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"I've been following her for the past few days. 

I know where she buys her groceries, where she 

works. I don't know the color of her eyes or 

what they look like when she's scared. But I will." 

One night, Mia Dennett enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. At first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life. 

When Colin decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota instead of delivering her to his employers, Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them. But no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.  

An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The Good Girl is a propulsive debut that reveals how even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems. 

"Kubica's powerful debut…will encourage comparisons to Gone Girl." 

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Look for Pretty Baby, the next sensational novel by Mary Kubica. Order your copy today.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In this tale of a kidnapping gone wrong, Mia, the black-sheep daughter of prominent Chicago judge James Dennett, impulsively decides to go home with Colin, a young man she meets in a bar. The one-night stand quickly turns into a nightmare when Colin forces her into his car in the middle of the night, and Mia learns he’s been sent to abduct her for ransom. But just before the drop-off point, Colin, for reasons unknown, decides not to hand her over to the man who has hired him and instead takes her to a remote cabin in Minnesota. Back at home, Mia’s mother, Eve, cannot understand why James doesn’t seem to take the news of his daughter’s disappearance as seriously as she does. Gabe, the detective assigned to the case, wonders the same thing. The narrative unfolds in four different perspectives—from Mia, Eve, Gabe, and Colin, in alternating chapters—which are also structured as “before” and “after.” The organization can prove puzzling, but Kubica’s debut thriller builds suspense steadily and will have readers guessing what’s really going on until the final pages. --Rebecca Vnuk

Review

"Kubica's powerful debut...will encourage comparisons to Gone Girl. Unlike that dazzling duel between what prove to be a pair of sociopaths, this Girl has heart-which makes it all the more devastating when the author breaks it."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Similar in tone to William Landay's acclaimed Defending Jacob, this excellent debut is compulsively readable and highly recommended for anyone who loves a mystery, a suspense tale, or a psychological puzzle."
-Library Journal

"Kubica's debut thrill builds suspense steadily and will have readers guessing what's really going on until the final pages."
-Booklist

"A twisty, roller coaster ride of a debut. Fans of Gone Girl will embrace this equally evocative tale of a missing woman, shattered family and the lies we tell not just to each other, but especially to ourselves."

-Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fear Nothing

"Psychologically rich and pulse pounding, The Good Girl had me hooked from the very first sentence and didn't let go until the final word." --Heather Gudenkauf, bestselling author of The Weight of Silence and Little Mercies

The Woman Who Came Back

By Tom S. on July 29, 2014

Format: Hardcover

Her name is Mia, a 25-year-old art teacher from a well-to-do Chicago family. She's been abducted by a man she met in a bar and held captive at a remote cabin in another state. Now she's returned--but the woman who comes back is not at all like the woman who vanished. She calls herself Chloe now, and she apparently doesn't remember much of her ordeal or of her life before it. Amnesia, the doctors call it. Her socialite mother, a concerned police detective assigned to the case, and the abductor himself take turns filling in the blanks of Mia/Chloe's story. And it's quite a story...

Mary Kubica's first novel is unusually constructed: several voices, all in the present tense, jumping back ("Before") and forth ("After") in time. This may sound complicated, but it isn't. For a first novel, THE GOOD GIRL is amazingly polished and professional. All the characters spring to life as they speak, and I really began to care about them--especially the young woman at the center of the plot.

I've already seen early reviews comparing this to GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn and STILL MISSING by Chevy Stevens, and I think it's every bit as good as both of them. If you like low-key psychological suspense stories about troubled families and the secrets they hide, you really should try this. Highly recommended.