Good Me, Bad Me
By
Ali Land
'NEW NAME, NEW FAMILY, NEW SHINY ME'.
Annie's mother is a serial killer. The only way she can make it stop is to hand her in to the police. But out of sight is not out of mind. As her mother's trial looms, the secrets of her past won't let Annie sleep, even with a new foster family and name - Milly. A fresh start. Now, surely, she can be whoever she wants to be. But Milly's mother is a serial killer. And blood is thicker than water. Good me, bad me. She is, after all, her mother's daughter... Translated into over 20 languages, Good Me Bad Me is a tour de force. In its narrator, Milly Barnes, we have a voice to be reckoned with, and in its author, Ali Land, an extraordinary new talent.
Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph for this ARC
Wow!! This book absolutely blew me away. Written from the perspective of Milly the daughter of a child killer we follow Milly into her new foster family as she struggles to come to terms with what her Mother has done and the fact that she is the main witness in the upcoming trial.
Her new foster family consist of Mike (a psychologist), his wife Saskia and their daughter Phoebe.
Phoebe is a nasty character who is jealous of Milly and her and her friends set out to rage a campaign against her to make her life as uncomfortable as possible.
Milly finds a friend in Morgan who lives in the much scorned tower blocks nearby. Can she trust Morgan with her true identity?
This book kept me guessing and using Milly as the narrator all the way through is genius. I really liked the character of Mike who obviously whilst helping Milly prepare to give evidence against her Mother, has his own selfish agenda as to why he wants to help her.
The references to the crimes committed by her Mother are thankfully not described in lurid detail, but leaving the reader to imagine them is an excellent way for each reader of the book to have different insights into Milly's character.
This book was fantastic and kept me awake wanting to carry on reading. It is one of those books that after it is finished you will find yourself still thinking about it for weeks afterwards.
Brilliant.
Buy your copy here
Ali Land can be found on Twitter
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