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Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter
Thriller

Pieces of Her

by Karin Slaughter

Quick take

When her mother heroically stops a shooting, a daughter realizes she might not really know the woman who raised her.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_NonLinear

    Nonlinear timeline

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_NowAMovie

    Now a movie

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_MamaDrama

    Mama drama

Synopsis

Andrea Oliver’s mother, Laura, is the perfect small-town mum. Laura lives a quiet but happy life in sleepy beachside Belle Isle. She’s a pillar of the community: a speech therapist, business owner, and everybody’s friend. And she’s never kept a secret from anyone. Or so Andrea thinks.

When Andrea is caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognizable to her daughter. It’s like Laura is a completely different person—and that’s because she was. Thirty years ago. Before Andrea. Before Belle Isle.

Laura is hailed as a hero for her actions at the mall, but 24 hours later she is in the hospital, shot by an intruder, who’s spent decades trying to track her down.

What is Andrea’s mother trying to hide? As elements of the past return and put them both in danger, Andrea is left to piece together Laura’s former identity and discover the truth—for better or worse—about her mother. Is the gentle, loving woman who raised her also a violent killer?

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Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Pieces of Her.

Why I love it

Have you ever stumbled across a cryptic message scribbled in a parent’s high school yearbook, or flipped through an old album of unrecognizable photos, or overheard a previously untold story from their childhood and thought: I have absolutely no idea who this person is that raised me? In Pieces of Her, Andrea Oliver can relate. Only it was much more than a photo that revealed just how little she knows.

Andrea’s always believed her mom, Laura, to be a kind, quiet woman living a very ordinary life. That is, until the day that their mother-daughter lunch is interrupted by a violent attack—and Laura swiftly and expertly intervenes. Soon Laura is the victim of another crime, and Andrea is left to wonder: Who exactly is the mother she thought she knew so well? And what secrets lie in her past?

This book hits the ground running from the high-stakes first chapter. As the story unfolds, carrying us from past to present, the events of Laura’s former self begin to fit together with the pieces of her present. It’s no surprise this twisty book is headed for the small screen—here’s your chance to read the story that inspired the TV adaptation.

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Member ratings (4,993)

  • Morgan Z.

    Fordyce, NE

    Everything that you once knew is not that anymore! Your life is a lie or maybe not!Love the twist in the plot on Andy’s journey as she tries to discover who her mom is! I can’t wait to watch the show!

  • Danah J.

    Murfreesboro, TN

    This was a great read. It was super entertaining, certainly early on. I enjoy Slaughter’s writing style, but this one had a lot of foul language, physical abuse, and graphic violence. Overall- 4 stars

  • Travis S.

    Houston, TX

    This book was hard to put down. Both main characters were great. The mom had a history I loved and the daughter had a journey of her own. The book left me wondering throughout in the best way possible

  • Susan W.

    St Cloud, FL

    What an adventure! I loved the shift between now/back-when. I never checked out the Netflix version so am grateful I could create my own backdrops and voices. I was fully engaged/immersed from page 1.

  • Natalie R.

    Windermere, FL

    Wow! I’m so excited to watch the Netflix series. The timeline jumps added so much emotional complexity to the plot as we read and experience from both the daughter and mother’s lives experiences.