Monday, 17 August 2015

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica

Pretty Baby
By Mary Kubica
Published by Mira Books (13 August 2015)
ISBN: 978-1848453968



Publisher's description


A chance encounter
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…

An act of kindness
Heidi has always been charitable but her family are horrified when she returns home with a young woman named Willow and her baby in tow. Dishevelled and homeless, this girl could be a criminal - or worse. But despite the family's objections, Heidi offers them refuge.

A tangled web of lies

As Willow begins to get back on her feet, disturbing clues into her past starts to emerge. Now Heidi must question if her motives for helping the stranger are unselfish or rooted in her own failures.

My verdict
Pretty Baby is a brilliant book and I recommend it to all psychological thriller fans.

I couldn't put it down, racing from beginning to end. It's a beautifully written story with detailed vivid descriptions and well-developed characters. Mary Kubica includes the tiniest details that make everything seem so real, whether it's the setting or character's thoughts or mannerisms.

Pretty Baby is an unsettling story, looking at what happened when Heidi let Willow, a homeless teenager (and her baby Ruby), into her home. Heidi and her husband Chris seem completely mismatched  - he's materialistic, while she wants to save the world (and everyone in it). And there are clearly issues within their marriage.

The narration alternates between Heidi, Willow and Chris, and I wasn't quite sure whether anyone was telling the whole truth. I found myself analysing the story as I went along, including how each character reacted to different situations. Each character is suitably flawed and I had no idea how the book was going to end. It's gripping all the way through and it left me with a 'book hangover' when I had finished reading the final pages.

I received an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

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