The Good Girl follows the abduction of Mia Dennett, the daughter of a prominent judge. Mia is the black sheep of the family. She refused to follow in the steps of her father, so she forged her own path teaching unfortunate youths. Mia’s life changes the night she’s supposed to meet her boyfriend for drinks and he doesn’t show. She ends up meeting Colin Thatcher who abducts and takes her to a secluded cabin.
The Good Girl is told from multiple perspectives from “Before” and “After” the abduction. Interestingly, Mia is not given a perspective. Her mother, Eve, the detective assigned to the case, Gabe, and Colin are the perspectives the reader follows. Each of these perspectives fulfills a certain objective. Eve’s chapters give insight into the family life, Gabe’s chapters into the mystery, and Colin’s chapters into the abduction itself. Each character was interesting and developed the characters enough to elicit sympathy from the reader.
The writing style itself was nothing spectacular. It was straight forward and laidback.
After finishing the book, I felt indifferent. I didn’t find The Good Girl particularly good, but it wasn’t particularly bad either. It was mediocre at best. Ultimately, The Good Girl explores themes of family, secrets, and the hidden lives of families behind closed doors. These themes are the reason I found the book so mediocre. It featured typical family secrets and behaviors that I predicted at the beginning of the book. The Good Girl doesn’t add anything new to the genre, however it doesn’t add anything substandard to worsen the genre either.
My biggest issue with not enjoying this book is the plot. These kinds of fictionalized stories don’t interest me. It’s hard to explain without spoiling the plot, so all I’ll say is that I find fictionalized stories of this kind useless and contribute nothing to the genre or our understanding of it.
Overall, The Good Girl wasn’t a bad read but it wasn’t a good one either. I would have given this book a 2 star review if it weren’t for the last chapter. If you’re looking for a quick thriller to read on the beach that won’t change your life then The Good Girl is the book for you.
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