Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Good Bad Girl is the latest release from the Queen of the Twist, Alice Feeney. I’m not ashamed to start this review by saying I am a Feeney-Fangirl. I love her stories.
As for this one, I have been anticipating it all year and am so happy to report, it did not disappoint.
I loved the tagline of this book’s synopsis: Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things. From the moment I read that I wanted to know more.
Like the tagline, the book itself delivered that kind of intriguing teaser, chapter after chapter. This story does follow multiple perspectives and initially, I’ll admit, to having moments of slight confusion.
I didn’t let that bother me though. I trust Feeney’s process and knew all would be revealed in good time. I just sat back, relaxed and let the story flow over me. It was amazing.
This follows 80-year old, Edith, currently residing in Windsor Care Home, but it wasn’t by her choice and she’s not happy about it. Patience, a care home worker, is Edith’s closest confidant, but she’s harboring secrets of her own.
Edith’s daughter, Clio, gets most of the brunt of her mother’s anger about her current living situation and with Mother’s Day upon them, that should make for an interesting visit.
Frankie, a librarian at a prison, is also saddened with Mother’s Day approaching, but for reasons of her own. Her only daughter left home in anger a year ago and she hasn’t seen her since.
After a murder at the care home, things begin to really heat up for our characters. People on the run, confrontations, incidents with the police, it’s non-stop action and eyebrow-raising reveals until the very end.
As mentioned above, initially the number of perspectives did seem like a lot, but they were all interesting. I never minded learning more about each specific character.
Additionally, discovering the truth behind how all the perspectives were connected was just so fun. There were a lot of different layers to the drama.
One aspect of this I found especially interesting was how a lot of this has to do with individuals, who are in a vulnerable position, having decisions made for them. Then it sort of unpacked the circumstances and the repercussions of that.
The relationships involved in these scenarios, while over the top here, were actually quite relatable and believable. Particularly those pertaining to an aging parent, or to the early stages of motherhood.
I feel like Feeney did a great job bringing that level of substance to her signature style of twisty-Thriller. The added element to it all was the murder mystery at the heart of the story. That was so fun to try to figure out.
Overall, I think Feeney delivered with this one. It’s a real page-turner. If you have patience with it and let the perspectives fall into place, I think you’ll be able to enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
At this point, I will pick up anything Alice Feeney writes. I have never been disappointed. Her perfect record continues!