Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Good Bad Girl

A Novel

by Alice Feeney

  • Critics' Consensus (9):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2023, 320 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Our 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.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"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)

"A satisfyingly clever shocker." ―Booklist

"Twisty, pacy and deliciously clever, this thriller is brilliant!" ―The Sun

"Alice Feeney will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end with Good Bad Girl. So. Good." ―Glamour Magazine (UK)

"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 (UK)

"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 (UK)

"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

This information about Good Bad Girl was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

BookwormBecky1969

Puzzling!
4.5

Stolen, truth bends, puzzle…

1, 2, 3 = 1 victim, 2 murders, & 3 suspects

4 women -

80yo Edith, ex store detective, lives at The Windsor Care Home and desires more than anything to return to her home and her dog. She is estranged from her daughter.

18yo Patience works the jobs at The Windsor Care Home that nobody else wants. She is the youngest employee and is just one of the invisible help.

30something Frankie works at the prison library. She counts everything in her surroundings. Her compulsion to count is how she calms herself. “Numbers buzz like bees until they escape her lips & fly away.” She doesn’t trust anyone and thinks today just MAY be her last day at work.

50ish Clio is a therapist. But “ the person she presents to the world no longer has much in common with the person she has become.”

Of course there is an unknown link between the women! All are harboring long-term secrets . Abandonment, rejection, struggling, failed relationships , regrets, and lies play a major part in all of their lives.

And now there’s been a murder! DCI Chapman is hot on the trail of discovery. Who is responsible? What is the motive? Will she be able to solve the puzzle?


Lots of plot twists! This should keep you guessing! What a finale!

I have subscribed for 2 years to my local indie bookshop’s Mysterious book subscription. This was one of my surprise books - I am playing catch-up. It’s fun to get a surprise book each month!

I would have bought this book anyway, if it hadn’t appeared as my subscription book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Alice Feeney Author Biography

Photo courtesy of the author

Alice Feeney is the New York Times bestselling author of Sometimes I Lie, I Know Who You Are, His & Hers, and Rock Paper Scissors. Her novels have been translated into over twenty-five 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.

Author Interview

Other books by Alice Feeney at BookBrowse
  • Sometimes I Lie jacket

6 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...
  • Book Jacket: My Friends
    My Friends
    by Hisham Matar
    The title of Hisham Matar's My Friends takes on affectionate but mournful tones as its story unfolds...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.