#ThrowbackThursday ~ Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter ~ #Psychological #Thriller How Well do You Know Those Closest to You.

Pieces of Her is a dual timeline psychological thriller, set in the present day and the mid 80s. Each chapter’s heading is clear so the reader knows the exact sequence as the narrative weaves from one period to the other, exploring the mother/daughter relationship along the way.

My Thoughts

Three years ago thirty-one year old Andrea (Andy) left New York and returned home to help nurse her mother Laura, after a breast cancer diagnosis. Andy has no drive or ambition and no meaningful personal relationships to speak of. Her mother has made her life so agreeable that Andy doesn’t know how to begin to take control herself. 

She and her mother are in a diner at the mall when the unthinkable happens. Andy hears a pop…then another pop..pop. Two people lie dead on the floor. Laura’s reaction to the shooter and the ensuing violence stuns Andy into a terrified state of shock. She can’t equate the woman in front of her, and her actions, with the mother she thought she knew. When Andy is involved in more violence at her mother’s house she embarks on a desperate journey, following clues to her mother’s past, to save herself and discover who Laura really is.

The mystery of Laura is at the heart of the story, a story which leads the reader down dead ends and in many wrong directions. Who is Laura? Certainly much more than the bridge playing, speech therapist and prominent member of the community that Andy thought she knew. The terrible incident in the diner marks the beginning of the end of their life as they know it. The police are involved. Laura becomes infamous and exposed but won’t talk—to anyone, much less Andy.

The characters are devised extremely well, even though I found myself irritated many times by Andrea to begin with. She seems incapable of uttering a complete sentence and has no get up and go, no direction in life. But now she has no choice and needs to make her own decisions. No-one is going to make them for her….and if she makes the wrong ones her life could be at stake. Laura’s secrets are liable to destroy….one or both of them.

I began to enjoy Andrea more as she begins the search, following the trail her mother left and finding her own strength of character as she goes. It works well, the reader doesn’t really know anything before Andrea and so are following the clues with her, not knowing how anything would unfold. The flashbacks are quite complex and confusing initially but Karin Slaughter ties both stories together smoothly, while including current, relevant issues, and leading to a very surprising conclusion. 

A terrifying act of violence…
It takes a split second for your life to change forever. And for Andrea Oliver that split second is a mass shooting in her local mall.

A woman whose life is built on a lie…
But this shocking act is only the start. Because then, as the bodies fall around them, Andy’s mother Laura takes a step forward into the line of fire.

A fight for survival…
Hours later, Laura is in hospital, her face splashed over the newspapers. But the danger has only just begun. Now Andy must embark on a desperate race against time to uncover the secrets of her mother’s past before any more blood is shed…