…a hell-raising thriller that departs from [Slaughter's] previous soft-boiled investigative procedurals…[Pretty Girls is] a genuinely exciting narrative driven by strong-willed female characters who can't wait around until the boys shake the lead out of their shoes.

07/06/2015
Claire Scott, the heroine of this gripping standalone from bestseller Slaughter (Cop Town), thought she knew everything about her architect husband, Paul, but her posh Atlanta life is turned upside down when he’s fatally stabbed in an alley and she uncovers a series of nasty videos on his home computer. Paul’s dark side is what drove a wedge between Claire and her sister Lydia 18 years earlier, when Lydia accused Paul of attempted rape. At the time, Claire sided with Paul, and the sisters stopped speaking. The family was already splintered following the 1991 disappearance of Claire and Lydia’s older sister, 19-year-old Julia, who vanished near her University of Georgia dorm. Paul’s death brings Claire and Lydia back together as they begin peeling back the layers of everything that the meticulously organized Paul kept hidden. Chapters from the girls’ father’s journal, written to the missing Julia, form a poignant counterpoint to the chilling violence of this unsettling tale. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (Sept.)

The author’s trademark of complex plots coupled with character studies makes Pretty Girls another standout.” — Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers

“Stunning family.... Certain to be a book of the year.” — Lee Child

“Slaughter’s eye for detail and truth is unmatched. . . . I’d follow her anywhere.” — Gillian Flynn

“One of the boldest thriller writers working today.” — Tess Gerritsen

“Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivaled among thriller writers.” — Michael Connelly

“Breathtaking…. Fiction doesn’t get any better than this.” — Jeffery Deaver, New York Times-bestselling author of Solitude Creek and The Skin Collector

“Searing, searching, soulful: a major achievement.” — Kathy Reichs, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Speaking in Bones

“A hell-raising thriller…a genuinely exciting narrative driven by strong-willed female characters who can’t wait around until the boys shake the lead out of their shoes.” — New York Times Book Review

A hell-raising thriller…a genuinely exciting narrative driven by strong-willed female characters who can’t wait around until the boys shake the lead out of their shoes.

Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivaled among thriller writers.

One of the boldest thriller writers working today.

Stunning family.... Certain to be a book of the year.

Slaughter’s eye for detail and truth is unmatched. . . . I’d follow her anywhere.

Breathtaking…. Fiction doesn’t get any better than this.

Searing, searching, soulful: a major achievement.

The author’s trademark of complex plots coupled with character studies makes Pretty Girls another standout.

The author’s trademark of complex plots coupled with character studies makes Pretty Girls another standout.

★ 08/01/2015
After Claire Scott's millionaire husband of almost 20 years is killed by a mugger, she's devastated. Paul was her rock, and the happiness she felt with him was unlike anything she'd ever known. When an attempted burglary during the funeral brings cops and an FBI agent to their house, Claire discovers Paul may have been hiding something. As events escalate, she calls on Lydia, her estranged sister (whose life as a struggling single mom is worlds away from Claire's privileged one), for help. Soon they uncover evidence that could solve the mystery of the recent disappearance of a young girl, and may also hold the key to their own sister Julia's disappearance 20 years ago. VERDICT Slaughter's (Cop Town) stand-alone novel packs a heck of a wallop, and while it's a powerful thriller, it's also a deft look into a family forced to confront horrific tragedy. Slaughter's longtime fans will be thrilled. New readers will be hooked on this twisted tale from page one.—Kristin Centorcelli, Denton, TX

Claire Scott’s 19-year-old sister, Julia, disappeared 20 years ago. Since then, despite the fact that her sister Lydia once accused Paul of attempted rape, Claire’s been “happily” married to Paul—and estranged from Lydia. Then, a sudden, shocking act of violence leaves Paul dead and Claire reeling. Narrator Kathleen Early accurately delivers Claire’s revulsion when she discovers Paul’s private collection of “snuff” porn and boxes of detailed material on women who’ve been raped. As horrified as she is with Paul, Claire reviles herself even more for willfully ignoring the clues to his true nature. Early uses a hyper-edgy tone, keeping the ghastly descriptions understated, allowing the real horror to emerge. With stunning twists and unpredictable turns, Early’s performance of Slaughter’s chilling novel invents a new word for the OED: “unputdownable.” S.J.H. Winner of AudioFIle Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

★ 2015-07-01
Twenty-four years after a traumatic disappearance tore a Georgia family apart, Slaughter's scorching stand-alone picks them up and shreds them all over again. The Carrolls have never been the same since 19-year-old Julia vanished. After years of fruitlessly pestering the police, her veterinarian father, Sam, killed himself; her librarian mother, Helen, still keeps the girl's bedroom untouched, just in case. Julia's sisters have been equally scarred. Lydia Delgado has sold herself for drugs countless times, though she's been clean for years now; Claire Scott has just been paroled after knee-capping her tennis partner for a thoughtless remark. The evening that Claire's ankle bracelet comes off, her architect husband, Paul, is callously murdered before her eyes and, without a moment's letup, she stumbles on a mountainous cache of snuff porn. Paul's business partner, Adam Quinn, demands information from Claire and threatens her with dire consequences if she doesn't deliver. The Dunwoody police prove as ineffectual as ever. FBI agent Fred Nolan is more suavely menacing than helpful. So Lydia and Claire, who've grown so far apart that they're virtual strangers, are unwillingly thrown back on each other for help. Once she's plunged you into this maelstrom, Slaughter shreds your own nerves along with those of the sisters, not simply by a parade of gruesome revelations—though she supplies them in abundance—but by peeling back layer after layer from beloved family members Claire and Lydia thought they knew. The results are harrowing. Slaughter (Cop Town, 2014, etc.) is so uncompromising in following her blood trails to the darkest places imaginable that she makes most of her high-wire competition look pallid, formulaic, or just plain fake.