Join a book club that is reading Pretty Girls: A Psychological Thriller Novel Exploring Secrets and Lies Among Sisters!

The Littleton Literary Society

A book club for people who love to talk about the books they've read! We will vote each month on the book we want to read based on member suggestions.

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Babes in Bookland

Join us in reading a variety of genres, mostly thrillers & fantasy. We will meet in person throughout Queens, NY & virtually

Literary Leominster

The goal of this club is to get people in the Leominster and surrounding areas together to have a book assigned of their choice and then debrief.

Pretty Girls: A Psychological Thriller Novel Exploring Secrets and Lies Among Sisters

Lee Child says it’s ā€œstunning… certain to be a book of the year.ā€

 

Kathy Reichs calls it ā€œextraordinary… a major achievement.ā€

 

Gillian Flynn says of Karin Slaughter: ā€œI’d follow her anywhere.ā€

Sisters. Strangers. Survivors.

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.

Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping, packed with indelible characters and unforgettable twists, Pretty Girls is a masterful novel from one of the finest writers working today.

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Published Feb 7, 2017

432 pages

Average rating: 7.5

1,188 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

KelBel
Jul 15, 2025
8/10 stars
WOW, what a ride. Haven’t read many psychological thrillers but this one good. I was going back and forth on who could be trusted, who was a good person, bad person or just getting in the way. Paul…..Paul Paul Paul, where do I begin, I thought maybe you had a redeeming bone in your body at one point in the story but NO you totally suck! Completely deserved what you got in the end. Thank you, Claire! Not only for Paul but for not giving up on Lydia even when she gave up on herself. Oh, and the torture scenes, creative on the author’s part but… urine waterboarding… GROSS! I can’t even imagine. This was a very emotional, raw story and I felt all the grief, hope and rage intertwined throughout. The letters from Sam to his missing daughter had me in tears! Helen at the end being strong for and accepting of both her remaining daughters, tears again! Well Done Karen… Well Done!
cristytd
Jul 11, 2025
10/10 stars
I’m quite often disappointed by thrillers, but I will dare say that this was one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read. It was gripping, suspenseful and full of twists in all the ways you want a thriller to be. The characters and the story were both very well developed and the author truly did a masterful job with her writing. However, I cannot in good conscience omit the fact that this was a very hard/heavy read. The fact that I’m giving this book a 5-star rating does not take away from the fact that it is indeed messed up, dark, disturbing and definitely not for everyone. I had one too many emotions while reading it. Still do and probably always will. This book kept me on the edge of my seat.
HelloTanyaLyn
Jul 10, 2025
8/10 stars
Review coming soon…I need some deep therapy first.
:::UPDATE::: JAN 19 2025 - AS PROMISED
KenzieReadsAlot
Dec 12, 2024
8/10 stars
Whew. Heavy. SO HEAVY. I need a fluffy book after this. Some of the details were so gruesome in this book that I felt nauseas and I am a true crime girly.

But wow what a story.
AFrazier
Jul 12, 2025
8/10 stars
Ooof. This was brutal. Violent. The thriller you’re looking for, as long as you can stomach torture porn. Nough’ said.

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