The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter (Book Summary)

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After their house was burned down, the Quinn family moved to a farm house. When it was just Harriet (the mother), Samantha (16 years old daughter) and Charlotte (13 years old) in the house, two men with a gun entered and looked for Harriet’s husband, Rusty. It was Zachariah Culpepper (someone who owed money to Rusty) and Mason Huckabee (the brother of Mary-Lynne, the girl who was raped and whose rapist was represented by Rusty). They intended to kill Rusty, and since he was not around, they ended up killing Harriet and taking Sam & Charlie to the woods. Sam was shot in the head, and then buried alive. Charlie managed to run away but was chased by Zachariah, and was raped. Mason tried stopping Zach from raping Charlie, however it was too late. Charlie and Sam survived, although Sam had to go through surgery and therapy to be able to live and function normally.

Years later, Charlie and Mason met again. Zach was in prison and Mason was a middle school History teacher since someone else was blamed for the crime he did. Zach’s brother, Daniel, was killed since everyone thought he did the crime with his brother. Since Charlie and Mason didn’t know each other when they met again, they ended up having a one night stand and ended up switching their phones as they left. To return each other’s phone, Charlie went to the school Mason taught in, which was her previous school. After switching phones, they heard gunshots. They both ran outside and saw the Principal, Mr. Pinkman, on the ground with 3 bullet holes on his body. Mr. Pinkman’s wife, Judith was crying just a few feet away, cradling Lucy Alexander, who also died after being shot. The shooter later turned up, it was Kelly Wilson. An eighteen year old girl who was carrying a revolver.

Kelly was represented by Rusty. However, before the arraignment Rusty was stabbed. Sam, who now lives in New York, travelled back because she was worried and because she thought her younger sister needed her. Her latest conversation with Charlie didn’t end well, with both agreeing that keeping in touch with each other keeps them from moving on. Sam ended up handling the arraignment.

After Rusty’s death (he died on his wheelchair with a cigarette on his hand), Sam, Charlie and Ben (Charlie’s husband) discovered a few things. They discovered that Rusty helped in paying Zach to keep him from telling the police that it was Mason who was with him on the day Gamma was murdered, and not Daniel. Mason confessed that he was the one who hired Zach to kill Rusty, which was contrary to their belief that it was Zach who wanted to get even to erase his debt. Also, after getting hold of the cctv footage, they discovered that Kelly was innocent. She was holding the gun but Judith Pinkman was holding it with her and was the one who pulled the trigger. Judith killed her husband since he was screwing Kelly, and Kelly was pregnant. Her husband wanted to keep the baby and simply pay Kelly. Lucy Alexander was just someone who happened to be there. After confessing the truth to Charlie, Judith killed herself. (It was Judith who helped Charlie after Zach raped her.)

Sam went back to New York. Charlie and Ben fixed their marriage and moved to Atlanta. Kelly Wilson was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 5 years parole if she behaves. Mason got a good lawyer and only had 6 years in prison.

The End of he Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter.

Something I found confusing: I just find this odd. It was Charlie who pointed a finger at Daniel Culpepper as one of the murderer, who turned out to be innocent after about 28 years. However, didn’t she have the chance to look at his face during the trial or on the news and recognize that Daniel was not one of the murderers?

Other relevant characters:

• Lenore – Rusty’s secretary who used to be his friend named “Lenny” . She’s a trangender who dated Harriet first. When Harriet died, she sort of help the Quinn family by taking care of Charlie and Rusty, and rarely, Sam (since she moved away)
• Ava Wilson – Kelly Wilson’s mother who was sort of slow to process details, just like Kelly.

Purchase The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter via Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mNSHwz