Once was The Good Girl

Once was The Good Girl

By Alana B.

Mary Kubica is an author who brings the word "thriller" to a whole different level. In her chilling mystery, The Good Girl, Kubica makes her readers detectives in search of a young teacher, Mia Dennett, who has been abducted. Throughout the story the past and present alters back and forth, including the voices of three narrators: the detective, Gabe; Mia's mother, Eve; and her abductor, Colin. Kubica's use of this puts the reader into the narrator's shoes.

Mia Dennett (MD), an art teacher whose father is a successful Chicago judge and mother a socialite, has been born into a wealthy lifestyle. This causes an interest to an attractive businessman, Colin Thatcher. When he and MD meet at a bar in Chicago, she leaves with Colin not knowing he will become her worst nightmare.

Colin's intention was to plot events that would lead him to ultimately make MD disappear into the hands of his employers. Instead, Colin decides to keep MD captive in a secluded cabin in Minnesota. There, he awaits for a ransom in replace for her life from both her parents and his superiors. This gruesome situation Kubica portrays provides questionable thoughts of what's going to happen next. Surprisingly, Kubica makes the characters engaging, gaining an odd bond between the captor and captive.

When found MD is changed for the worst. Being away from everyone made her into a confused, depressed woman. MD establishes some sort of amnesia which her psychiatrist believes this allows her to forget important parts of her abduction. Detective Gabe still is in search of answers about her abduction, while her mother, Eve, is trying to regain her daughter's positive energy. Kubica's writing of these instances develops sympathy between the reader and the victim.

In the end, no one could have suggested that the emotional rollercoaster could cause the family's relationships to fade away rather than become stronger.

The Good Girl, by Mary Kubica, 2014, 361 pages