Pretty Baby

Author: Mary Kubica
Genre: Suspense
Type: e-book
Hardcover Page Count: 384
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
First Published: July 28, 2015
First Line: "The first time I see her, she is standing at the Fullerton Station, on the train platform, clutching an infant in her arms."

Book Description from GoodReads: She sees the teenage girl on the train platform, standing in the pouring rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked away. But she can't get the girl out of her head...

Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit, takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family's objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.

Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow's past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she's willing to go to help a stranger. What starts as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated.

My Review:  I loved this a suspenseful read with its complex characters that had me captivated throughout.  How's that for an opening line?  

Pretty Baby has a lot going for it.  It is a great suspenseful read that slowly builds tension as the reader is made privy to more information about the main characters, each of whom have their own healthy dose of personal baggage.  It has a tightly knit plot with great writing and perfect pacing making me eager to get back to this book as much as possible. Let's just say that not a lot got done at the Bookworm abode while I read this book.  Yup, this was a good read.

The characters were really well thought out and definitely weren't one dimensional. The story is narrated by three of the characters - Willow, Heidi and Heidi's husband Chris - which gives the reader a chance to get inside of each of their heads.  But things don't stop there.  Kubica then gives more insight into each of their lives which made me view them differently.  I cannot remember the last book that had me jumping character allegiances and I loved it!

This is not a light book by any means.  It deals with several serious issues - child abuse, foster care, homelessness, family secrets, marriage issues ... but they're all incorporated into the main plot seamlessly and help give each of the main characters a lot of depth.

In the end, this book had many layers, was a very well executed suspenseful read and was hard to put down for any length of time.  Needless to say I am eager to read Kubica's first book, The Good Girl in the very near future.

Highly recommended to fans of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Harlequin MIRA and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.