Good Bad Girl | By Alice Feeney

Synopsis:

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, 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 messes 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 thoughts

Narrative and Plot

Before picking this book, I only had a vague idea of what this book was going to be based on the blurb. But the dedication gave me a better idea more than anything else. A missing baby is the central mystery of the story. Everything else revolves around it.

And then there are Two Murders, One Victim, and Three Suspects. That pretty much sums it up. It took me some time to get into the story. The pacing was fine but the problem with the narrative is, I didn’t understand who I was following. As in, I didn’t have a main character to root for. However, once I figured out the mystery that I was supposed to be following, things got interesting.

Characters and Conflicts

Good Bad Girl didn’t have too many good characters ironically. Everyone is somehow looking out for themselves. Everyone admits to doing bad things, but we don’t know what it is.

Edith is witty and loud like your typical imagination of what a spirited elderly woman might look like. But that doesn’t mean she is a likable character.
Patience is somewhat of a tolerable character. Other than some petty things, she seemed okay for the most part.

Clio seems uptight and entitled until you discover why she is the way she is.

The story has a lot going on for it. At the same time, it is more about the drama than the mystery. And the way it resolved itself, I have mixed feelings about it. But it provided entertainment till the end.

Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It is more of a mystery drama than a thriller. However, it was a one-time read for me. If you are in for a book with a mystery filled with morally grey characters and their lives rather than the thriller aspects, go for it.  

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