Little did I know that this is the second book in a series(?) but for all that this excellent murder mystery book never failed to hold my attention,.

Mid 30s, Andrea Oliver, who obviously appeared in the first book, just graduated as a US Marshal and was sent to witness protect/babysit a supreme judge with another Marshal, Leonard Bible. The intriguing story also involved the murder of the judge's pregnant teenager forty years ago.

Thus we had plenty of dual time lines with many characters mainly in some sort of late teenage clique. Based in a small US town, Ms Slaughter writes brilliantly but, on this occasion, with a little less of her gruesome stuff. I loved the 60s/70s/80s music references - even the use of a cassette!

I loved all of it, and many thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins UK for the chance to read and review.

.

I've been so excited about this book but I only recently learned that it was a sequel to Pieces Of Her, which is my least favourite book by my favourite author, so I was a little apprehensive to pick it up. But I knew as soon as I started reading it that I was going to love it.

Girl, Forgotten is definitely up to Slaughter's usual standards for me. The characters are dark but compelling, the gripping case is shocking and gritty, and the sharp investigation is clever and skillfully written. Most of all, I loved the small town setting and mystery around what really happened 40 years ago, and I couldn't wait to figure out the truth.

As a standalone, I think it will be easy for readers to enjoy Girl, Forgotten. However, it doesn't do a very good job rounding up previous events, so the messy family dynamic won't be easy to get your head around at first. But it's only the relationships that link back to the first book as Andrea goes off on her own to begin a new career, and it's the cold case she is working on (which links to her imprisoned birth father) that is the focus here.

At first, I was surprised that Slaughter had chosen Pieces Of Her to follow up, but I suppose the success of the Netflix series had something to do with that (although the series is very different so there's a lot that won't add up here if you haven't read the book).

While I didn't love the first book, the series really helped me to enjoy the characters more, and Andrea grew on me even more with this instalment. I definitely wasn't expecting a sequel, but I love how Slaughter has developed such an interesting case from her original set of characters, and I'm glad I was given the chance to learn more about the Oliver family.

Another brilliant book from Karin Slaughter.
Having read Pieces of Her definitely helps with the back story of Andrea and her Mum. It also makes you realise why she never wants her Dad to get out of prison.
However, you could read this as a standalone as Andrea is setting off on a new chapter in her life as a US Marshal.
There’s still links to her Dad as he’s a suspect in a murder and Andrea is determined to find out who killed Emily.
The story has two timelines - present day with Andrea protecting a Judge who has received threats against her (who is related to Emily) and past tense following Emily before she was killed.
As always Karin Slaughter leads the reader down different routes and there’s quite a lot of characters involved.
This is a gripping crime thriller and it was great to read about Andrea again.
Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Although this was well written I found it very slow going. I did not realise till I had read it that it was a part two, which explains some of my confusion. I suspect that did not help with how slow it felt.

Have read all of Karin Slaughter`s book`s so was excited to be offered this one to read.

Andrea Oliver just graduated as a US Marshal and was sent to find out who was sending a supreme judge death threats and partners up with another Marshal Leonard Bible who then start to investigate the murder of the Judges pregnant teenager forty years ago.
Lots of duel time lines with lots of things going on got me a bit confused so not as good as her last book.
Loved Leonard Bible and his humour, could make a book on his own, and loved how Andrea grew in confidence through the book, definitely didn`t put me off eager to read the next in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Girl, Forgotten is a great story and characters. Its perfect for a quick summer read as it keeps you engrossed to the end.

Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter is an amazing and gripping read, as expected. Karen Slaughter is such an amazing author, I highly recommend all their books

Girl, Forgotten is a return to the character of Andrea Oliver - first introduced in Pieces Of Her, which has recently been adapted by Netflix - however, I think it would still work as a standalone (in all honesty, I had forgotten most of the details of the first book and it didn't impinge on my enjoyment of this one).

Newly qualified as a US Marshall, Andrea is assigned to the protection brief for a federal judge who has received death threats. But the town where the judge lives is the same town where Andrea's father - a currently-imprisoned psychopathic cult leader - grew up, and Andrea uses the opportunity to dig into the murder of the judge's daughter, Emily, in the early 1980s, for which her father was the prime suspect, in the hopes of finding evidence that will ensure he can't gain parole.

While I enjoyed Girl, Forgotten, it was lacking in the propulsive, page-turning tension which some of Slaughter's other books have, and as a result the narrative sometimes seemed to meander a little. With an ending that sets up a third Andrea Oliver book, it's certain we haven't seen the last of this character.

If you loved Slaughter’s 2018 standalone book Pieces of Her or have just discovered Laura and Andrea’s story via the Netflix mini series you’ll be really pleased to hear that Girl Forgotten plunges us back into Andrea’s story.

Newly qualified as a US Marshall, Andrea Oliver gets an assignment to protect a judge who has been receiving death threats. Her assignment is a cover though for her own personal investigation into the murder of the judge’s daughter 40 years earlier in 1982. Emily had a secret and there was someone in Longbill Beach who wanted to make sure that secret didn’t get revealed at any cost. This small town was the childhood home of Andrea’s own despotic cult-leader father and there is a very good chance that he was involved in Emily’s demise.

The US Marshall service is a very different part of the American justice system and it is interesting to get a glimpse of a less hackneyed law enforcement profession. FBI agents being two a penny in most crime novels these days. Andrea and her new partner Bible make for a very diverse pairing. Bible has his own traumatic back story and the requisite scars to match. I’m really hoping that these two will get another outing and that we can get some more depth to Bible’s back story.

Girl Forgotten weaves together the two timelines of Emily Vaughn in 1982 and the current investigation into the death threats to her mother in 2022. With many protagonists in common it is a compelling read and will have you yo-yoing from one suspect to another as the book progresses. Its a real page turner and one that will keep you engaged right till the last few shocking pages.

Supplied by Net Galley and HarperFiction, Harper Collins UK in exchange for an honest review.

This is more of a 4.5 rounded down to 4.

Well, first I have to start by admitting I didn't know this was book 2 in a series. I obviously will recommend reading book 1 first but, to be honest, it also kind of stands on its own. Sure, we get the backstory of some characters, which I assume we found out about in book 1, but if someone wants to just read this book as a standalone mystery thriller, it can be done.
Because I liked this so much, I'll definitely read book 1 soon. Some stuff has been spoiled by my mistake but it's not something I mind too much when I know the author will provide me with a very well-written book.

Now back to the book. Obviously, based on my rating, it's clear I liked it. But there are specific reasons why I did. The main one being the characters.
We have a group of characters just set in the present and some that we get to see in both the past and the present. And all of them, with no exceptions, are fleshed out throughout the book. But the best character for me was the Judge. The way we learnt so much of the story through her was so well done. And I do love a character that isn't written to be liked but also catches you are attention because of how interesting it is.
Ricky is a close second. But even characters we barely get information from, such as Alice, still play a part in the story and their introduction means something. No character is added just because.
Andrea as a lead is great, as well. I need to read book 1 to get to know her a bit more, but I got very attached to her throughout this book already.

What about the mystery? Well, it isn't the most groundbreaking premise. A girl was murdered, but the case isn't solved. Let's find out who did it many years later. But that is where being a good author plays a part. A big part.
Almost everyone ended up being a suspect in this novel. And that can usually feel so cheap. Like, let's make everyone a suspect so then I tell you who did it and hey, you can't complain because everyone was a suspect. No, it was done in a way that really made you want to analyse every one of their actions to see if you could solve the crime, à la Columbo. And once the pieces were put together, it was a satisfying reveal.

If I had to name a complaint, that something that made me go from 5 stars to 4.5, I guess I could say the pacing. In the beginning, I wasn't really into it, hence why it took me a couple of days to really get into the story, but it kept on getting better until the end, where I felt like it was the perfect pace.

Once again, Karin Slaughter gets two thumbs up from me. One of my favourite mystery authors for sure.

One of Karin Slaughters best books!
Loved this from start to finish. The story of Andy and Laura continues… Andy is now a US marshal and is given a special task of finding out who killed a judges daughter 40 years previously in order to keep her father in prison.
The book flashes back to the characters in 1981 and present day and really draws the reader in to the tragic story of Emily, a pregnant girl murdered all those years ago and the clique of friends she hung around with.
It leaves the reader guessing right until the very end about why and who murdered Emily and how that murder connects to present day Andy.

Another great read from Karin Slaughter. A US marshal is investigating the murder of ‘Emily’ from around forty years ago, Emily was pregnant at the time of her murder and had never named the father. Who was the father and was it him who killed her? I was hooked on this from the very beginning throughout and loved every moment of it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall 4.5*
I didn't realise when I read this book that there had been a previous one in the series, so it reads fine as a stand alone ! I hadn't read anything from Karin for a while and was eagerly looking forward to this book...I was not disappointed! Set in a dual timeline of 1982 and the present, we are given an old murder which had never been solved nor the father of the dead teenager's child. I think it help to have been of that age group in 1982 as you have a lot of empathy with some of the characters along with loathing for others ( we probably all knew similar people!). In an age before mobile phones you could be contactless which was not always a good thing as highlighted in the story. I liked the way that Karin kept planting the seeds of doubt as to who may have been guilty and just as quickly threw the reader onto a different track. There was lots going on throughout however that didn't detract from the core tale.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review

I have enjoyed several books by this author so was keen to start this one. At first I wasn’t sure it was going to live up to expectations but by the end of chapter 1 I was hooked and by the end of the book it had exceeded all expectations!

Girl forgotten is told from Andrea’s point of view. She has just qualified as a US Marshal having been brought up in witness protection.

Andrea has spent her life trying to keep safe from her father so is worried when she is suddenly assigned to work in his home town!

Andrea is a great character with lots of depth and grit. She is believable and realistic. My favourite character whoever is undoubtedly Bible! I would love to meet him! And his interplay with Compton and Cussy is brilliant!

An astonishing read that will have you gripped. Highly recommended!

Now Karin slaughter is one of my favourite authors of all time and generally can do no wrong, but the first book about this character was a huge disappointment. But even the best can have a blip now and again. So with great trepidation I requested this book, and I am very pleased to see she is back up there, This one is so much better.

The character Andrea Oliver is much better suited as a newly qualified US Marshall, investigating an unsolved 40-year-old murder, alongside witness protection duties. It wasn’t just Ms Olivers character that made it, nobody creates and writes small town America characters as well as Karin Slaughter.

My main criticism of this and the reason I am dropping to 4 stars is the pace is a little too slow, not helped by over long chapters. I think there were only 10 chapters in a 400 page book!

Thanks to netgalley and HarperCollinsUK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

review

So this book is much better than the first about this character. Karin slaughter is one of my favourite authors and she's always good with mysteries, especially character driven ones. I definitely didn't know who to trust.

The thing that I really loved about this book was the side characters. Andrea as a protagonist is very boring to me and seems to solve these crimes by accident. If I'm being totally honest I was surprised to hear she was getting another book. She goes through some growth in this book, but she's still nowhere near the level of some of the other characters KS has created.

Cissy and catfish were so fun and definitely needed their own book. I even like the boyfriend even if I don't get why he likes Andrea so much.

Overall it reminds me that KS can always pull me back.

Already one of the world’s most popular thriller writers, with her page-turning tales published in 120 countries, Atlanta author Karin Slaughter’s audience only looks set to grow further thanks to Netflix series PIECES OF HER, based on a Slaughter novel about a young woman who suddenly discovers her suburban Mom has a very dangerous past.

Now, the story of Andrea ‘Andy’ Oliver and her mother Laura (played by Australian actor Toni Collette in the Netflix series) continues in Slaughter’s latest novel. Andrea is now a newly minted Deputy US Marshall, having just completed her training. Her first assignment is to protect federal judge Esther Vaughn, a Reagan appointee who has been getting death threats. At the same time Andrea is given a secret mission to solve the 40-year-old murder of the judge’s pregnant teenage daughter Emily.

Slaughter keeps the revs high in GIRL, FORGOTTEN as Andrea has to sink or swim in her new role, coming up against many obstacles as she has to try to protect the judge and solve a beyond-cold case murder that hits very close to home and where memories, prejudices, and outright lies provide plenty of fogginess. There are some outstanding supporting characters, such as Andrea’s new mentor Catfish Bible, and Slaughter offers readers more insights into the Olivers’ complicated relationship and past. A very good read.

Just loved this book from page one ! Didn’t want to stop reading till I finished the last page. I can whole heartedly recommend this for edge of the seat stuff and how did I miss that.
Many thanks as always to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the awesome early read

Girl, Forgotten
By Karin Slaughter

I had never read anything by this author before, but I heard mention of this book by @itsbooktalk on @booktalketc and the premise sounded great. Small town, big secrets, unsolved murder of a young pregnant girl, US Marshal on her first assignment which may be linked to her own estranged father.

Slaughter can really set a scene. From page one I was inside the mind of 17 year old Emily. The small coastal town has it's own personality, cloistered, oppressive, full of big fish in small pond characters, everyone up in everyone else's business.

A split timeline - 1982, a time when reputation was almost all a girl had to her name and shame was used to control and ostracise. Forty years later - not much has changed

It took me some time to warm to Andrea, the newly minted US Marshal. Her ditziness bothered me. Being in her mind was not comfortable. She came across as unmoored, distracted and completely lacking in confidence. Not fully trained marshal material, but she came into her own towards the end.

I was in a a state of constant confusion throughout the story, most likely because I hadn't read the first in this series *Pieces of Her". Several loose threads were never tied up, but I am now watching the TV drama version, and I can see that it is preferable to either read or watch Pieces of Her first. It would have reduced the number of red herrings that were bothering me.

The tone is very tense, very atmospheric and the plot moves along nicely for a book divided into long enough paragraphs. I think the author did an excellent job of bringing a very complicated set of threads together for a very satisfying ending. I will definitely read more Karin Slaughter.

Thanks to #netgalley and #HarperCollinsUK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great book, just as you would expect from this author.

As in many thrillers, it is not unusual to have a double timeline - one for when the crime was committed and one for the time it was investigated. However, I found this time the dual timeline actually added a lot to the story, the crimes multiplied, the investigation took unexpected directions, it just worked so well!

I felt very connected to Emily and Andrea, I really enjoyed the story and wanted to find out who the killer was.

This is the second book in the Andrea Oliver series, and I didn't read the first one, however I didn't have any problem following and enjoying the story, so it can definitely be read as a standalone.

The only downside for me was the length of the chapters, that put me off a bit. Other than that, I have no complaints!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an arc in exchange for an honest review.