Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica

Title: Pretty Baby
Author: Mary Kubica
ISBN: 9781743690352
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publish Date: August 2015

Synopsis:

A chance encounter sparks an unrelenting web of lies in this stunning new psychological thriller from national bestselling author Mary Kubica
She sees the teenage girl on the train platform, standing in the pouring rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked away. But she can't get the girl out of her head…
Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit, takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family's objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.
Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow's past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she's willing to go to help a stranger. What starts as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed Mary Kubica's first novel 'The Good Girl' so when I saw 'Pretty Baby' I knew I had to read it and I wasn't disappointed.
Pretty Baby grabbed me from the first page and wouldn't let go. From it's tightly woven plot with enough twists to keep you guessing to the well developed and complex characters, Pretty Baby is everything I hoped it would be and more. Packed full of emotion and mystery it deals with sensitive issues and how sometimes even the most well intended deeds do not always end up going according to plan.
Written from multiple points of view gave a fascinating insight into the complexity of the characters and their interactions, slowly feeding the suspense and mystery of the compelling story line.
I highly recommend this suspenseful page turner and look forward to reading Kubica's future works.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Title: The Good Girl
Author: Mary Kubica
ISBN: 9781743565506
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Published: August 2014

Synopsis:

"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.

My Thoughts:

I have recently found myself reading a lot more crime based books lately and I will admit I have not had a lot of experience in reading or reviewing this genre, so I am not really sure how to go about reviewing this book but I will give it a go anyway.
The first thing that really stood out for me while reading The Good Girl is how the story is told, not only from different characters points of view but it also bounces between before and after Mia is found. I found this quite disorientating to begin with but it didn't take long to get used to the style and I soon found it aided with building overall suspense.
I also enjoyed the overall plot of the book and even though I had worked out how it would end I still found it to be satisfying.
The only issue I had was the characters. I really didn't feel any connection at all with any of the characters. I found them to be predictable and hard to relate to.
Overall, I did enjoy The Good Girl. It's solid plot kept the pages turning and compelled me to finish despite the shortfalls. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more books from Mary Kubica.

Thanks to Harlequin Australia for the review copy.