Elle's Reviews > Girl, Forgotten

Well this somewhat pains me to write, but this is not going to be my favorite novel that Karin Slaughter has put out. I don’t think I’ve reacted to one of her books like this since Pieces of Her which….makes sense, considering this is its sequel.

Look, a ton of people will have this book on their radar because of the Netflix show, so I will write this as if you’ve either read the first in this new series and/or watched the first season. So all of you review skimmers, this is your first an only warning: there will be spoilers for Pieces of Her below! Continue at your own risk.




Things to keep in mind if you only watched the show:
• Jasper has not met Andrea in book one and meets her for the first time briefly in book 2
• Nick is not a fugitive in the books, but has been imprisoned since Laura turned him in after Oslo
• Laura has not signed out of Witness Protection in the books; she is still enrolled and Michael Vargas is her agent


It’s been two years since Andy’s life changed forever. Ever since a gunman walked into that diner, and after feeling helpless at every turn while following the disjointed roadmap of her mother’s past, Andrea Oliver has decided she will not fall into that position again. She’s joined the Marshal program, much to the disapproval of her parents Laura and Gordon, and has cultivated the skills and instincts she was previously lacking. The annoying, stunted Andy is no more—replaced by a capable and independent Andrea.

For the most part this is a good thing. It’s so much easier to become invested in her investigation(s) now that she isn’t a wide-eyed baby lamb just trying not to get accidentally murdered. But in practice there’s an obvious drawback; Laura Oliver’s role has been massively reduced in this sequel. She’s honestly not around for more than some glorified cameos at the very beginning and end. And despite Andrea’s newfound freedom, it’s hard to imagine the Laura Oliver from book one being fine with sitting back and letting her only, precious daughter try her hand at a dangerous profession while there’s still people out there that want her dead. No, old Laura would give her a half hour head start and then Kool-Aid man back into Andrea’s life whether or not she needs (or wants) her mother there.



But its not just the Oliver women standing beneath the spotlight this time. A large portion of the plot is revealed through flashbacks to an early 1980s murder case that Andrea is looking into. And I have to say, these flashbacks are not a fun, nostalgia-filled romp, but instead almost exclusively contain cruelty and violence. It’s not exactly the kind of violence you may be expecting from the author of Pretty Girls or The Good Daughter, but more akin to Slaughter’s other historical crime novel, Cop Town. I mean, it was the Reagan era. It’s not like everyone was having A Great Time. But I’ll throw in a few content warnings from both timelines here, out of context, so you can decide if it’ll work for you: (view spoiler)[sexism, homophobia, ‘life-prolonging care’, abortion, anorexia, sexual violence, drug use, cults, domestic violence, pregnant medical malpractice, gun violence (hide spoiler)]

I’m a little on the fence with whether I want the author to continue with this series. On one hand, I love the Will Trent books and don’t want her to stop writing them, but I also understand why after ten in a series she would want to branch out to something new. The deciding factor is likely going to come down to whether or not Andrea Oliver is a strong enough character to carry a series on her own. I think the jury is still out on that, and I would like to see more of a role for Laura, Gordon and Mike going forward, along with some newly introduced characters like “Catfish” Bible. You know who I am tired of hearing about, though? Fucking Nick. I do not care about this man, no matter how ~important~ he may be to Laura and Andy’s character arcs. He always dregs up these unnecessary political tangents but doesn’t fill a role outside of a vaguely menacing Big Bad they’re always watching out for. If the way this book ends is any indication, he is not done with the Olivers yet. So blah, fine. Whatever.



All that to say…….yeah, you should probably read this if you liked the first book. I will be buying it, if only to be a completionist. Because even though it’s not her best, a so-so Karin Slaughter novel still stands several heads above the standard thriller sitting next to it on the shelves.



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