Pretty Girls

March 1991: After a party, 19-year-old Julia does not return home. The rather half-hearted investigations lead nowhere, and no body is ever found. Neither the parents nor the two sisters of the missing girl ever come to terms with the loss. Twenty-four years later, a brutal series of murders shakes the American state of Georgia, and the newly widowed Claire is completely disturbed when she discovers brutal footage in her deceased husband's estate, showing people being murdered in a horrifying manner on camera. She believes she recognizes one of the victims. But what did her late husband have to do with it? Who was the person she thought she knew for over twenty years? Claire embarks on a life-threatening quest for answers that brings her closer to an unimaginable truth. And to her own abyss.

"This sounds more speculative than it actually is: In depicting violence, Slaughter remains comparatively restrained; the greatest strength of the novel lies in the empathy with which she tells the story of the gradual reconnection of two women who, due to a traumatic experience in their youth - the third sister disappeared without a trace - were estranged from themselves and each other for decades." (Marcus Müntefering, SPIEGEL ONLINE)

"Her thrillers are among the toughest you can find between two covers. [...] Great to disturbing suspense literature." (Stephan Bartels, BRIGITTE)

"Typical are also her psychological studies and nerve-wracking scenes, which are not lacking in brutality or detailed depictions of violence. [...] 'Pretty Girls' is not just bloody thrill, but a reflection of a side of life that Slaughter - unlike other crime writers - zooms in on and portrays in its horror. Those who love Slaughter - and there are millions of readers worldwide - will not be deterred and will turn to her thrillers.".