Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica Published by MIRA on August 13th 2015
Genres/Lists: #30Authors, Fiction, Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 384
Read synopsis on Goodreads
(this post includes affiliate links)
Thanks to BookBar for letting me borrow this book!
What would you do if you came across a homeless teenage girl and her infant? Would you buy them a meal? Ignore them? If you’re Heidi, you take them home with you. This is where Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica kicks off and the ripple effect of her act of charity leave no one unscathed, including Heidi’s own husband and daughter.
At 16, Willow finds herself on the streets of Chicago with an infant in tow, hoping and dreading the day that someone will help her and trying to escape a past she’d left behind. Heidi ends up being that person and, despite her husband’s protests and her daughter’s surly welcome, gives Willow and the baby a warm, safe place to live. She does everything she can to help them, despite her husband’s objections that Heidi doesn’t know this girl from a hole in the wall and makes his family sleep in the same bedroom with the door locked just in case.
Pretty Baby by @MaryKubica turns alternative narratives on their heads and is a great mystery! Click To TweetIf you’re thinking that you know what’s going to happen from this overarching description, I’m willing to bet you’re wrong. Pretty Baby may sound like your typical mystery but it’s far from typical in the way it unfolds and it will have you second guessing yourself every step of the way. I will say his – Willow isn’t who you think she is and Heidi is hiding just as many secrets. It’s a page turner that can be devoured in a weekend and as much as I enjoyed the story itself, I was most impressed with the style in which it was written.
The book alternates narrators, flipping back and forth between Chris, Heidi, and Willow. What’s unique about this book is that each character has a different flow – Heidi is looking forward, Chris is looking inward, and Willow is looking back. Willow’s story is especially unique in that it felt as if I was following the breadcrumbs from the forest back to the house where it all began. While alternative narrations aren’t unique, Kubica kicked them up a notch by sending each character off in a different direction before bringing them all together. It was much like watching a jellyfish swim – it expands and contracts, is always moving forward, and carries with it a glorious mystery.
Recommended for: Mystery fans who like a a refreshing style of writing.
