I had originally listened to this on Audible in early 2022. I remember being really engrossed in the story, but then totally dragged through the last 40-50%. Now, reading this month, I don’t feel like my rating has changed much.

The story is incredibly compelling. The characters are very well crafted, with elaborate backstories. The first 50-60% of this book is pretty emotional and fast paced as we walk through the grief of the MC, Claire, who stumbles upon her husband’s very secret and very dark obsessions after his death. Alongside Claire’s whirlwind of despair, we also do a deep dive into the other relevant characters who hold their own sadness. Each character is connected and their stories are braided into one another thoughtfully and in a way that I didn’t find confusing as it can with other multi-narrator books. I struggle to read about sexual violence and Pretty Girls didn’t skimp out on all the icky details, so certainly check any trigger warnings before reading. I would compare this as a very watered down version of Dead Girl Blues by David Sodergren solely in the terms of discussing the dark underbelly of pornography.

Although I enjoyed the ending, I could have done without like…200-300 pages. I’m a 90 min movie max gal (except for LOTR, you can quote me on that), so reading a ~700 page book is daunting. Not that I could imagine it being 200 pages, especially with all the twists and turns.

A solid 3/5 for me. I think I’ll check out some more of Slaughter’s work.