Pieces of Her

At the start of this gripping standalone from bestseller Slaughter (The Good Daughter), down-in-the-dumps Andrea “Andy” Oliver and her mother, Laura, a gifted speech therapist, meet for lunch at the Rise-n-Dine in her hometown of Belle Isle, Ga., to celebrate Andy’s 31st birthday. When a gunman opens fire in the diner and kills two women, Laura confronts the man and shows remarkable courage in putting an end to his spree. In the ensuing media frenzy, Andy realizes how little she knows about her mother, who turns out to have been involved in some shady activities in the late 1980s, as revealed in flashbacks. As Andy tries to track down the pieces of her mother’s past, her curiosity puts others in danger. Readers will be fascinated by Laura’s backstory if sometimes frustrated by timid Andy’s woes. The plot takes a while to build momentum, but once it does, it speeds to the satisfying payoff. Slaughter reinforces her place at the top of the thriller pack. [em]Author tour. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Aug.) [/em]