantly developed characters and gritty, gripping storylines... and this is no exception.
I realise that this book if 500ish pages but I would have loved more... more of Andy, more of her cross-country journey, more of the side characters and less of the 30-year-old storyline, I'm sure that just goes to show how much I loved the characters, but that is the reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5.
But what another great read by the one and only KS!!

This is a good stand alone book', at times it is brilliant. It is set partly in the present, and partly in the eighties. However, this is never confusing. I have given only four stars because at times Andy makes infuriating, stupid decisions; and occasionally it is a bit repetitive and long winded. This does not stop it from being a gripping read!

I’m surprised to hear myself saying this because Karin Slaughter is one of my preferred authors but this book just didn’t do it for me. Where I usually find myself completely loving the characters and getting really upset when tragedy befalls them this time I didn’t like anyone and found them all a bit boring or unlikely.
I couldn’t go along with the development of Andy from a no hoper to baddy and the rest just failed to win me over. Plot was ok but nothing very different.
Hope her next book has me back a fan.

Karin Slaughter never disappoints; whether it is writing her Grant County or Will Trent series or standalone novels like Pieces of Her.

A trip to the shopping mall with her mother Laura turns Andrea’s world upside down. They are caught up in a shooting incident which ends with Laura killing the gunman. Andrea thought she knew her mother but had never seen this side of her character. Laura then tells Andrea (Andy) to get out of her life, to run to Idaho and not return until she is told it is safe to do so. However she overhears a conversation between her mother and a man, it seems, was sent to kill her. This gives her a name and a clue to the fact that her mother is not who she seems. Andy sets off on a road trip to uncover her mother's past.

Fast paced and moving between the 1980s and the present day this is a novel about corporate greed, manipulation, politics and ownership. While Andy is rather weak and indecisive at the beginning of the book while she learns about her mother she also learns a lot about herself and the inner strength she didn't realise she had. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

Karin Slaughter gives us a thriller that explores the role of the mother and the mother-daughter relationship. Andrea 'Andy' Cooper is an unambitious woman who has largely gone through the motions of living. She never completed college and she has barely been engaged in any personal relationships. Unhappy in New York, she returned home to nurse her mother, Laura, through the worst of her breast cancer treatment. She has no impetus to create an independent life for herself, and is secure in the knowledge that she knows Laura inside out, a pillar of the community, an ordinary woman and everyday mom. Whilst in a diner, a young shooter, Jonah Helsinger, blasts away a mother and daughter, lining up a frozen and immobile Andy as his next target when Laura steps in front of her, telling him to kill her instead. What follows next is captured on mobile video footage that goes viral nationwide, showing a composed Laura killing Helsinger with his knife whilst suffering serious injuries herself. Andy is shell shocked at this picture of her mother as a ninja, with the media referring to Laura as a killing machine. Who is this woman masquerading as her mother?

With unexpected and horrifying events occurring that hint at Laura's clandestine past, they bring a whole heap of danger in the present, as a disorientated Andrea initially heeds Laura's advice to leave town, go to a storage unit and then head to Idaho until it is safe for her to return. Andy is to make no contact with her or Gordon, the black lawyer she considers to be her father. However, Andy's intense curiosity about Laura has her picking away and peeling away at her mother's past that slowly begins to be revealed through the dual narrative of a younger Laura. Andy's foray into the past brings danger to her and others. It pushes Andy from a woman who has merely reacted to events in her life, to a more independent person as she is forced to handle a world that has gone crazy on her. What Andy does know indisputably about Laura is that she will not let anything happen to her beloved daughter, and she will go to any lengths to protect her. Will this allow her to accept the pieces of Laura she comes to know?

At first when I had read this latest offering from Karin Slaughter, I was not sure how I felt about it. Upon reflection, the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. The focus on the maternal instinct, how far will a mother go for a child is beautifully illustrated here. Whilst perhaps far fetched here and there, I was willing to let that go for the fascinating creation of Laura and her dramatic past and that of Andy, walking on territory that she could never have forseen. I think it would be well nigh impossible to say that we know all the pieces of anyone we are close to, and true to that adage, Andy does not find out everything about her mother. An interesting, different but nevertheless gripping psychological thriller. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.