For some time now, I have been recommended Karin Slaughter as an author whose work I would thoroughly enjoy. Known for her slow burn thrillers, one of her most recent works, Pieces of Her, was adapted into a limited Netflix series. I didn’t know this when I picked up Girl, Forgotten, and thankfully it wasn’t necessary to have read the previous book as this book is only tangentially related to Pieces.
The novel follows Andrea Oliver, a newly graduated US Marshal and daughter of Laura Oliver, a former cult member who lives under witness protection with Andrea. In Pieces, Andrea finds out that she is the daughter of notorious cult leader Nick Harp, the mastermind behind several political terrorist attacks that left many people dead. Laura (real name Jane Queller) testified against Nick Harp as a defector in exchange for immunity and protection against him.
Andrea is now trying to make something of herself and take control of her life, and she joined the US Marshals in order to do that. But little does she know, her life will turn upside down ala Clarice Strarling as she gets a major case before she’s even walked across the graduation stage. Shortly after completing the physical portion of the program, Andrea is introduced to her estranged uncle, US Junior Senator Jasper Queller. Jasper is hellbent on ensuring that Nick will never be granted parole, and he thinks that theres one final nail in the coffin that can guantee that Nick will never see the outside of a prison.
Andrea is tasked with invsigating a decades long cold case of the murder of Emily Vaughn, the daughter of a Reagan appointed federal judge who was killed when she was seven months pregnant. Her unborn child survived and was raised by her grandparents, who have started recieving death threats referencing Emily and her murder. But what connects Emily to Nick Harp? Well, Emily was in high school at the time of her death and she used to hang out with a group of friends known as the clique. One of these friends was a guy named Clayton Morrow, a charasmatic, sadistic asshole who manipulated his way into being the de-facto leader of his group and, in many ways, the high school. Clayton Morrow eventually realized that its not enough to be the most popular kid in school, he wanted to be worshiped and followed like a diety. Clayton Morrow became Nick Harp.
What follows are flashes between past and present. Andrea trying to track down old leads while simultaneously guarding the judge from any violent attacks in the present, and Emily trying to figure out who raped her at a party that resulted in her pregnancy. Was it one of her friends? Was it the creepy gym teacher they called to pick her up? Why would they do this to her if not out of sheer cruelty? There are many unlikeble people in this story and Slaughter is an expert at painting a picture of the true minogyny women face, especially when they are the victims of male violence.
