A Review of The Good Girl, by Mary Kubica

The Good Girl is the 3rd book I have read that was very highly recommended by my Goodreads friend, Melissa.  Although it was my least favorite, I still gave it a 3/4.  The 1st one was Goodnight June, by Sarah Jio, and I gave that one a 4/4+.  The 2nd one was Come Away with You, by Karma Brown.  I gave that one a 3.5/4.  Does this mean that I'm going to shy away from Melissa's recommendations?  Definitely not.  I mean a 3/4 is still darn good.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

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. 

It's actually an interesting storyline.  And I like how she kept going back and forth between BEFORE and AFTER.  I also like how each each chapter rotates among 3 voices - Gabe, Eve, and Colin (until the end - that's all I'm saying about that).  She did a clever job in how she formatted the book.

Mary Kubica can definitely write.  Here are 2 examples of very strong imagery:

1.  "It's for Mia's own good," he says, breaking the earsplitting silence.
2.  Her voice is close enough to touch, but I can't see the expression on her face.
 
There were a couple of things that I was not crazy about:

1.  It wasn't until page 184 that I realized I was mispronouncing Mia's name in my head.  I know that seems like a small thing, but it actually bothered me a bit.
2.  On page 305 (out of 350), I kind of wanted the book to be done.  I can't really explain why.  I obviously liked it.  But, for some reason, I was ready to move on to something else. HOWEVER, on page 306 (literally), it took off and stayed riveting until almost the end. That's what saved the 3/4 rating.

I also have to give Mary credit for creating quite a twist at the end.  I definitely did not see it coming. Having said that, though, it didn't grab me.  I strongly suspect that others will be raving about the ending.

One note I have to point out - There is a moment when one of the characters says several times to another character "Please don't leave me."  I believe that's the exact same thing Belle says to The Beast in Beauty and the Beast.  How random is that?

The Good Girl is not going on my recommending table.  But I'm still thinking that many of you will like this debut novel.  It's certainly good enough for me to check out her next one - whenever that comes out.