I expected way too much of this book and was mostly let down. Sure, it was interesting enough to keep my attention throughout, but I didn’t live up to the hype for me. Stay tuned for my unpopular opinion ahead.
BLURB:
How far does the apple really fall from the tree?
Milly’s mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school.
But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother’s trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all.
When tensions rise and Milly feels trapped by her shiny new life, she has to decide: Will she be good? Or is she bad? She is, after all, her mother’s daughter.
That blurb sounded like this book would be right up my alley. I love diving into the minds of people and exploring around. The nature vs. nurture aspect of this story really grabbed my attention and I was eager to learn more about how things from Milly’s past would affect her future.
And my oh my- Milly’s past was a jagged journey! Some of the things she experienced as a child growing up with a serial killer as a mother were difficult to read about. It broke my heart imagining a child facing any of the circumstances described. It’s truly sick and I hate that there are people in the world with similarly disturbed minds.
I feel as if the things I hoped would play big parts in this novel didn’t make as much of an appearance or difference as I thought they may. The sentences were short and choppy, which could add to the portrayal of the instability of Milly’s mind, but I didn’t like the experience of reading from her perspective. There were a lot of mundane moments and repetitive routines, as opposed to interesting instances to keep the story rolling. While a lot of readers seemed to be impressed with the ending, I can’t say I was. I anticipated the outcome of the story and wasn’t at all surprised by how things turned out.
However, I did enjoy the modern feel of the story, the British setting, and the female lead characters. It’s not often a female serial killer is depicted in thrillers, especially a mother, and I wish there was slightly more information from that aspect of the plot. We were in Milly’s mind the entire time, rather than learning more about her mother’s motivation for murder. A bigger combination of the two characters would have made this highly entertaining, though I can see why the author wrote Good Me, Bad Me in the format she chose.
Overall, this had a creepy feel, it was intriguing, but not something that I liked as much as I expected to. Maybe I went in with too high of hopes. Though I gave this a mid-level rating, I encourage you to pick this up if it’s sitting on your TBR. Many readers loved this book and I seem to be in the minority with my opinions. This could be your favorite thriller of the year.
Ashes Books & Bobs 