Frivolous Filler

I enjoyed Karin Slaughter’s The Good Daughter so checked out ‘Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes’ on Overdrive as a precursor to my reading Pretty Girls (I have been hovering on the top of the library wait-list for weeks, wth PPL!) even though the reviews indicated it was a pretty unnecessary prequel. While I haven’t read Pretty Girls (yet) I can see why the general consensus was … why?

Julia Carroll is a (VERY) pretty girl attending school to be a journalist in Athens, Georgia; a news story about a missing girl catches her attention because she reminds Julia of herself. Julia, who is very pretty, is also considering losing her virginity to her boyfriend who is camping in the woods nearby campus. Like really nearby, he actually comes and visits her while camping which seems a bit stupid.

Julia’s sisters are the main characters of Pretty Girls although their introductions are brief in this prequel that focuses mainly on Julia in the hours leading up to her disappearance. Sweet Pea is the youngest and considered a goody-two-shoes by her sisters while Pepper & Julia are a bit closer, even though Julia likes to steal jewelry from her. Julia also has a creepy teacher whose lengthy introduction in such a short story leads me to believe I will most likely see his name in Pretty Girls. 

While this wasn’t the best short story I’ve read, the plot seems hampered by its connection with the full length novel, it is well written and did its job of whetting my appetite for Slaughter’s follow up. However, I think its narrative would have been better served, with some editing, as the first chapter or two in Pretty Girls. It just isn’t strong enough to stand on its own.