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Good Bad Girl
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Mystery & Thriller (2023)Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things.
Our Queen of Twists, bestselling author of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors Alice Feeney, returns with another thrilling mystery filled with drama and her trademark surprises.
Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.
Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she's planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.
Edith's own daughter, Clio, won't speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio's door…and their intentions aren't good.
With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.
In the style of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors , Good Bad Girl is a thriller in which nobody can be trusted and the twists come fast and furious.
Our Queen of Twists, bestselling author of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors Alice Feeney, returns with another thrilling mystery filled with drama and her trademark surprises.
Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.
Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she's planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.
Edith's own daughter, Clio, won't speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio's door…and their intentions aren't good.
With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.
In the style of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors , Good Bad Girl is a thriller in which nobody can be trusted and the twists come fast and furious.
528 pages, Library Binding
First published August 29, 2023
6758 people are currently reading
142910 people want to read
About the author
Alice Feeney
18 books35.7k followersAlice Feeney is the New York Times and Sunday Times multi-million-copy bestselling author of novels including HIS & HERS, SOMETIMES I LIE, ROCK PAPER SCISSORS, DAISY DARKER, BEAUTIFUL UGLY and MY HUSBAND'S WIFE.
Her books have been translated into forty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. HIS & HERS was an instant Global #1 Netflix show in 2026, starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.
Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years before becoming an author. MY HUSBAND'S WIFE is her eighth novel.
You can follow Alice on Instagram or Facebook. To be the first to know about her tours, TV shows, and books, visit her website: alicefeeney dot com.
Her books have been translated into forty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. HIS & HERS was an instant Global #1 Netflix show in 2026, starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.
Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years before becoming an author. MY HUSBAND'S WIFE is her eighth novel.
You can follow Alice on Instagram or Facebook. To be the first to know about her tours, TV shows, and books, visit her website: alicefeeney dot com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 11,541 reviews
July 5, 2023
4.25!!! There’s a common theme where I think I know what’s going on but I simply never guess it. Alice is my queen and has done it again!
August 29, 2023
The story begins at THE END. 🐞
And, it ends at THE BEGINNING. 🐞
Two Mother’s Days, that coincide with a baby who was snatched from her buggy at a grocery store-never to be seen again.
“The world is full of people who are good at being bad, and people who are bad at being good.”
Frankie thinks of herself as a Good Bad Girl. Life has taught her that “people can’t be counted on-so she counts other things instead.” Numbers keep her calm, but she owes whatever happiness she has in the world to fiction, so she makes sure, as a prison librarian, that everyone has access to books. Good books can be a light in the darkness and books matter to her more than who is reading them, or where they are being read.
Edith’s daughter, Clio, is a therapist who lives in a pink house. She tries to help others, but can’t help herself. She tricked her mother into signing papers which essentially removed her from her home, and then deposited her at a care facility, after dumping her mom’s beloved eight year old Border Terrier, Dickens, at an animal rescue center.
When Patience found Edith crying in an armchair, on her first day of work at the Windsor Care Home, (which just happened to be Edith’s first day as a resident) and discovered what happened to Dickens, she immediately spent all of her savings so she could adopt him, and the two have been bonded since. She doesn’t believe in coincidences.
Spunky Edith Elliott has a plan to escape “God’s waiting room” and return to her own home, with Patience as her personal caregiver but then a murder takes place at the Windsor Home, and she must leave sooner rather than later.
Now Edith is MISSING.
DCI Charlotte Chapman, (another colorful character) is already on the case. As it turns out, there has actually been TWO murders, and she has THREE suspects: Frankie, Clio, and Patience.
The book alternates with quick chapters labeled “Mother’s Day”, Frankie, Patience, Clio and Edith and I was hooked from the beginning!
How is this case linked to the baby’s disappearance twenty years earlier ? I couldn’t wait to find out and read this book in one day!
Alice Feeney has very distinctive prose, which I happen to love! Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, writes more highlight worthy sentences for me, than she does!
This time she weaves a clever tale which ISN’T quite as DARK as previous books, touching on themes of mother and daughter bonds, both GOOD and BAD. And there is NO ANIMAL HARM! ❤️
With the exception of “I Know Who You Are” all of her books have been 4 or 5 ⭐️ reads for me, but this may just be MY personal favorite yet, which makes the fact that I received a beautiful, signed copy as a gift from a dear friend even more special! ❤️
A buddy read with Susan- Be sure to check out her amazing, insightful review! ❤️
AVAILABLE NOW!!
August 30, 2023
Alice Feeney is one of my favorite authors in this genre. I loved Rock Paper Scissors, Sometimes I Lie and His and Hers. I’m always eager to be immersed in her stories and left shocked at the surprises she throws your way, though I found Daisy Darker a tad disappointing on account of its predictability and lack of originality. I really wanted to love her latest offering, but sadly, Good Bad Girl failed to deliver on the thrills.
The narrative begins with a baby being stolen from a stroller in a supermarket on Mother's Day. Twenty years later, on Mother’s Day, we meet eighty-year-old Edith, a resident of an assisted living facility who resents having been placed there by her daughter Clio. Edith’s relationship with her daughter is strained on account of reasons that are gradually revealed. Edith is befriended by Patience, who works at the care home and is fond of Edith, often going out of her way to help her. We also meet Frankie, who works as a librarian at a prison, who is frantically searching for her teenage daughter who ran away from home after an emotional confrontation. The narrative follows these characters, weaving past and present timelines together as we discover how these characters’ stories are connected, as they get entangled in a web of secrets, lies and murder.
Plenty of dysfunctional family drama, complicated mother-daughter relationships and the mystery of a missing baby at the core of the story would have made for a riveting read had there been a few less predictable “twists”. The rather convenient surprise toward the end of the story rendered that particular plot point a tad contrived. While the characters were well thought out and the author discusses several sensitive issues such as post-partum depression, the pacing is on the slower side and the story feels relatively more character-driven than plot-heavy (which is fine but, in a thriller, I would expect a stronger plot!). I found a few developments in the story rather amusing more than surprising (I did laugh out loud a couple of times, so there’s that). The mystery surrounding the elder care facility could have been better developed, which would have added to the suspenseful vibe but that element of the story was relegated to the background and there is more telling than showing how it was resolved.
I can’t categorize this as a psychological thriller in the true sense of the term, and had I not been looking for a more intricately plotted and twisty read, I would have enjoyed this more. I should mention that this novel is emotionally heavier than Feeney’s other works. Overall, while I did not dislike this novel, it certainly wasn't what I had expected. However, I’m clearly an outlier here and would ask you to read the other reviews before deciding on reading this one.
I listened to the audiobook (9 hours 21 minutes) narrated by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine, who have done an overall decent job of voicing the characters and breathing life into the story.
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
The narrative begins with a baby being stolen from a stroller in a supermarket on Mother's Day. Twenty years later, on Mother’s Day, we meet eighty-year-old Edith, a resident of an assisted living facility who resents having been placed there by her daughter Clio. Edith’s relationship with her daughter is strained on account of reasons that are gradually revealed. Edith is befriended by Patience, who works at the care home and is fond of Edith, often going out of her way to help her. We also meet Frankie, who works as a librarian at a prison, who is frantically searching for her teenage daughter who ran away from home after an emotional confrontation. The narrative follows these characters, weaving past and present timelines together as we discover how these characters’ stories are connected, as they get entangled in a web of secrets, lies and murder.
Plenty of dysfunctional family drama, complicated mother-daughter relationships and the mystery of a missing baby at the core of the story would have made for a riveting read had there been a few less predictable “twists”. The rather convenient surprise toward the end of the story rendered that particular plot point a tad contrived. While the characters were well thought out and the author discusses several sensitive issues such as post-partum depression, the pacing is on the slower side and the story feels relatively more character-driven than plot-heavy (which is fine but, in a thriller, I would expect a stronger plot!). I found a few developments in the story rather amusing more than surprising (I did laugh out loud a couple of times, so there’s that). The mystery surrounding the elder care facility could have been better developed, which would have added to the suspenseful vibe but that element of the story was relegated to the background and there is more telling than showing how it was resolved.
I can’t categorize this as a psychological thriller in the true sense of the term, and had I not been looking for a more intricately plotted and twisty read, I would have enjoyed this more. I should mention that this novel is emotionally heavier than Feeney’s other works. Overall, while I did not dislike this novel, it certainly wasn't what I had expected. However, I’m clearly an outlier here and would ask you to read the other reviews before deciding on reading this one.
I listened to the audiobook (9 hours 21 minutes) narrated by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine, who have done an overall decent job of voicing the characters and breathing life into the story.
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
August 28, 2023
3.5 stars rounded up
If you want spoilers, check out my blog post
Spoiler Alert! Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
Alice Feeney is a go-to author for me when I want a book with intriguing twists. I listened to this intriguing story as an audiobook and the narrators Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine (who has narrated most of the Feeney books) did a superb job at keeping things flowing even when they were confusing at first.
We first are introduced to a woman shopping for groceries with a newborn baby. She turns away for just a minute, and the baby is gone.
Next, we are introduced to a cast of different women:
Frankie, who is a librarian at a prison, her eighteen year old daughter has left home in anger.
Edith, who is elderly and in a care home, where she doesn't think she belongs.
Patience, a worker at the care home who has befriended Edith.
Clio, Edith's adult daughter who is estranged from Edith due to things that happened in the past.
Things come to a head on Mother's Day, when all of the characters and their stories weave together to create a surprising domestic drama tinged with murder.
I really liked how it all came together, but you need patience while the story shakes itself out and the pieces fall into place. I adored Feeney's thoughts about mothers and daughters and how those relationships are often up and down and filled with joys and sorrows. Her play on the theme of good and bad really makes this intriguing, because all of us are both, it just depends on the lens you view it through and the circumstances surrounding it. Every character in this book had both good and bad things about them.
Another hit for Feeney with this twisty suspense novel.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
If you want spoilers, check out my blog post
Spoiler Alert! Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
Alice Feeney is a go-to author for me when I want a book with intriguing twists. I listened to this intriguing story as an audiobook and the narrators Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine (who has narrated most of the Feeney books) did a superb job at keeping things flowing even when they were confusing at first.
We first are introduced to a woman shopping for groceries with a newborn baby. She turns away for just a minute, and the baby is gone.
Next, we are introduced to a cast of different women:
Frankie, who is a librarian at a prison, her eighteen year old daughter has left home in anger.
Edith, who is elderly and in a care home, where she doesn't think she belongs.
Patience, a worker at the care home who has befriended Edith.
Clio, Edith's adult daughter who is estranged from Edith due to things that happened in the past.
Things come to a head on Mother's Day, when all of the characters and their stories weave together to create a surprising domestic drama tinged with murder.
I really liked how it all came together, but you need patience while the story shakes itself out and the pieces fall into place. I adored Feeney's thoughts about mothers and daughters and how those relationships are often up and down and filled with joys and sorrows. Her play on the theme of good and bad really makes this intriguing, because all of us are both, it just depends on the lens you view it through and the circumstances surrounding it. Every character in this book had both good and bad things about them.
Another hit for Feeney with this twisty suspense novel.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
May 13, 2025
There's a thin red line between good and bad. Bad things happen to good people, forcing them to do bad things. Would we act the same way if we were in their shoes?
The queen of twists, Alice in Writerland, has once again crafted a puzzling, gritty, and enigmatic mystery. With each layer of the story that unfolds, you find yourself asking more questions and forming theories about the mysterious relationships between the four main characters.
There's Edith, a quick-witted, sharp, sarcastic yet endearing elderly woman in a care home, who might just become your favorite character. Then there's Patience, a young girl with many hidden skeletons in her closet, including her true identity. She works as a caretaker but might also be a liar and a thief. Frankie, a librarian in prison, is a woman in her mid-thirties searching for her missing daughter and trying to redeem herself from her dark past. Finally, there's Clio, a psychiatrist living unhappily in a pink house, harboring intense resentment toward her mother, Edith, and even giving away her dog.
These four women find themselves connected in some way, drawn into a tricky, dangerous, and deadly situation that results in two murders, three suspects, and one victim. A young, hipster-styled, pink-haired constable digs into their dirty secrets and complex bonds. Will she uncover the truth behind the story's enigmatic villain? What if there are no clear distinctions between good and bad in this tale? What if everything blurs into a gray zone where black and white cease to exist?
This book impressively delves into how the decisions people make shape their lives and explores the complex, excruciating, and tough job of being a mother. It approaches the peculiar, unhealthy, and dysfunctional relationship dynamics between mothers and daughters. As someone who has carried mother issues throughout her life, I found myself both smiling at lines in this book that hit close to home and cringing at others that hit too close to the nerve. I easily connected with the characters and their constant battles with their inner demons, their questionable actions, and their righteous virtues.
The emotional depth of the book and the author's realistic portrayal of mother-daughter bonds overshadow the murder mystery and whodunit aspects.
And, of course, let's not forget that Ms. Feeney pulled the rug out from under me with her last unexpected, jaw-dropping twist that had me exclaiming, "Oh, sh*t!" much too loudly. I thought I had assembled the puzzle perfectly, only to realize I had placed the biggest piece in the wrong spot (I know it might sound like gibberish, but you'll understand when you read the last twist).
Overall, as a devoted fan of the author, I am in awe of the well-developed narrative and how everything wraps up in the most intelligent way an author can achieve. I'm rounding up my 4.5 stars to 5 and eagerly looking forward to getting lost in more of Alice in Writerland's worlds very soon!
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The queen of twists, Alice in Writerland, has once again crafted a puzzling, gritty, and enigmatic mystery. With each layer of the story that unfolds, you find yourself asking more questions and forming theories about the mysterious relationships between the four main characters.
There's Edith, a quick-witted, sharp, sarcastic yet endearing elderly woman in a care home, who might just become your favorite character. Then there's Patience, a young girl with many hidden skeletons in her closet, including her true identity. She works as a caretaker but might also be a liar and a thief. Frankie, a librarian in prison, is a woman in her mid-thirties searching for her missing daughter and trying to redeem herself from her dark past. Finally, there's Clio, a psychiatrist living unhappily in a pink house, harboring intense resentment toward her mother, Edith, and even giving away her dog.
These four women find themselves connected in some way, drawn into a tricky, dangerous, and deadly situation that results in two murders, three suspects, and one victim. A young, hipster-styled, pink-haired constable digs into their dirty secrets and complex bonds. Will she uncover the truth behind the story's enigmatic villain? What if there are no clear distinctions between good and bad in this tale? What if everything blurs into a gray zone where black and white cease to exist?
This book impressively delves into how the decisions people make shape their lives and explores the complex, excruciating, and tough job of being a mother. It approaches the peculiar, unhealthy, and dysfunctional relationship dynamics between mothers and daughters. As someone who has carried mother issues throughout her life, I found myself both smiling at lines in this book that hit close to home and cringing at others that hit too close to the nerve. I easily connected with the characters and their constant battles with their inner demons, their questionable actions, and their righteous virtues.
The emotional depth of the book and the author's realistic portrayal of mother-daughter bonds overshadow the murder mystery and whodunit aspects.
And, of course, let's not forget that Ms. Feeney pulled the rug out from under me with her last unexpected, jaw-dropping twist that had me exclaiming, "Oh, sh*t!" much too loudly. I thought I had assembled the puzzle perfectly, only to realize I had placed the biggest piece in the wrong spot (I know it might sound like gibberish, but you'll understand when you read the last twist).
Overall, as a devoted fan of the author, I am in awe of the well-developed narrative and how everything wraps up in the most intelligent way an author can achieve. I'm rounding up my 4.5 stars to 5 and eagerly looking forward to getting lost in more of Alice in Writerland's worlds very soon!
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
medium blog
June 24, 2023
4.5 rounded up
The world is full of people who are good at being bad and those who are bad at being good and sometimes bad things happen to good people who are forced to do bad. On Mother’s Day twenty years ago during a lapse in concentration, a baby is taken. In the present day, it’s another Mother’s Day and Frankie is struggling, her child is missing and she’s all alone in the world. She doesn’t trust people, she has no reason to, and thus she keeps her distance. Meanwhile, eighty year-old Edith, tricked into Windsor Care Home is plotting her escape, especially as she believes her friend May has been murdered. She has developed a strong bond with Patience who works at the Home as a general dogsbody. Despite being aware that Patience is not exactly truthful, Edith needs her help, especially as she and her daughter Clio are not speaking. Four women, two murders, three suspects and one victim.
Although this is a slow burner, domestic drama/thriller which initially takes a little while to get going as the four main characters and their relationships are established, I think this may be Alice Feeney’s cleverest novel yet. This is by no means her darkest novel, but the premise is excellent as she explores the good/bad idea through an examination of motherhood, especially those struggling with situations such as postpartum depression. It is extremely thought-provoking and so perceptively observed with some sentences that really resonate and jump out at me, so I read them several times over. This is one Alice Feeney novel that deserves a re-read as I’m sure I’ll have missed some clever nuances along the way. It also makes you reflect on your own experiences of motherhood.
Once each of the four characters threads start to connect so cleverly this is when the Queen of the Twisty twist revs up and gets going, delivering some real slam dunkers. She continues to surprise me right to the very end with one jaw dropping revelation – nicely played! Here we have characters who have much to conceal with secrets piling on secrets and how each links to the other is very well done. It’s highly entertaining watching the truth wriggle it’s way reluctantly to the surface and seeing how that all plays out. The author keeps you in suspense time after time so scenarios retain their air of mystery. The characterisation is exemplary, each one is well fleshed out and has there own unique voice and personality with their own shades of good and bad. The ending is good, a little bit sad and a little bit glad.
Alice Feeney has carved her own niche in this genre, each of her novels is different and I have no doubt she’s got another bestseller to add to the mounting list. Be patient with this one, it’s so worth it.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pan Macmillan for the much appreciated are in return for an honest review.
The world is full of people who are good at being bad and those who are bad at being good and sometimes bad things happen to good people who are forced to do bad. On Mother’s Day twenty years ago during a lapse in concentration, a baby is taken. In the present day, it’s another Mother’s Day and Frankie is struggling, her child is missing and she’s all alone in the world. She doesn’t trust people, she has no reason to, and thus she keeps her distance. Meanwhile, eighty year-old Edith, tricked into Windsor Care Home is plotting her escape, especially as she believes her friend May has been murdered. She has developed a strong bond with Patience who works at the Home as a general dogsbody. Despite being aware that Patience is not exactly truthful, Edith needs her help, especially as she and her daughter Clio are not speaking. Four women, two murders, three suspects and one victim.
Although this is a slow burner, domestic drama/thriller which initially takes a little while to get going as the four main characters and their relationships are established, I think this may be Alice Feeney’s cleverest novel yet. This is by no means her darkest novel, but the premise is excellent as she explores the good/bad idea through an examination of motherhood, especially those struggling with situations such as postpartum depression. It is extremely thought-provoking and so perceptively observed with some sentences that really resonate and jump out at me, so I read them several times over. This is one Alice Feeney novel that deserves a re-read as I’m sure I’ll have missed some clever nuances along the way. It also makes you reflect on your own experiences of motherhood.
Once each of the four characters threads start to connect so cleverly this is when the Queen of the Twisty twist revs up and gets going, delivering some real slam dunkers. She continues to surprise me right to the very end with one jaw dropping revelation – nicely played! Here we have characters who have much to conceal with secrets piling on secrets and how each links to the other is very well done. It’s highly entertaining watching the truth wriggle it’s way reluctantly to the surface and seeing how that all plays out. The author keeps you in suspense time after time so scenarios retain their air of mystery. The characterisation is exemplary, each one is well fleshed out and has there own unique voice and personality with their own shades of good and bad. The ending is good, a little bit sad and a little bit glad.
Alice Feeney has carved her own niche in this genre, each of her novels is different and I have no doubt she’s got another bestseller to add to the mounting list. Be patient with this one, it’s so worth it.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pan Macmillan for the much appreciated are in return for an honest review.
May 3, 2025
Nie wiem, czy nazwałabym to kryminałem. To bardzo smutna historia.
Jako kryminał, najsłabsza z książek autorki. Sama „zagadka” jest bardzo prosta do rozwiązania, więc jest też mało satysfakcjonująca. Ale jest dużo innych dobrych elementów w tej książce, więc i tak warto ją przeczytać 😩
Jako kryminał, najsłabsza z książek autorki. Sama „zagadka” jest bardzo prosta do rozwiązania, więc jest też mało satysfakcjonująca. Ale jest dużo innych dobrych elementów w tej książce, więc i tak warto ją przeczytać 😩
August 1, 2023
I loved the author's previous books but this one just didn't resonate with me. I won't waste time recapping the plot, but I found the varying points of view and timelines confusing and couldn't keep the characters straight. The convoluted plot meanders along at a slow pace, and while it eventually comes together, by the time it does so, I just didn't care that much.
I would call this more of a domestic drama with musings about motherhood, than a thriller. This isn't a deal breaker for me, as I usually love domestic dramas, but this one failed to engage me. I was bored more than riveted. It's not a bad book, but it fell flat for me. I didn't find anything thrilling or shocking or even interesting.
I listened to the audiobook and while there were two narrators, the characters were still nearly indistinguishable from one another, except for the elderly woman.
3 stars because I do enjoy the author. This one simply wasn't for me.
*I received a digital audio copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own
I would call this more of a domestic drama with musings about motherhood, than a thriller. This isn't a deal breaker for me, as I usually love domestic dramas, but this one failed to engage me. I was bored more than riveted. It's not a bad book, but it fell flat for me. I didn't find anything thrilling or shocking or even interesting.
I listened to the audiobook and while there were two narrators, the characters were still nearly indistinguishable from one another, except for the elderly woman.
3 stars because I do enjoy the author. This one simply wasn't for me.
*I received a digital audio copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own
October 15, 2023
Okayyy I liked this a lot! Not super shocking, but clever and twisty enough for an entertaining weekend read. Alice Feeney has earned back my trust after what she did to me with Daisy Darker 😅😅
July 14, 2024
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!
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!
November 11, 2023
Can a bad girl be good? Furthermore, is what we call bad always bad? In Alice Feeney’s newest book Good Bad Girl, the answer may be: It’s all relative.
This is the story of two mothers, two daughters and two very eventful Mothers Days. On Mother’s Day twenty years ago, one baby girl was stolen from her buggy never to be found. On this Mother’s Day, in the present, one woman is murdered. Could they be connected? DCI Charlotte Chapman is on the case to find out. As she lets each of her three suspects know: There were two murders, three suspects, and one victim.
Edith is an eighty-year-old ex-store detective who’s been shuffled off to a nursing home against her will. She blames her daughter Clio for putting her there. Clio feels she’s doing the best she can and blames her mother for never truly loving her. Neither prefers to communicate with the other.
Patience is an 18-year-old care home employee who’s befriended Edith and her adorable dog, Dickens, who Patience sneaks in for visits with Edith. She also has a strained relationship with her own mother, Frankie, a prison librarian. Patience left home after a disagreement and hasn’t communicated with Frankie since.
In each woman you see both good and bad. As truths come to light you see they’ve all made very bad choices in their lives, yet are any of them truly bad? For a story involving crimes committed, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more sympathetic towards the characters involved!
It’s rare that I finish a book and have no complaints, but try as I might, I can’t find a single one. Alice Feeney outdid herself with this, and it’s risen to the top as my new favorite book of hers! It's a domestic drama/mystery that twists and turns in ways that Feeney has made an art of. It’s also eminently quotable and so insightful regarding women and mother/daughter relationships, that I guess my only complaint is that I couldn’t highlight the MANY wonderful quotes on my Kindle since I listened to it on audio! Who am I kidding? I really can't complain. The audio was amazing.
Speaking of the audio, it was narrated by Stephanie Racine, who always does a brilliant job with Feeney’s books, and the equally impressive Katherine Press. They brought all these fascinating personalities to life and only added to my enjoyment of the story.
I can only sing this book's praises and tell you to check this out if it sounds like a good match!
★★★★★
Thanks to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and author Alice Feeney for this ALC to honestly review. It’s out on August 29, 2023!
This is the story of two mothers, two daughters and two very eventful Mothers Days. On Mother’s Day twenty years ago, one baby girl was stolen from her buggy never to be found. On this Mother’s Day, in the present, one woman is murdered. Could they be connected? DCI Charlotte Chapman is on the case to find out. As she lets each of her three suspects know: There were two murders, three suspects, and one victim.
Edith is an eighty-year-old ex-store detective who’s been shuffled off to a nursing home against her will. She blames her daughter Clio for putting her there. Clio feels she’s doing the best she can and blames her mother for never truly loving her. Neither prefers to communicate with the other.
Patience is an 18-year-old care home employee who’s befriended Edith and her adorable dog, Dickens, who Patience sneaks in for visits with Edith. She also has a strained relationship with her own mother, Frankie, a prison librarian. Patience left home after a disagreement and hasn’t communicated with Frankie since.
In each woman you see both good and bad. As truths come to light you see they’ve all made very bad choices in their lives, yet are any of them truly bad? For a story involving crimes committed, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more sympathetic towards the characters involved!
It’s rare that I finish a book and have no complaints, but try as I might, I can’t find a single one. Alice Feeney outdid herself with this, and it’s risen to the top as my new favorite book of hers! It's a domestic drama/mystery that twists and turns in ways that Feeney has made an art of. It’s also eminently quotable and so insightful regarding women and mother/daughter relationships, that I guess my only complaint is that I couldn’t highlight the MANY wonderful quotes on my Kindle since I listened to it on audio! Who am I kidding? I really can't complain. The audio was amazing.
Speaking of the audio, it was narrated by Stephanie Racine, who always does a brilliant job with Feeney’s books, and the equally impressive Katherine Press. They brought all these fascinating personalities to life and only added to my enjoyment of the story.
I can only sing this book's praises and tell you to check this out if it sounds like a good match!
★★★★★
Thanks to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and author Alice Feeney for this ALC to honestly review. It’s out on August 29, 2023!
February 1, 2024
When the characters aren’t convincing, where’s the thrill in a thriller?
After having a good reading streak from the author, I was excited to read this new release and I was expecting it to be a good read. Or at least an average one.
I find the writing a bit lost here and there. There are multiple POVs or so it seems (you have to experience it) where the characters all sound similar regardless their age and gender. Clearly, I just couldn’t enjoy the book and the second half didn’t get better. The plot? Eh.
After having a good reading streak from the author, I was excited to read this new release and I was expecting it to be a good read. Or at least an average one.
I find the writing a bit lost here and there. There are multiple POVs or so it seems (you have to experience it) where the characters all sound similar regardless their age and gender. Clearly, I just couldn’t enjoy the book and the second half didn’t get better. The plot? Eh.
August 13, 2023
You’ll want to approach this read with a bit of patience. It’s all going to seem a bit confusing. But hang in there! When it finally comes together it will all be worth it!🤩
Speaking of patience, she’s one of our main characters. Patience works in a nursing home, off the books. She has her favorite residents of course, including Edith.
We also have Frankie, a woman working as a prison librarian. Her daughter is missing and naturally she’s shattered!
Lastly is Clio. Edith’s daughter who works as a psychologist and lives in her beloved pink house.
Between these characters, a missing baby and a murder in the nursing home, it felt like a box of random, un-connectible puzzle pieces. It took me half the book to assemble enough pieces together to understand what it was starting to look like.
Sit back, sip your tea, and know that you’re in for a twisty treat by the time you reach the end! Alice Feeney once again delivers a brilliantly written thriller! Bravo!🙌
The audio was well narrated by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine.
A buddy read with Susanne!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio 🎧
Speaking of patience, she’s one of our main characters. Patience works in a nursing home, off the books. She has her favorite residents of course, including Edith.
We also have Frankie, a woman working as a prison librarian. Her daughter is missing and naturally she’s shattered!
Lastly is Clio. Edith’s daughter who works as a psychologist and lives in her beloved pink house.
Between these characters, a missing baby and a murder in the nursing home, it felt like a box of random, un-connectible puzzle pieces. It took me half the book to assemble enough pieces together to understand what it was starting to look like.
Sit back, sip your tea, and know that you’re in for a twisty treat by the time you reach the end! Alice Feeney once again delivers a brilliantly written thriller! Bravo!🙌
The audio was well narrated by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine.
A buddy read with Susanne!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio 🎧
October 4, 2023
HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!
Happy Mother’s Day!
“The world is full of people who are good at being bad, and people who are bad at being good.”
Wow! What a timely read with Mother’s Day soon approaching. Alice Feeney is one of my favorite authors, so as soon as I received this ARC, it went to the top of the queue.
The book is narrated by Frankie, Patience, Edith, and Clio who each alternate chapters. Who are they and how are their stories connected?
Frankie works at a prison and her daughter recently ran away from home. Patience is eighteen years old and works at care home taking care of Edith. Edith believes that her daughter Clio wanted to get rid of her, so she left her there without cause. Clio lives in a beautiful pink house and runs her psychology practice from home.
When multiple residents of the care home turn up dead, Edith believes that the patients are being murdered. She vows to escape, but not before the care home manager, Joy, is murdered. Can she escape before it’s too late?
Where is Frankie’s daughter? Will she ever find her?
This domestic suspense thriller begins with a slow start. I am ashamed to say that it took me twice as long as normal to finish this book. Life did get it the way, but the first 60% didn’t grab me like other Alice Feeney books. It is written in third person, which led to part of my disconnect. Plus, since it took so long for the characters’ connections to come together, I didn’t feel as invested in their stories as I could have. The pace does pick up around 60% as the twists begin to be revealed. In queen of the twist fashion, there are plenty of them. Unfortunately, this time I figured all of them out before the characters.
Feeney explores themes of postpartum depression and what it means to be a good mother. This is mostly a feel good type of story, which is slightly different from her other books.
Overall, the last 40% mostly won me over. I enjoyed how the plot came together, but really struggled with the beginning. I am still a huge fan of Feeney and will be looking forward to her next thriller.
3.5/5 stars rounded up
Expected publication date: 8/29/23
Thank you to Edelweiss and Flatiron books for the ARC of Good Bad Girl in exchange for an honest review.
Happy Mother’s Day!
“The world is full of people who are good at being bad, and people who are bad at being good.”
Wow! What a timely read with Mother’s Day soon approaching. Alice Feeney is one of my favorite authors, so as soon as I received this ARC, it went to the top of the queue.
The book is narrated by Frankie, Patience, Edith, and Clio who each alternate chapters. Who are they and how are their stories connected?
Frankie works at a prison and her daughter recently ran away from home. Patience is eighteen years old and works at care home taking care of Edith. Edith believes that her daughter Clio wanted to get rid of her, so she left her there without cause. Clio lives in a beautiful pink house and runs her psychology practice from home.
When multiple residents of the care home turn up dead, Edith believes that the patients are being murdered. She vows to escape, but not before the care home manager, Joy, is murdered. Can she escape before it’s too late?
Where is Frankie’s daughter? Will she ever find her?
This domestic suspense thriller begins with a slow start. I am ashamed to say that it took me twice as long as normal to finish this book. Life did get it the way, but the first 60% didn’t grab me like other Alice Feeney books. It is written in third person, which led to part of my disconnect. Plus, since it took so long for the characters’ connections to come together, I didn’t feel as invested in their stories as I could have. The pace does pick up around 60% as the twists begin to be revealed. In queen of the twist fashion, there are plenty of them. Unfortunately, this time I figured all of them out before the characters.
Feeney explores themes of postpartum depression and what it means to be a good mother. This is mostly a feel good type of story, which is slightly different from her other books.
Overall, the last 40% mostly won me over. I enjoyed how the plot came together, but really struggled with the beginning. I am still a huge fan of Feeney and will be looking forward to her next thriller.
3.5/5 stars rounded up
Expected publication date: 8/29/23
Thank you to Edelweiss and Flatiron books for the ARC of Good Bad Girl in exchange for an honest review.
December 11, 2023
Murder and mystery and mayhem, oh my!
Alice Feeney masterfully constructs a web of suspense with two murders, three suspects, and one victim, leaving us guessing until the very end of Good Bad Girl.
My advice: pay attention to everything; take nothing for granted; and don’t be too hard on yourself when you are duped at figuring things out.
The story has four main characters: a teenager called Patience who works as a nursing assistant at an extended care facility; Edith, a spirited octogenarian who has designs on escaping said care home; Clio, the uptight daughter of Edith; and Frankie, a prison librarian with OCD who lives on a houseboat.
The setting is contemporary London and moves between the care home, the Thames waterways, the prison, a lovely pink house, and a tiny attic above an art gallery.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. The pacing is quick and Feeney keeps her readers continually off-balance with shifting perspectives.
Dive into Good Bad Girl and you won’t come up for air until you’ve turned the last page.
July 12, 2023
The plot in Good Bad Girl is a bit complex. I am going to be as brief as possible in order to not give anything away:
20 years ago, a baby was stolen from a stroller in a supermarket and now a murder has happened at a nursing home. Two completely different crimes but they are linked to a group of women who must solve the murder in order to find out who stole the baby all those years ago.
The women are: 80-year-old Edith who believes she was tricked into living in a nursing home, 18-year-old Patience who works at the nursing home, Clio who is Edith’s estranged daughter and Frankie who works as a prison librarian.
Alice Feeney is not called the Queen of the Thriller Twist for nothing. Even though this book is filled with cleverly planted red herrings, when the twist was revealed, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor!
From page one until the end, this book kept my attention throughout. All of the characters in this book were brilliantly constructed. I love how Alice always writes her characters with such depth that they feel real. In Good Bad Girl, I loved how she explored the complex dynamics of the mother and daughter relationship. This book solidifies why Alice is my all-time favorite thriller author! Good Bad Girl is my sixth read by Feeney and of course, I will read whatever her radiant mind writes next.
Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney will be available on August 29. A massive thanks to Flatiron Books for the gifted copy!
20 years ago, a baby was stolen from a stroller in a supermarket and now a murder has happened at a nursing home. Two completely different crimes but they are linked to a group of women who must solve the murder in order to find out who stole the baby all those years ago.
The women are: 80-year-old Edith who believes she was tricked into living in a nursing home, 18-year-old Patience who works at the nursing home, Clio who is Edith’s estranged daughter and Frankie who works as a prison librarian.
Alice Feeney is not called the Queen of the Thriller Twist for nothing. Even though this book is filled with cleverly planted red herrings, when the twist was revealed, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor!
From page one until the end, this book kept my attention throughout. All of the characters in this book were brilliantly constructed. I love how Alice always writes her characters with such depth that they feel real. In Good Bad Girl, I loved how she explored the complex dynamics of the mother and daughter relationship. This book solidifies why Alice is my all-time favorite thriller author! Good Bad Girl is my sixth read by Feeney and of course, I will read whatever her radiant mind writes next.
Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney will be available on August 29. A massive thanks to Flatiron Books for the gifted copy!
August 30, 2023
If you love the challenge of figuring out a puzzle... Good Bad Girl IS your next read!
THOUGHTS:
- Falling into the minds of the severely deranged who are pathologically lying with ultimately unreliable thoughts is a fun puzzle!! The first 30% of this book completely threw me off, and I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of figuring out where everything was going and how everything was connected.
- Set in London and definitely gave me those moody fall vibes I love during this time of year! (I'm already over summer, my friends!)
Audiobook Rating: 5/5 --
Here's the thing about audiobooks. Even when the characters are well done, and the narrator does a fantastic job(which they totally did! - I didn't even have to think about which character it was because the narrator's voices were so different), some books you need to hold in your hand to grasp.
Good Bad Girl is one of these books. The narrator can do as amazing of the job as they did, and you'd mostly likely still need to go back and rewind because there are so many details that become important.
In the end, Good Bad Girl is a psychological thriller to throw on your TBR!
**Thank you to Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤
Find Me On Instagram 🦋 || More Bookish Thoughts & Reviews Here 🖤
THOUGHTS:
- Falling into the minds of the severely deranged who are pathologically lying with ultimately unreliable thoughts is a fun puzzle!! The first 30% of this book completely threw me off, and I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of figuring out where everything was going and how everything was connected.
- Set in London and definitely gave me those moody fall vibes I love during this time of year! (I'm already over summer, my friends!)
Audiobook Rating: 5/5 --
Here's the thing about audiobooks. Even when the characters are well done, and the narrator does a fantastic job(which they totally did! - I didn't even have to think about which character it was because the narrator's voices were so different), some books you need to hold in your hand to grasp.
Good Bad Girl is one of these books. The narrator can do as amazing of the job as they did, and you'd mostly likely still need to go back and rewind because there are so many details that become important.
In the end, Good Bad Girl is a psychological thriller to throw on your TBR!
**Thank you to Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤
Find Me On Instagram 🦋 || More Bookish Thoughts & Reviews Here 🖤
October 9, 2023
I had the audio and the ebook from Libby!
Pay Attention - Because, it took a lot of focus to sort out the many characters and their many connections. WHEW! I needed a who's who cheat sheet!
I'm not even going to go into the plot because of the many twists and turns it takes. Feeney does deliver on the unreliable narrators. Have some patience and it will pay off!
The characters are all battling their own demons, a baby is stolen, and a murder happens in a care home. The puzzle is in putting all these happenings and motives into place!
A twisted journey with a couple of gasp worthy moments.
Published on Aug 29, 2023
Pay Attention - Because, it took a lot of focus to sort out the many characters and their many connections. WHEW! I needed a who's who cheat sheet!
I'm not even going to go into the plot because of the many twists and turns it takes. Feeney does deliver on the unreliable narrators. Have some patience and it will pay off!
The characters are all battling their own demons, a baby is stolen, and a murder happens in a care home. The puzzle is in putting all these happenings and motives into place!
A twisted journey with a couple of gasp worthy moments.
Published on Aug 29, 2023
November 17, 2023
Sensational! Alice Feeney raises the domestic thriller bar. 🥇💓
Good Bad Girl is one captivating read that'll make your head spin in a good way. As most reviewers have said, you have to hang in there and let it play out while enjoying Feeney's fine storytelling. It's rather complex and multilayer. The pace was great with a jaw-dropping reveal!😲
Mother's Day twenty years apart. Told from the past and present of mothers, daughters, and a missing 6-month-old baby. Generational secrets and lies that linked the characters in this twisty tale. I'm not going to say much, better for readers to really enjoy this one.
I love Feeney's work each one more than the last. Good Bad Girl surely didn't disappoint and I can't wait to see what she'll come up with next.
LOVED the audio version with two narrators Katharine Press and Stephanie Racine. They both are terrific and add so much enjoyment to the story. 4.5⭐
Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this ALC.
Expected publication on Aug 29, 2023!
Good Bad Girl is one captivating read that'll make your head spin in a good way. As most reviewers have said, you have to hang in there and let it play out while enjoying Feeney's fine storytelling. It's rather complex and multilayer. The pace was great with a jaw-dropping reveal!😲
Mother's Day twenty years apart. Told from the past and present of mothers, daughters, and a missing 6-month-old baby. Generational secrets and lies that linked the characters in this twisty tale. I'm not going to say much, better for readers to really enjoy this one.
I love Feeney's work each one more than the last. Good Bad Girl surely didn't disappoint and I can't wait to see what she'll come up with next.
LOVED the audio version with two narrators Katharine Press and Stephanie Racine. They both are terrific and add so much enjoyment to the story. 4.5⭐
Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this ALC.
Expected publication on Aug 29, 2023!
August 31, 2023
Mother's Day is a complex and emotional day for many. At the beginning of this new title from Alice Feeney, a woman is at the supermarket on Mother's Day and the infant in her care disappears. Who is the mother? What happened to the baby? We don't know. There are three mothers in this story: Edith, Clio, and Frankie. There are two daughters: Clio and Patience. Who belongs to whom? One clue seems to be a ladybug ring. 🐞This is a multi-layered story with surprises throughout. Feeney is so good at keeping the reader in the dark, then shedding just enough light to help us find our way to the end. Kudos to Macmillan Audio on casting two narrators to give us clarity on the characters as we listen. 🎧
October 25, 2023
This was quite enjoyable and kept me guessing throughout. I also loved the ending!
August 3, 2023
I will admit I was a tad confused about this story up until about 60%. Granted I was able to listen to the book, and have enjoyed Alice Feeney's previous books.
In this story, a twenty year difference between a baby being taken and a woman's death in a care center results in this story to see how these events are connected. The two events occurred on Mother's Day
There are four characters in this book, and the focal point is the mother daughter connection. The four characters are intertwined in a twisted way that we have come to know in this author's tales. One important idea I believe is that we need to go with the flow, and try not to puzzle out the characters and their connections. As thriller readers we are not often the ones to do this, although I would say this story is more of a domestic suspense.
In the story we meet Patience, Clio, Frankie and Edith, their relationship to the story starts to form although a bit confusing. Patience works in a care home looking after Edith and Edith is Clio's mother, while Frankie is Patience's mom.
Bottom line is this is a story, you will need to have patience to read and finally understand. Clever in its way, it is my least favorite of Alice Feeney books.
Thank you to Alice Feeney, Macmillan Audio, narrated by Katherine Press; Stephanie Racine, and NetGalley for the ability to listen to this story.
In this story, a twenty year difference between a baby being taken and a woman's death in a care center results in this story to see how these events are connected. The two events occurred on Mother's Day
There are four characters in this book, and the focal point is the mother daughter connection. The four characters are intertwined in a twisted way that we have come to know in this author's tales. One important idea I believe is that we need to go with the flow, and try not to puzzle out the characters and their connections. As thriller readers we are not often the ones to do this, although I would say this story is more of a domestic suspense.
In the story we meet Patience, Clio, Frankie and Edith, their relationship to the story starts to form although a bit confusing. Patience works in a care home looking after Edith and Edith is Clio's mother, while Frankie is Patience's mom.
Bottom line is this is a story, you will need to have patience to read and finally understand. Clever in its way, it is my least favorite of Alice Feeney books.
Thank you to Alice Feeney, Macmillan Audio, narrated by Katherine Press; Stephanie Racine, and NetGalley for the ability to listen to this story.
August 1, 2023
I have many good things to say
about Alice Feeney’s “Good Bad Girl”
It’s a sizzling domestic drama about the sorrows and traumas of deeply flawed mothers and daughters.
The book starts with a Mother’s Day child abduction.
Readers next learn about an alleged murder in a home for the elderly, occurring 20 years after the Mother's Day child abduction.
Are these two crimes connected?
If so, how?
And what interplay do the four female protagonists have with each other and those crimes?
Even though this book was slow-burn and disjointed at times, I was completely enamored with Alice Feeney’s compelling dialogue.
Yes, it was Alice Feeney's dialogue that elevated my star rating --- setting this book apart from other books in its genre.
Feeney's characterizations were brilliantly and intricately crafted; her prose was scintillating.
I listened to the audiobook read by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine.
Although I always love books with multiple narrators, I would have preferred two narrators with voices that were not similar.
Both narrators did a superb job with their narrations.
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars.
about Alice Feeney’s “Good Bad Girl”
It’s a sizzling domestic drama about the sorrows and traumas of deeply flawed mothers and daughters.
The book starts with a Mother’s Day child abduction.
Readers next learn about an alleged murder in a home for the elderly, occurring 20 years after the Mother's Day child abduction.
Are these two crimes connected?
If so, how?
And what interplay do the four female protagonists have with each other and those crimes?
Even though this book was slow-burn and disjointed at times, I was completely enamored with Alice Feeney’s compelling dialogue.
Yes, it was Alice Feeney's dialogue that elevated my star rating --- setting this book apart from other books in its genre.
Feeney's characterizations were brilliantly and intricately crafted; her prose was scintillating.
I listened to the audiobook read by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine.
Although I always love books with multiple narrators, I would have preferred two narrators with voices that were not similar.
Both narrators did a superb job with their narrations.
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars.
September 26, 2023
Buddy read with Ani and Amanda.
3,5 stars.
I won't say that this was a disappointment, but I will say that I expected more wisdom in the writing, as Feeney spoiled me with them in her previous work, and I will also say that the book read more like a women's fiction than a crime/thriller/mystery.
3,5 stars.
I won't say that this was a disappointment, but I will say that I expected more wisdom in the writing, as Feeney spoiled me with them in her previous work, and I will also say that the book read more like a women's fiction than a crime/thriller/mystery.
October 1, 2023
➳ 𝟑.𝟓/𝟓 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨
"𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜."
This book revolves around a mother loosing her child in a supermarket and she doubts someone she had dispute with had stolen the child to take revenge on her. It involves two murders, three suspects and one victim. This book sensitively portrays the stages of grief and the agonizing journey a mother embarks upon after losing her child. It also skillfully unravels the intricate complexities of mother-daughter relationships, offering a poignant and relatable exploration of these emotional bonds.
I honestly had little too much expectations with this but i was so badly dissapointed. As good as the blurb sounds this book is nothing like that for sure. I thought it would be some kind of sad, mysterious read but i guessed the plot at like 100 page or something and after that i was just skimming through it. The chapters were pretty short but it doesn't really mean that the book was as enjoyable as i thought it would.
I like Alice Feeney's writing as she always make all the characters questionable and the plot always had me in a chokehold but this book was just not it for me. Alice Feeney writes stories that make your heart race and your mind twist. She's great at creating suspense and surprises. Her writing makes you feel like you're right there with the characters, experiencing their fears and secrets. It's like a roller-coaster of emotions and surprises, and you won't want to stop reading.
The characters in the book often came across as delusional and lacking depth, leaving me feeling disconnected from their narratives. Many seemed irrelevant and failed to engage my interest. While Alice Feeney's use of unreliable narrators has been intriguing in the past, in this instance, it left me wanting more reliability and depth in the characters' perspectives.
This book would've been lot better if it started on a good note honestly it started out slow and i hoped that it would somehow elevate but it didn't, it was just soo leisurely-paced. And as i said that i guessed the plot twist at 100 something pages so it was really hard for me to even continue the book. Although that little twist in the end was an unforeseen shocker and that might be the reason i kind of loved it. It was something I didn't really expected. The book often felt repetitive, with Alice Feeney using the same tactics repeatedly to confuse readers, but it became tedious over time.
Overall, if you're seeking a book with occasional plot twists, a generous serving of complicated family drama, and a dash of sheer idiocy, then look no further—this book has your peculiar tastes covered.
"𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜."
This book revolves around a mother loosing her child in a supermarket and she doubts someone she had dispute with had stolen the child to take revenge on her. It involves two murders, three suspects and one victim. This book sensitively portrays the stages of grief and the agonizing journey a mother embarks upon after losing her child. It also skillfully unravels the intricate complexities of mother-daughter relationships, offering a poignant and relatable exploration of these emotional bonds.
I honestly had little too much expectations with this but i was so badly dissapointed. As good as the blurb sounds this book is nothing like that for sure. I thought it would be some kind of sad, mysterious read but i guessed the plot at like 100 page or something and after that i was just skimming through it. The chapters were pretty short but it doesn't really mean that the book was as enjoyable as i thought it would.
I like Alice Feeney's writing as she always make all the characters questionable and the plot always had me in a chokehold but this book was just not it for me. Alice Feeney writes stories that make your heart race and your mind twist. She's great at creating suspense and surprises. Her writing makes you feel like you're right there with the characters, experiencing their fears and secrets. It's like a roller-coaster of emotions and surprises, and you won't want to stop reading.
The characters in the book often came across as delusional and lacking depth, leaving me feeling disconnected from their narratives. Many seemed irrelevant and failed to engage my interest. While Alice Feeney's use of unreliable narrators has been intriguing in the past, in this instance, it left me wanting more reliability and depth in the characters' perspectives.
This book would've been lot better if it started on a good note honestly it started out slow and i hoped that it would somehow elevate but it didn't, it was just soo leisurely-paced. And as i said that i guessed the plot twist at 100 something pages so it was really hard for me to even continue the book. Although that little twist in the end was an unforeseen shocker and that might be the reason i kind of loved it. It was something I didn't really expected. The book often felt repetitive, with Alice Feeney using the same tactics repeatedly to confuse readers, but it became tedious over time.
Overall, if you're seeking a book with occasional plot twists, a generous serving of complicated family drama, and a dash of sheer idiocy, then look no further—this book has your peculiar tastes covered.
September 10, 2023
Shocking twists!
The story revolves around several women.
There is Edith who used to be a store detective. She is now in her eighties and was tricked into signing a power of attorney, placed in a care home and her dog was taken away from her and sent to a rescue.
Edith's daughter is Clio. She is a therapist who likes to help people but is unable to help herself. She lives in her pink house alone with the memories of happier times.
Frankie is the prison librarian. She has a secret. Frankie did a bad thing but for a good reason. Frankie suffers from anxiety and the only thing that helps her is counting.
Patience works at the senior care center where she does housekeeping. She befriends Edith and saves her dog. However, she is hiding who she really is.
Then a murder happens.
"Three suspects, two murders, and one victim."
DCI Chapman is called in to process the scene. She believes Clio, Patience, or Frankie are involved and all she has to do now is prove it.
The novel has several POVs and past and present chapters. The story flows and the characters are all very original and interesting. The last few twists were freaking amazing and the narration by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine was superb! A sure winner for me.
I wouldn't mind seeing DCI Chapman in another novel and please keep the strand of pink hair!
Cliffhanger: No
4.5/5 Fangs
A complimentary copy was provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
The story revolves around several women.
There is Edith who used to be a store detective. She is now in her eighties and was tricked into signing a power of attorney, placed in a care home and her dog was taken away from her and sent to a rescue.
Edith's daughter is Clio. She is a therapist who likes to help people but is unable to help herself. She lives in her pink house alone with the memories of happier times.
Frankie is the prison librarian. She has a secret. Frankie did a bad thing but for a good reason. Frankie suffers from anxiety and the only thing that helps her is counting.
Patience works at the senior care center where she does housekeeping. She befriends Edith and saves her dog. However, she is hiding who she really is.
Then a murder happens.
"Three suspects, two murders, and one victim."
DCI Chapman is called in to process the scene. She believes Clio, Patience, or Frankie are involved and all she has to do now is prove it.
The novel has several POVs and past and present chapters. The story flows and the characters are all very original and interesting. The last few twists were freaking amazing and the narration by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine was superb! A sure winner for me.
I wouldn't mind seeing DCI Chapman in another novel and please keep the strand of pink hair!
Cliffhanger: No
4.5/5 Fangs
A complimentary copy was provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
October 19, 2023
3.5 stars
A murder mystery with a touch of witty snark.
A storyline that started out intriguing and suspenseful but turned silly and far fetched.
The inner thoughts and snark of some of the characters was extremely entertaining and made the pages fly by at the start. Each narrative was unique, memorable and well fleshed out. I loved the varying perspectives — four women connected by a death at a retirement home. It was a good challenge to try to piece the puzzle together and figure out how the the characters connected. I enjoyed following them on this wild and crazy journey.
The first third of the novel was strongest for me as I found the narratives mysterious and atmospheric, however the intensity of that feeling dwindled as the story progressed and the plot became unrealistic. I didn’t find this book as strong has her last few releases.
Overall, an easy and fun one to try to figure out. Not this authors best work but still worth the read.
Thank you to my lovely local library for the loan!
A murder mystery with a touch of witty snark.
A storyline that started out intriguing and suspenseful but turned silly and far fetched.
The inner thoughts and snark of some of the characters was extremely entertaining and made the pages fly by at the start. Each narrative was unique, memorable and well fleshed out. I loved the varying perspectives — four women connected by a death at a retirement home. It was a good challenge to try to piece the puzzle together and figure out how the the characters connected. I enjoyed following them on this wild and crazy journey.
The first third of the novel was strongest for me as I found the narratives mysterious and atmospheric, however the intensity of that feeling dwindled as the story progressed and the plot became unrealistic. I didn’t find this book as strong has her last few releases.
Overall, an easy and fun one to try to figure out. Not this authors best work but still worth the read.
Thank you to my lovely local library for the loan!
December 30, 2023
When it comes to Alice Feeney, I'm the first to admit I'm a full-fledged Feeney Fangirl.
There's a certain gravitas to her thrillers, a thoughtfulness that always catches me off guard...and then THOSE TWISTS that have always managed to shock, stun and amaze with such effortlessness. I truly do consider her to be the QUEEN of the twist, as she's been so aptly named, and I've never felt anything less than pure, unadulterated adoration for all of her books...until now. I normally tear through her books in a few days, riveted, and unable to think about much else until I close the book with a reluctant yet satisfied sigh.
So how did this book take me WEEKS to finish? How was I able to put it down for DAYS at a time, without giving it a second thought? I'm still not entirely sure...but I think it all started with a plot that read less twisted and twisty thriller and MORE as needlessly complicated domestic suspense that had me LONGING for the Ghost of Feeney Past! 🎄 👻
Our story centers around 4 women with unique bonds: Clio, Edith, Patience, and Frankie. Edith is a spunky and lovable 80 year old woman who is mourning the loss of her friend May at the care home she lives in. As much as she resents her daughter Clio for forcing her to live in the care home rather than her house, she is grateful to have her adorable dog Dickens for company...when said dog is snuck in by Patience, a young worker at the care home. Patience is Edith's one confidant, but she's a bit less forthcoming with her OWN past...and the mother she left behind. Frankie is a prison librarian who longs to have her daughter back in her life after spending so many years without her...but will she come back into her life and her circle...in HANDCUFFS?
The story focuses on the ramifications of multiple crimes: twenty years prior, a baby was stolen from its carer in the supermarket and was never found, and the present-day murder of Joy, one of the owners of the care home in question. How do these four women fit into the slots of victim or perpetrator? Who is GOOD and who is BAD? Or could each one of these intrepid, mysterious, and devious women be considered a Good Bad Girl?
When an author gets past their first few books and is still on fire (or progressively building on their following with each release), fans begin to look for the certain trademarks that made them fall in love in the first place.
For me, this formula was simple:
*unique, multi-layered characters
*pitch-perfect pacing
*astute, thought-provoking observations that stopped me in my tracks
and OF COURSE
*a plethora of breathtaking twists, carefully obscured by red herrings
So although some of these elements were present in some fashion...there was something about this read that felt like maybe this PARTICULAR Feeney equation didn't quite add up.
For starters, though this book only involves a handful of characters, for some reason it felt like too many. While they all NEEDED to be present in some capacity for the story to work, I had a hard time feeling like I ever fully climbed in any of their heads...and I think some of this comes back to narration. At times, we were in first person, then back to third...sometimes even in the same chapter. I didn't even make this realization while reading, but with four alternating voices AND narration styles, it made the storytelling FEEL more jumbled and less linear than I would have preferred.
There's also the tiny fact that this is very much not a psychological thriller at all and reads VERY domestic suspense...and while I have no problem with this in general as I also enjoy that genre, I just don't feel like it's Feeney's lane.
One of my OTHER favorite thriller authors, JP Delaney seems to have made a similar jump and went from writing 'so many twists it'll give you whiplash' thrillers to domestic suspense (also ironically, involving lost and missing children), and there's just something about reading a book by an author you KNOW can do one thing so well and so much better than others but then chooses to do another, that is so bittersweet. I applaud ANY writer that wants to broaden their horizons, or has a story that is so important to them that they feel compelled to share it: the other side of this creative exploration, however, is that it can have such a different FEEL to a reader that it can feel almost like an author is speaking a foreign language. You might be able to translate what they're saying, but something is ALWAYS lost during translation.
I also felt like Feeney made this one a bit overly complicated, and I have NEVER felt that way before while reading her books. There were a few decent red herrings, but the murders and disappearances almost felt 'required' to make this domestic suspense rather than exciting or terrifying as they have been in her previous books. While I was mildly curious to find out whodunit and how all of these women connected to each other, it was simply that: mild curiosity. I want to be on the edge of my seat waiting for the next big reveal, and even when the twists DID arrive, I felt more apathetic and like I'd guessed most of them to some degree, aside from ONE...and that also felt like a huge letdown.
At its core, this is a story about mothers and daughters and the complicated bonds between them...and while I liked this as a concept, for this book to work for me, I would have liked to FEEL more while reading. Again, so many of the elements were there and there was boundless potential for Feeney's thoughtful observations to tap into my own complicated feelings as a daughter, it never came to pass.
And while I am full of nothing but the utmost hope and excitement for Feeney's next book Beautiful Ugly, when it came to Feeney's 'Surefire Formula' in Good Bad Girl?
I just kept waiting for the 'aha' moment that never came. 🧪🔬👩🔬
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
There's a certain gravitas to her thrillers, a thoughtfulness that always catches me off guard...and then THOSE TWISTS that have always managed to shock, stun and amaze with such effortlessness. I truly do consider her to be the QUEEN of the twist, as she's been so aptly named, and I've never felt anything less than pure, unadulterated adoration for all of her books...until now. I normally tear through her books in a few days, riveted, and unable to think about much else until I close the book with a reluctant yet satisfied sigh.
So how did this book take me WEEKS to finish? How was I able to put it down for DAYS at a time, without giving it a second thought? I'm still not entirely sure...but I think it all started with a plot that read less twisted and twisty thriller and MORE as needlessly complicated domestic suspense that had me LONGING for the Ghost of Feeney Past! 🎄 👻
Our story centers around 4 women with unique bonds: Clio, Edith, Patience, and Frankie. Edith is a spunky and lovable 80 year old woman who is mourning the loss of her friend May at the care home she lives in. As much as she resents her daughter Clio for forcing her to live in the care home rather than her house, she is grateful to have her adorable dog Dickens for company...when said dog is snuck in by Patience, a young worker at the care home. Patience is Edith's one confidant, but she's a bit less forthcoming with her OWN past...and the mother she left behind. Frankie is a prison librarian who longs to have her daughter back in her life after spending so many years without her...but will she come back into her life and her circle...in HANDCUFFS?
The story focuses on the ramifications of multiple crimes: twenty years prior, a baby was stolen from its carer in the supermarket and was never found, and the present-day murder of Joy, one of the owners of the care home in question. How do these four women fit into the slots of victim or perpetrator? Who is GOOD and who is BAD? Or could each one of these intrepid, mysterious, and devious women be considered a Good Bad Girl?
When an author gets past their first few books and is still on fire (or progressively building on their following with each release), fans begin to look for the certain trademarks that made them fall in love in the first place.
For me, this formula was simple:
*unique, multi-layered characters
*pitch-perfect pacing
*astute, thought-provoking observations that stopped me in my tracks
and OF COURSE
*a plethora of breathtaking twists, carefully obscured by red herrings
So although some of these elements were present in some fashion...there was something about this read that felt like maybe this PARTICULAR Feeney equation didn't quite add up.
For starters, though this book only involves a handful of characters, for some reason it felt like too many. While they all NEEDED to be present in some capacity for the story to work, I had a hard time feeling like I ever fully climbed in any of their heads...and I think some of this comes back to narration. At times, we were in first person, then back to third...sometimes even in the same chapter. I didn't even make this realization while reading, but with four alternating voices AND narration styles, it made the storytelling FEEL more jumbled and less linear than I would have preferred.
There's also the tiny fact that this is very much not a psychological thriller at all and reads VERY domestic suspense...and while I have no problem with this in general as I also enjoy that genre, I just don't feel like it's Feeney's lane.
One of my OTHER favorite thriller authors, JP Delaney seems to have made a similar jump and went from writing 'so many twists it'll give you whiplash' thrillers to domestic suspense (also ironically, involving lost and missing children), and there's just something about reading a book by an author you KNOW can do one thing so well and so much better than others but then chooses to do another, that is so bittersweet. I applaud ANY writer that wants to broaden their horizons, or has a story that is so important to them that they feel compelled to share it: the other side of this creative exploration, however, is that it can have such a different FEEL to a reader that it can feel almost like an author is speaking a foreign language. You might be able to translate what they're saying, but something is ALWAYS lost during translation.
I also felt like Feeney made this one a bit overly complicated, and I have NEVER felt that way before while reading her books. There were a few decent red herrings, but the murders and disappearances almost felt 'required' to make this domestic suspense rather than exciting or terrifying as they have been in her previous books. While I was mildly curious to find out whodunit and how all of these women connected to each other, it was simply that: mild curiosity. I want to be on the edge of my seat waiting for the next big reveal, and even when the twists DID arrive, I felt more apathetic and like I'd guessed most of them to some degree, aside from ONE...and that also felt like a huge letdown.
At its core, this is a story about mothers and daughters and the complicated bonds between them...and while I liked this as a concept, for this book to work for me, I would have liked to FEEL more while reading. Again, so many of the elements were there and there was boundless potential for Feeney's thoughtful observations to tap into my own complicated feelings as a daughter, it never came to pass.
And while I am full of nothing but the utmost hope and excitement for Feeney's next book Beautiful Ugly, when it came to Feeney's 'Surefire Formula' in Good Bad Girl?
I just kept waiting for the 'aha' moment that never came. 🧪🔬👩🔬
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
October 1, 2023
Frankie works in a women’s prison as a librarian. Desperately missing her daughter who ran away from home a year ago, she’s become used to the silence in her narrow boat, even if she will never stop looking for her daughter’s face wherever she goes.
Edith is eighty years young and lives on the top floor of the Windsor Care Home. Hardly somewhere fit for a king, she strongly believes she was duped to get her feet in the door. But when you’re old, people look through you and around you, not caring about what you believe may have happened at all.
Patience is a trainee carer at the Windsor Care Home and has become Edith’s lone friend and confidant. But little does Edith know that Patience has been lying to her about almost everything. Now she’s found herself in an untenable situation with no idea of how to get out.
Clio just so happens to be Edith’s long estranged daughter. Thanks to a difficult relationship and one horribly traumatic event in their past, their bond has weakened over the years. Despite this, she continues to try, even if her presence in her mother’s life is sporadic at best.
On Mother’s Day, these four women will be thrown together in the most unexpected of ways. Once that day comes to an end, they must work together to solve a murder with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. While they barely know one another, they must focus—and ignore their growing distrust—in order to get by unscathed. If they do, they just might put together a mystery that’s been present for decades. If they don’t, it might not be the last bit of bad luck that they see.
I never know exactly what I’m going to get from an Alice Feeney novel. Some are hard-hitting thrillers that make me race through the pages, while others are decidedly more quirky much like Good Bad Girl was. Regardless of that, however, I can always guarantee that it’ll be a fun, unpredictable ride and this time was no different.
Initially, though, I wasn’t so sure. A looong, slow burn start had me wondering if this book was going to break my Feeney loving streak. After all, I had doubts about the storyline especially after I thought I’d figured everything out. When the first altogether jaw-dropping twist came around, however, a big, old smile wrapped around my face. Not only had I been wrong (mostly, that is), but the truth was so much more delicious than what I’d thought. So I guess the moral for this book is to just have a little patience and everything will likely work itself out for you as well.
One thing that I did love right from the get-go, however, was the startlingly clever exploration of the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship. I can’t reveal much else or it would give the whole shebang away, but I promise you, even though much of this novel was a bit lighthearted and offbeat, the themes were anything but.
While this book felt decidedly more like a mystery and less like a thriller, the shrewd plot meant there were still plenty of red herrings that led my eye in the wrong direction. However, there wasn’t really anything that felt like a climax per se. Instead, the suspense merely felt somewhat more intense after the 60% point or so. Don’t get me wrong, from that point on, my fingers absolutely flew through the pages as the characters began to knit together in a way that kept me more engaged.
Speaking of those characters, there were definitely some you’re going to looove to hate. Some deserve it, others do not, just know that they were each perfect in terms of what they did for the plot. Better still, one individual had me rallying behind them right from the start, even if it took me a bit to really connect with them (or any of the others).
My absolute favorite piece of this mysterious puzzle, however, was found within this book’s eccentricities. Between the giggle-worthy humor and the oddly named characters, there was sooo much fun to be had. Especially when it came to the stereotypically classic Feeney prose. Needless to say, you should definitely slot this one in between other more intense thrillers as it’s the definition of the perfect palate cleanser.
All in all, while not my favorite Feeney novel (that would be His & Hers), it certainly came a close second. With page after page of quotable quotes and cliffhanger chapters, I was well and truly won over by the end. So despite this one’s somewhat mixed reviews, I strongly recommend giving it a shot. And be sure not to give up too early like I almost did, because I almost missed one heck of a good ride. Rating of 4 stars.
Trigger warning: child abduction, runaway child, estranged parent-child relationship, being sent to jail, death of a parent, mention of: postpartum depression, adoption
Edith is eighty years young and lives on the top floor of the Windsor Care Home. Hardly somewhere fit for a king, she strongly believes she was duped to get her feet in the door. But when you’re old, people look through you and around you, not caring about what you believe may have happened at all.
Patience is a trainee carer at the Windsor Care Home and has become Edith’s lone friend and confidant. But little does Edith know that Patience has been lying to her about almost everything. Now she’s found herself in an untenable situation with no idea of how to get out.
Clio just so happens to be Edith’s long estranged daughter. Thanks to a difficult relationship and one horribly traumatic event in their past, their bond has weakened over the years. Despite this, she continues to try, even if her presence in her mother’s life is sporadic at best.
On Mother’s Day, these four women will be thrown together in the most unexpected of ways. Once that day comes to an end, they must work together to solve a murder with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. While they barely know one another, they must focus—and ignore their growing distrust—in order to get by unscathed. If they do, they just might put together a mystery that’s been present for decades. If they don’t, it might not be the last bit of bad luck that they see.
I never know exactly what I’m going to get from an Alice Feeney novel. Some are hard-hitting thrillers that make me race through the pages, while others are decidedly more quirky much like Good Bad Girl was. Regardless of that, however, I can always guarantee that it’ll be a fun, unpredictable ride and this time was no different.
Initially, though, I wasn’t so sure. A looong, slow burn start had me wondering if this book was going to break my Feeney loving streak. After all, I had doubts about the storyline especially after I thought I’d figured everything out. When the first altogether jaw-dropping twist came around, however, a big, old smile wrapped around my face. Not only had I been wrong (mostly, that is), but the truth was so much more delicious than what I’d thought. So I guess the moral for this book is to just have a little patience and everything will likely work itself out for you as well.
One thing that I did love right from the get-go, however, was the startlingly clever exploration of the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship. I can’t reveal much else or it would give the whole shebang away, but I promise you, even though much of this novel was a bit lighthearted and offbeat, the themes were anything but.
While this book felt decidedly more like a mystery and less like a thriller, the shrewd plot meant there were still plenty of red herrings that led my eye in the wrong direction. However, there wasn’t really anything that felt like a climax per se. Instead, the suspense merely felt somewhat more intense after the 60% point or so. Don’t get me wrong, from that point on, my fingers absolutely flew through the pages as the characters began to knit together in a way that kept me more engaged.
Speaking of those characters, there were definitely some you’re going to looove to hate. Some deserve it, others do not, just know that they were each perfect in terms of what they did for the plot. Better still, one individual had me rallying behind them right from the start, even if it took me a bit to really connect with them (or any of the others).
My absolute favorite piece of this mysterious puzzle, however, was found within this book’s eccentricities. Between the giggle-worthy humor and the oddly named characters, there was sooo much fun to be had. Especially when it came to the stereotypically classic Feeney prose. Needless to say, you should definitely slot this one in between other more intense thrillers as it’s the definition of the perfect palate cleanser.
All in all, while not my favorite Feeney novel (that would be His & Hers), it certainly came a close second. With page after page of quotable quotes and cliffhanger chapters, I was well and truly won over by the end. So despite this one’s somewhat mixed reviews, I strongly recommend giving it a shot. And be sure not to give up too early like I almost did, because I almost missed one heck of a good ride. Rating of 4 stars.
Trigger warning: child abduction, runaway child, estranged parent-child relationship, being sent to jail, death of a parent, mention of: postpartum depression, adoption
September 2, 2023
This was a snooze fest! Tremendously dull and the twist at the end came out of nowhere. There was no lead up to it at all. All four characters, even though different in ages, sounded the same. I don’t know why there were multiple POVs if they were all basically going to have the same internal dialogue?!
Also, the title makes no sense and is sort of forced throughout the whole narrative. “Sometimes bad things happen to good people so good people have to do bad things” - the author thought this quote slaps; and it did literally slap me into another dimension.
And the whole book is strung with these low key philosophical quotes, like “we were all made from dying stars… and each of us is only stardust and stories”
Like what in the Instagram poetry memes is this?
Also, the title makes no sense and is sort of forced throughout the whole narrative. “Sometimes bad things happen to good people so good people have to do bad things” - the author thought this quote slaps; and it did literally slap me into another dimension.
And the whole book is strung with these low key philosophical quotes, like “we were all made from dying stars… and each of us is only stardust and stories”
Like what in the Instagram poetry memes is this?
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