Girl Unknown: A Novel

by Karen Perry Narrated by Tracy Keating, Conor Maloney, Richard Flood

Overview

Girl Unknown by critically acclaimed author Karen Perry is a powerful new audiobook that 'Explores emotional danger with relentless, surgical accuracy." - Tana French, New York Times bestselling author of Into the Woods

How quickly could the family we have created for ourselves unravel-and how far will we go to protect it?

David and Caroline Connolly are swimming successfully through their marriage's middle years-raising two children; overseeing care for David's ailing mother; leaning into their careers, both at David's university teaching job, where he's up for an important promotion, and at the ad agency where Caroline has recently returned to work after years away while the children were little. The recent stresses of home renovation and of a brief romantic betrayal (Caroline's) are behind them. The Connollys know and care for each other deeply.

Then one early fall afternoon, a student of sublime, waiflike beauty appears in David's university office and says, “I think you might be my father.” And the fact of a youthful passion that David had tried to forget comes rushing back. In the person of this intriguing young woman, the Connollys may have a chance to expand who they are and how much they can love, or they may be making themselves vulnerable to menace. They face either an opportunity or a threat-but which is which? What happens when their hard-won family happiness meets a hard-luck beautiful girl?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

12/11/2017
Authors Karen Gillece and Paul Perry again combine to form Perry (The Innocent) in this unbalanced psychological thriller. College professor David Connolly’s life is forever changed when first-year student Zoe Harte steps into his office and claims that he is her father. David is already stressed about his ailing mother, marital problems, and trying to advance at his job, and Zoe’s revelation sends him into a tailspin. But David’s wife Caroline believes Zoe has ulterior motives and sets out to prove that she isn’t his child. Can Caroline convince David that Zoe is not all she appears to be in time to save her family, or will she find that Zoe is telling the truth? While this dark tale is full of twists, the promise of the setup never reaches its full potential. Despite the fact that the flow of alternating sections between David and Caroline runs smoothly, David and Caroline’s children—although they are impacted greatly by Zoe’s claims—end up overlooked in the grand scheme of the story. Certain plot points also stretch plausibility, particularly in the buildup to the finale. Perry’s unwieldy thriller raises more questions than it answers about the underdeveloped Connolly family. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

Check your passport and bolt the door . . . Girl Unknown gets its hooks in.”

—Entertainment Weekly, "Winter's Chilliest New Thrillers"

“Emotional fireworks.”

—The New York Times Book Review

“Full of intrigue and incident—keeps us guessing until the very last tragic page.”

—Liz Nugent, bestselling author of Unraveling Oliver and of Lying in Wait

“Compulsively readable, with surprises until the very last page. . . . A chilling tale about a family under threat from one of its own.”

—Jessica Treadway, author of Lacy Eye and How Will I Know You?

"[Girl Unknown] is must-read literary suspense, with dueling character perspectives and sly twists forming a gut-wrenching exploration of trust, manipulation, and obsession.”

—Booklist (starred review)

"A convincing glimpse into the fragility of family life and the terrible burden that the past can put on domestic life."

—Kirkus Reviews

“Builds to an incredibly tense finale—before delivering an amazing final twist. Riveting stuff.”

—Sunday Mirror

“Richly satisfying . . . a book that hooks the reader from the first page. The tension is relentlessly dialed up to an almost unbearable level as the story unfolds.”

—The Irish Independent

Kirkus Reviews

2017-11-13
A family's secrets are forced into the light by the arrival of an enigmatic young woman.David Connolly is a history professor in Dublin; in his early 40s, he's devoted to his career and is on the verge of a possible promotion. He has two teenage children, and his family life is finally settling back to tender normalcy after his wife, Caroline, had a brief fling with another man a year ago. But after he delivers a lecture one day, one of his students shows up to his office with a shocking announcement: David is her father. When the girl, Zoe, arranges for a DNA test to prove his paternity, David can no longer ignore her obvious bids for his guidance and attention, and Caroline does her best to adjust to the family's newest member. But very soon, it's obvious that Zoe isn't the shy and aimless girl she seems to be. As David discovers a Pandora's box of lies Zoe has told, she begins insinuating herself into every corner of his family members' lives, creating a web of suspicion and mistrust among them. The Connollys realize Zoe has left broken relationships in her wake her whole life, and they must ask themselves how far they will go to keep from being another of her casualties. Perry (The Innocent Sleep, 2014)—actually the pen name of collaborators Karen Gillece and Paul Perry—gives us a convincing glimpse into the fragility of family life and the terrible burden that the past can put on domestic life. But the novel is too close to films like Single White Female or Cape Fear to feel like it's covering new territory despite Perry's valiant attempts to pull off some last-minute shocks.A thriller that feels more familiar than frightening.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171954086
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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