Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Book Blurb

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from her push-chair, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning up mess and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.

Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door . . . and their intentions aren’t good.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.

My Review
I cant believe I haven’t read any of Alice Feeney’s books before this so I’m grateful to Pan MacMillan for sending me Good Bad Girl to read and review. What drew me to this book was definitely the blurb on the back, the idea of a kidnapped baby, a murder and the female characters; it read like a puzzle waiting to be solved.

This is the story of four very different women; Edith, in her eighties and in a care home against her will, Clio is Edith’s daughter and the one responsible for putting Edith in the care home, Patience is eighteen and works at the care home and is good friends with Edith and finally Frankie who works in a prison library. These women all had interesting lives, very different lives, but all harboured secrets that are revealed slowly as the book progresses. My favourite was Edith, I loved her tenacity at eighty, her attitude and cunning. Set on Mother’s Day, the threads that connect these women open the discussion of what it is to be a mother, the good and the bad, the mistakes made and the bonds that bind mothers and daughters.

I really liked Alice Feeney’s writing style, especially moving from one character to the next, as they told their own story. I spent the whole book trying to figure out the different relationships between the women and just who the stolen baby and her mother were, and who had it in them to murder someone. This is a real slow burner which I loved, with four seemingly disparate storylines weaving together into a hearts wrenching ending.

I always love finding a new author, and after reading Good Bad Girl I will definitely be reading more of Alic Feeney’s books. I loved the four female characters, learning about their lives and how tragedy has marked all of them. I do enjoy a slow burner thriller, where its more character based, and about the relationships. Suspenseful and heartbreaking this is an addictive read.