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Terry Ambrose

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Pretty Girls – behind the story with Karin Slaughter

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Pretty Girls - Karin SlaughterInternational bestselling author Karin Slaughter’s latest release is Pretty Girls, a psychological thriller that explores family secrets and betrayal.

In Pretty Girls, two estranged sisters come together to find the truth about two tragedies, twenty years apart, that devastated their lives. These tragic events stem from a cold-case crime, a very real issue in today’s society. “While I talk about social issues,” Slaughter said, “I always make sure that you can just read the book for fun. It’s not my job to educate anybody. There’s a lot of tension in the book, a lot of humor, some dark parts and an ending that I think will surprise a lot of people.”

Slaughter said she loves twists and turns in a story. She feels she created that with Pretty Girls and said, “I think this might be my twistiest, turniest book yet.”

Anytime siblings are thrown together in a story, the potential for twists and turns, as well as family drama, escalates. In Pretty Girls, Claire and Lydia create that tension. Slaughter said, “I identify most with Claire because I’m the youngest in my family, too—so of course I made her the smarter and prettier one.

 I remember looking into the single, dark eye of a shark, then I felt a whack on the back of my head…

“I remember when my older sister came over to my house and I said I was hungry. She went into the kitchen and started to make me a sandwich. I just sat down and let her bang through my cabinets looking for things. When I thought about it later, I realized that no matter what you do in your adult life, if you are a little sister, you let your big sister make you a sandwich. And if you are a big sister, you are always going to be bossy and pushy and get to drive the car if you go anywhere.”

As a writer of psychological thrillers, Slaughter’s job is to make her readers feel fear. In an unintended case of “write what you know,” Slaughter found herself in a situation that could have gone very wrong. While visiting in Australia about five years ago, she went on a “swim with the sharks” ocean tour.

“It was a lot of fun, but I’m a small person, and I had problems with the weight belt because they had to keep loading it down. When it was time to float back up, I couldn’t manage to move the weights. The guide kind of ripped off part of the belt and I went straight up. I remember looking into the single, dark eye of a shark, then I felt a whack on the back of my head because he knocked my goggles off with his tail. Still worth the experience!”

Learn more about Karin Slaughter on her website at karinslaughter.com.

 

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About Terry

I started out as a skip tracer. Just in case you don’t know, that’s the guy who finds the people who don’t want to be found. It was the little things—getting paid to lie—that made skip tracing the fun part of the job.

Those years of chasing deadbeats taught me many valuable life lessons, such as liars come from all walks of life, and always keep your car in the garage.

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Comments

    • Terry says

      Hey Liz, I’m not sure about Karin, but mine is certainly mystery. Thanks for stopping by and entering!

  5. peggy clayton says

    This is a new author for me and I enjoyed getting to know her. I look forward to reading this book and all of her books sound so exciting. Terry thank you for finding her and introducing us to the authors.

  7. Michelle Willms says

    I enjoyed the interview immensely. While swimming with the sharks has never been appealing to me, now I KNOW it’s something I’ll avoid. I’m not a big person either, and I tend to have less than great luck, so I think I’ll go for swimming with the dolphins…or maybe I’ll just WADE with them.

    I love Karin’s books. She’s a really wonderful author. She is truly great at transferring those feelings of tension and fear onto the page.

    • Terry says

      I’ve had the chance to swim with sea turtles in Hawaii and it’s pretty intimidating being near something that’s twice your size! However, I think dolphins would be fun. Maybe someday!

  8. Cynthia E. Blain says

    I didn’t see this book out on CD or did I miss that. My husband and I really are preferring CS’s (not Audible) to books these days. Thank you.

    • Terry says

      I’m not sure, Cynthia. I’d be very surprised if this isn’t available as an audiobook, however. Hope you find it!

  15. Teresa Motz says

    There’s no book type that reads quicker than a good psychological thriller! Thank for the chance to win!

  17. Margie says

    This sounds like an exciting book with many twists and turns. I like that the main characters are sisters.

  27. rhianona says

    Great interview. I love well-written psychological thrillers and this sounds like a good one.