Good Bad Girl: A Novel

by Alice Feeney

Overview

THE INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER!!
Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things.

Queen of Twists, bestselling author of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors Alice Feeney, returns with another thrilling mystery filled with drama and her trademark surprises.

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.

In the style of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors, Good Bad Girl is a thriller in which nobody can be trusted and the twists come fast and furious.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250843968
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	08/29/2023
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	4,934
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Alice Feeney is the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Darker, Rock Paper Scissors, His & Hers, I Know Who You Are, and Sometimes I Lie. Her novels have been translated into over thirty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and now lives in the Devon countryside with her family. Good Bad Girl is her sixth novel.

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/19/2023

Feeney’s latest (after Daisy Darker) solidifies her reputation as a premier purveyor of psychological suspense. She grabs readers from page one, as an unnamed woman, wracked with guilt about being an ambivalent mother, is distracted while shopping; when she returns her attention to her baby carriage, her six-month-old daughter is gone. “I will never see her again and it is all my fault,” the woman thinks. “Because I know who has stolen her. And I know why.” From there, Feeney introduces several women, including Frankie, who’s just left her job as a prison librarian, and her teen daughter Patience, who’s run away from home and works as an attendant at a London senior-care facility. Patience has bonded with one of the residents, Edith, a former store detective whose daughter tricked her into signing away her house, and Clio, a therapist who believes another resident at the home was murdered. As the women’s relationships deepen, Feeney gradually reveals their connection to the initial abduction, keeping readers constantly off-balance with shifting perspectives and brilliantly withheld information. All the while, she mines the murky waters of mother/daughter relationships with aplomb, anchoring the flashy plotting in palpable emotion. This crafty thriller will touch readers’ hearts as much as it bends their minds. Agent: Kari Stuart, CAA. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 08/01/2023

Feeney (Daisy Darker) returns with another plot-twisting suspense novel that deftly explores mother-daughter relationships and the secrets they sometimes hold. Frankie is the head librarian at a women's prison, and she likes it there. It "keeps her sane," as she often thinks, but she leaves it all behind on a journey to find her daughter, who ran away from home a year ago. Meanwhile, Patience is living in a tiny attic room over an art gallery and works in a care home. She'll do anything to protect Edith, her favorite patient, but Clio, Edith's estranged daughter, does not appreciate the interference or the close relationship between her mother and the care worker. Patience is bonding with Edith but not telling her the truth about most things. Edith is lying to her daughter, and Clio is lying to everyone and herself. These four women are somehow connected, and nearly 18 years of secrets and lies are about to come to light. Is it possible that a good girl did a bad thing for a good reason? VERDICT This well-written, fast-paced novel is full of Feeney's trademark twists and turns. Fans of the author and those who enjoy psychological thrillers will want to check it out.—Cynthia Price

Library Journal

“Alice Feeney will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end with Good Bad Girl. So. Good.”
—Glamour Magazine UK

“A non-stop page turner with an ending that delivers. . . For suspenseful, dramatic fiction with ample unexpected plot twists, look no further than Alice Feeney!”
—Mystery & Suspense

“Feeney’s latest solidifies her reputation as a premier purveyor of psychological suspense. . . As the women’s relationships deepen, Feeney gradually reveals their connection to the initial abduction, keeping readers constantly off-balance with shifting perspectives and brilliantly withheld information. . . This crafty thriller will touch readers’ hearts as much as it bends their minds.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“This well-written, fast-paced novel is full of Feeney’s trademark twists and turns. Fans of the author and those who enjoy psychological thrillers will want to check it out.”
—Library Journal, starred review

“An intricately woven mystery. More than just a cleverly plotted thriller, this also takes a deep dive into mother-daughter relationships to really make you think.”
—Heat

“Twisty, pacy and deliciously clever, this thriller is brilliant!”
—The Sun

“You know when you’re reading an Alice Feeney book to expect plenty of twists…but I defy you to keep up with the turns that her latest takes. This has bestseller written all over it.”
—The Belfast Telegraph

“Gripping. . . Feeney carefully doles out the connections, deepening the understanding of how the characters' pasts have shaped their present actions. . . Complicated bonds elevate the intricate plot.”
—Shelf Awareness

“A psychological thriller brimming with complex mother-daughter dynamics.”
—PopSugar

“A classic unreliable narrator novel. . . Just as with Alice Feeney’s other twisty books, you will think that you have it all figured out, but you probably don’t. . . Some stories are better than others. This is one of them.”
—Deadly Pleasures

“A deep, dark mystery filled with Feeney’s powerful psychological insights, and the devilish surprises that have become the hallmark of her novels. . . This clever, multi-layered tale works its mesmerizing magic from the startling open chapter to the final, jaw dropping conclusion. . . A terrific novel.”
—Lancashire Post

“A satisfyingly clever shocker.”
—Booklist

From the Publisher