Girl, Forgotten: A Novel (English Edition)

by Karin Slaughter (Auteur)

Other, 2022

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Series

Andrea Oliver (2)

Genres

Publication

William Morrow (2022), 397 pages

Description

Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: From the New York Times bestselling author of Pieces of Her comes an electrifying thriller featuring newly minted US Marshall Andrea Oliver as she investigates a cold case with links to her father's past. A small town hides a big secret. Who killed Emily Vaughn? A girl with a secret. Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn gets ready for the prom. For an athlete, who is smart, pretty and well-liked, this night that should be the highlight of her high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the evening, that secret will be silenced forever. An unsolved murder. Forty years later, Emily's murder remains a mystery. Her tight-knit group of friends closed ranks; her respected, wealthy family retreated inwards; the small town moved on from her grisly attack. But all that's about to change. One final chance to uncover a killer. US Marshal Andrea Oliver arrives in Longbill Beach on her first assignment: to protect a judge receiving death threats. But, in reality, Andrea is there to find justice for Emily. The killer is still out there�and Andrea must discover the truth before she gets silenced, too..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member tottman

Andrea Oliver is freshly graduated from US Marshal school when she is assigned to protect federal judge Esther Vaughn, who is receiving death threats. The judge is at her home in Longbill Beach, where 40 years ago her daughter Emily was brutally murdered in a case that has never been solved.
Andrea

is secretly tasked with another job. Find out who murdered Emily Vaughn. Because Longbill Beach was formerly the home of Clayton Morrow, one of the suspects in Emily's death and Andrea's psychopathic father and the reason Andrea and her mother are in the Witness Protection program themselves.

Andrea's new partner, Leonard Bible, has some secrets of his own. As they investigate the threats against the judge, they discover that the two cases may be tied together. There are secrets in Longbill Beach, and a lot of people have worked hard to keep them buried.

Karin Slaughter is one of the most brilliant thriller writers alive and she reminds us why once again with Girl, Forgotten. She is unflinching in her realistic portrayal of the crimes inflicted upon women, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Her ability to make you feel empathy towards her characters makes reading her work a cathartic one. You may have to put the book down from time to time just to process the emotional experience.

Emily Vaughn was a bright girl with a brilliant future ahead of her when she discovers that she is pregnant with no recollection of having had sex with anyone. In a shockingly short time, her future path disappears and she spirals down into ostracization and dismissal before she is brutally murdered.

Flashbacks to Emily's life intersperse with Andrea's investigation. Suspects abound and stirring up old secrets brings fresh danger. As horrible as the crimes you know about are, the ones that are undiscovered may be even greater.

You don't read a Karin Slaughter book so much as experience. Girl, Forgotten is another great experience packed with thrills. One of the best books of the year.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

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LibraryThing member CelticLibrarian

Sequel is an absorbing mystery thriller.

I read Pieces of Her and watched the adaptation on Netflix and never quite liked either so I had a bit of trepidation when I saw this sequel. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this a lot more than the first that featured Andrea Oliver.

Andrea's character was much more maturely portrayed and I was able to tolerate her behavior and the plot because of that.

The story takes place two years after the events in book one and has a much better premise. Andrea has just completed US Marshal training, her psychopath father is safely behind bars, and her mother is back home and barely in the picture. Shortly after graduation, Andrea is approached by her uncle because her father is going up for parole and everyone is concerned that this time he might actually get it. The uncle wants Andrea to take an assignment at Longbill Beach, ostensibly to protect a judge who is getting death threats, but really to investigate whether or not Clayton Morrow could have murdered a young, pregnant teenager there when he was in high school. That discovery would definitely prevent his parole.

Told in a dual timeline, one part is the voice of Emily Vaughn who was raped by one of her high school friends and became pregnant. Unable to identify the rapist or name the father of this baby, she tries to do a bit of sleuthing after being shunned by all of the hideous people in the small town of Longbill Beach. She is murdered on the night of Prom and the killer was never apprehended. The second voice is that of Andrea as she arrives in town and starts to look into the events from those 40 years ago and to do her current job with partner Catfish Bible. Met with a wall of silence and the same set of suspects, she also finds that two of them are partners in a successful fava bean company and have a sort of cult thing going on with young female volunteers. So, there's a lot going on in this book, but the author skillfully weaves it together and kept me guessing.

I would have preferred less of the Emily narrative and more focus on Andrea's activities, but it kept my attention and I'm glad I returned for this installment. I suspect there will be another in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend. I do think it important to have read the first in the series to fully appreciate this one.

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LibraryThing member Twink

Oh, I couldn't wait to read Karin Slaughter's new book Girl, Forgotten. I don't even bother looking at the fly leaf - I just know that I'm in for a great read!
Remember Andrea Oliver from Pieces of Her? Well, Andrea takes the lead role in this latest as a newly minted US Marshall. (Note - this can

absolutely be read as a stand alone.)

The book opens with a heartbreaking scene - the murder of a teen in 1982. And then flips to the present where Andrea arrives at her first job - protecting a judge who has been receiving death threats. Both events take place in the same town. And Andrea herself has a connection to things as well.

Slaughter employs a plot device that I love - the back and forth of a past and present narrative. Just as the reader is lost in the past putting together the clues, the timeline flips to the present. Guaranteed to keep me reading until late at night.

Slaughter's plotting is brilliant and the journey to the final answers is a deliciously devious road to travel. (I do have to say that the past timeline broke my heart.)

I liked seeing this 'new' Andy. She's been thrown into the lion's den with this first assignment. She's also been paired up with the veteran Marshall Bible. They play off each other really well. I hope we get to see more this pair in the future.

Karin Slaughter is a brilliant crime writer and this latest is more evidence of that.

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LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy

This is the second book that features Andrea Oliver, the first being Pieces of Her. You can definitely read this as a stand alone. Andrea has literally just graduated and is now a US Marshal when she's sent to Baltimore to protect a judge receiving death threats. But, in reality she's actually

there to find out who killed the judge's daughter, Emily forty years earlier. Excellent thriller that kept me reading until I finished! Recommended!

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LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl

Karin Slaughter writes thrillers and while I vastly prefer her stand-alones over her series, this one was pretty good. A young woman in the mid-eighties discovers she's pregnant without any memory of any sexual encounter, but she was at a party where she got wasted and she suspects that it was

either one of the boys at that party or the teacher who gave her a ride home who are to blame. Before she can get far with her investigation, however, she's murdered.

Years later, US Marshals are assigned to protect her mother, a judge, after she received threatening letters. Andrea, the main character of another Slaughter novel and now a US Marshal, investigates that earlier murder amid plenty of danger to everyone.

Slaughter is always good for a well-paced and exciting thriller and this book was no exception. Her titles, however, are impossible to remember and are far too generically "thriller" to be memorable. She does a great job describing the eighties and the feeling of growing up in a small town past its prime.

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LibraryThing member rmarcin

Very well done thriller about a young girl, Emily, who is pregnant in 1981, and her parents want to keep it quiet because her mom is being considered by Reagan to be named a judge. When Emily decides to defy her father and go to her prom, she sees members of her clique, but sadly ends up dead. 40

years later, Andrea Oliver, a new US Marshal, is being assigned to protect the judge but due to her own past, she is very interested in investigating the death of Emily.
This is a very tense thriller which delves into the months prior to Emily's death and all the people that she considered guilty. Andrea follows these people and tries to determine who was the culprit, while also uncovering some shady dealings.
I will go back and read book 1 of the series as I had not read it, and I think it will provide some insight into Andrea.

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LibraryThing member EdGoldberg

Emily Vaughn is just the opposite of Girl Forgotten. Forty years after her brutal murder, the murderer has not been caught and the small town of Longbill Beach, Delaware still ponders the gruesome act. In 1982, Emily was approaching high school graduation when she was drugged and raped at a party,

becoming pregnant. She has no idea who the father is. As a result of her pregnancy, she was ostracized by her friends and the town.

Her mother, Esther Vaughn, a Reagan appointee judge, made it known that Emily would keep the baby, basically putting her life on hold for several years. Walking home after a failed attempt to attend her high school prom, Emily was bludgeoned to death and her naked body thrown in a dumpster.

Moving the to present day, Andrea Oliver, a lost and floundering young woman in Pieces of Her, has gotten her life in order and has just graduated as a United States Marshal. Her first assignment is to protect Judge Esther Vaughn who has been receiving death threats. This posting serves a dual purpose: protect Esther and solve the 40-year-old cold case. Andrea’s biological father, Nick Harp who was a suspect in Emily’s murder and is currently serving time in federal prison for domestic terrorism, is up for parole in several months and it would be nice to find something to keep him in jail.

Andrea is teamed up with wise old Leonard “Catfish” Bible who shows her the ropes at times and lets her sink or swim on her own at others. He is full of wise “rules” that he spouts on all occasions. As they investigate, it is interesting to learn who stayed in the small town and what they are up to, two forming a cult preying on young women. Andrea is frustrated that she can’t do anything to help these poor women and also that her cold case investigation is going nowhere.
Slaughter uses a dual time line approach. We follow Emily as she pursues a “Columbo-type” approach to solving the mystery of who got her pregnant while currently Andrea tries to solve Emily’s murder alongside her true Marshal assignment.

But as always in good mysteries, secrets and suspects abound and at some point someone will make a mistake. Girl, Forgotten is a great procedural mystery as well as a story of Andrea’s growth as a person and a marshal. All the original 1982 suspects continue to be suspects both in the cold case and the death threats. And it is only by peeling back the layers that these cases can be solved.

Slaughter has a way with characters and each and every one of them is memorable; some for their kindness and many for their despicable nature. Readers will like Andrea but they will love Catfish Bible.

I would like to see Slaughter take Andrea elsewhere—leave the plot line of her biological father behind and watch her develop on her own, however the book’s ending portends more of Nick Harp in the next book.

I did not realize that Pieces of Her was a companion novel until I read about it in a review. At that point, I remembered a few things which enhanced the current story which, however, totally stands on its own.

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LibraryThing member nbmars

This crime novel that goes back and forth between 1982 and the present day begins with the murder of Emily Vaughn, two weeks shy of 18, and seven months pregnant. Emily didn’t know who impregnated her but she knew when it happened: she had been partying with her high school clique, and she had

taken LSD. She had few memories of what happened that night. The murder remained another mystery; it was never solved.

Forty years later, the case was taken up again by Andrea Oliver, 33, who was a new US Marshal. Andrea’s mother Laura had joined a violent cult at the age of 21 run by a man who became Andrea’s father, Nick Harp. Nick was now in prison, with another 15 years left on his 48-year sentence, but he was up for parole. Before her father was known as Nick Harp, he went by his original name, Clayton Morrow, and was a member of the small clique to which Emily belonged.

Laura’s older brother, US Senator Jasper Queller, arranged for Andrea to get sent to the town of Longbill Beach, Delaware to guard a judge receiving death threats. The judge, Esther, was Emily’s mother. Jasper wanted Andrea on the scene to see if she could, in addition to her marshal duties, nail Clayton/Nick for Emily’s murder, so that Nick would not get out on parole.

For the assignment, Andrea was paired with a more experienced marshal, Leonard Bible. Together they explored possible suspects for the threats to Judge Vaughn, suspects who included the other surviving members of the clique besides Andrea's father: Bernard “Nardo” Fontaine, Erica “Ricky” Blakely, and Dean Wexler, a former teacher at the high school who had hung out with the clique and who now ran a cult of his own, much like Nick’s. This new cult presented its own problems.

Wexler, along with Nardo, operated a “hippie farm” using “volunteer” labor of young women who looked like they were in an anorexia treatment facility (without, albeit, any treatment). The mother of one of the women tried to rescue her daughter, maintaining that Nardo, who did the recruiting for “volunteers,” had a screening process to select vulnerable women. Wexler and Nardo, equating thinness of women with desirability, benefitted from convincing the girls they should become anorexic, which not only made them more attractive to the men, but more malleable and compliant. Complicating matters, Wexler had a team of lawyers to get him out of any difficulties, and the most the mother achieved was to be served with a restraining order.

As readers are taken back and forth through time, they learn about the various expressions of misogynist attitudes of the clique in the past as well as the present, and about how they were manifested in the treatment of Emily, both in terms of impregnating her and her treatment by everyone afterwards. As one of Emily’s non-clique friends described the rape:

“Emily was senseless when she was raped. . . It’s almost a form of necrophilia, isn’t it? The woman has no idea what the man is doing. She’s completely helpless the entire time. She can’t tell him to stop or even tell him to keep going if it feels good. She’s an inanimate series of holes.”

Or, as the rapist claimed when they finally got a confession: “What I did was fill every single hole that young lady had with my cock. . . She was gagging for it. She couldn’t get enough.”

The women of Emily’s time were socialized in a number of ways that enabled the exploitation to continue. They had it drummed into their heads that they should be as slender as possible and received constant feedback on their weight, including when Emily got pregnant, which rendered her “repugnant” according to the boys. Emily’s supposed best friend saw her not as an ally but as an enemy in the competition for men. Emily’s mother told her that women were not allowed to break certain rules, especially with regard to having sex, and if they did, they had to suffer the (life-ruining) consequences. (Males of course not only faced no such consequences, but were free to be as hypocritical about the process as they wanted to be.) Emily’s father was a brute who reinforced all these lessons Emily got by conditioning her to expect mistreatment.

The story builds to a tense and danger-filled denouement, and Andrea is eventually able to figure out what happened, after a series of shocking twists and revelations. The ending is (unfortunately) realistic, with the outrageous behavior of surviving characters continuing to have deleterious repercussions.

Evaluation: Slaughter has written a number of fictionalized exposés about how men can be vicious - on all levels - to women. As upsetting as her books can be, they are always worthwhile to read because of the well-constructed and page-turning stories that convey knowledge we should all have, and the understanding to deal with it compassionately. This novel is excellent.

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LibraryThing member creighley

It’s 1982. Emily Vaughn is pregnant and has no idea how she got that way. She was at a party and was given drugs. She ends up dead. Forty years later, Emily’s murder remains a mystery. Her tight- knit group of friends have clammed up and her wealthy, respected family is saying nothing.
U.S.

Marshall Andrea Oliver arrives in Longbill Beach to protect a judge receiving death threats. In reality, Andrea is there to find justice for Emily.

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LibraryThing member amberwitch

Sequel to Pieces of Her, this story follows Andrea as she graduate as a US Marshall and is put on her first case in rural Delaware. The case has threads to her own past, and she ends up investigating a cold case, a 40 years old murder as well as possible murder connected to an abusive cult.

Not as

good as Pieces of Her, this is still a solid read.
I tend to find Slaughters books hard to read due to the misogyny and nastiness, but they are also very well written and tightly plotted stories, so if I can get into the plot before being repelled by the suffering I usually end up enjoying the ride.

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LibraryThing member Carol420

Forty years after the unsolved murder of a Delaware teen, a new to the job U.S. Marshal on an unrelated assignment finds herself thrown back into this cold case. Forty years ago, when only a high school senior, Emily Vaughn finds she is pregnant. She says she has absolutely no recollection of ever

having had sex with anyone. I found it hard to believe if she didn't remember ever having sex, how she could truthfully have refused to tell her censorious, judgmental parents who the possible father could have been. In any case, they turn on her with a vengeance and throw her out of their home. Emily is stubborn even after she's that. She is also expelled from school and shunned by her classmates. This girl just doesn't know when to give it up, so in defiance she shows up at her senior prom in full dress and of course, is again shunned and shamed by virtually everyone she encounters, including the teachers. Then she’s brutally attacked by a shadowy figure and left close to death. Four decades after her death, new to the job, Marshal Andrea Oliver, who knows more than a little about domestic problems herself...as her father is serving a prison sentence for his many crimes committed as a psychopathic cult leader. Andrea is assigned as part of her initial rotation to protect Judge Esther Rose Vaughn, who’s received a series of death threats accompanied by a dead rat. Now it becomes a little complicated and difficult to keep straight. Esther, it turns out, was Emily’s mother, and Andrea’s assignment will bring her in contact with not only Esther but also Judith Vaughn who Emily gave birth to 40 years ago when the doctors managed to keep her alive long enough for Judith to be born. It seemed that the author was not very interested in revealing Emily's killer but was extremely interested in showing all the many ways that Emily was outcasted and rejected. Rejected by her peers, her teacher, and her family and the bitter legacy that all her "supposed transgression" left behind. Overall, I did enjoy the story. However, readers should be aware that it is very dark and complex with many possible triggering producing elements to be aware of.

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LibraryThing member Lauren2013

Girl, Forgotten
4 Stars

On her first case as a US Marshall, Andrea Oliver is assigned to the protection detail of a federal judge who has been receiving death threats. But she has another more personal agenda as well - solving the 40-year-old murder of the judge's daughter who was viciously attacked

before she could reveal a damning secret.

Series note: This is book #2 in the series. Not only are there numerous references to the events of book #1, but the investigation is also inextricably linked to Andy's past. As such, the series should be read in order.

Once again, the narrative is divided into two timelines - the past detailing the events leading up to the attack on Emily Vaughn, and the present focusing on the investigation into her murder. While there is a definite improvement in the use of this technique as compared to book #1, the sections set in 1984 are still overly long. Nevertheless, these chapters from Emily's perspective are heartwrenching as the horrendous crimes committed against her are revealed, and the nastiness of the people in her life is exposed. They are also cleverly intertwined with the present-day setting, and the twists and turns increase the intrigue and intensity of the plot.

In terms of Andy's characterization, there is a significant improvement. She is no longer the spoiled, apathetic and aimless girl living in her mother's shadow. Rather she has finally taken control of her life and set goals for herself that she strives for and succeeds in achieving. It is good to see her finally stand up for herself. Her interactions with her new partner, Catfish Bible (no, that is not a typo), are a highlight of the story and the developments in her relationship with Mike are an added bonus.

In sum, this is one of those rare times that the sequel is better than the initial book. If Slaughter continues Andy's story, I will definitely read it.

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LibraryThing member juju2cat

I will never forget the tragic image of Emily walking barefoot down the street, heavily pregnant, in her blue prom dress.

Brilliant writing.

LibraryThing member DebTat2

It is almost 4 years to the day that I read and reviewed ‘Pieces of Her’ and now 4 years on I have just finished the follow up book ‘Girl, forgotten’ where we meet Andy, or rather Andrea as she likes to be called now.
Having moved on from the past as much as she can, she is now a US

Marshal.

Her first assignment straight from the academy should be an easy and somewhat boring, but nothing is ever as simple as that!
Her first job as a US Marshal is to provide protection to a high power judge who has been receiving death threats, however at the same time she is tasked with finally uncovering the perpetrator of a murder that happened in the same time years before.

As she digs deeper into the murder, is it possible that this might hit to close to home for her?
Was it her now incarcerated father that murdered one of the clique?

As always with a Karin Slaughter novel you just know that you are in for a treat!

This book is a carry on from the book Pieces of Her, but by no means that doesn’t mean you can’t just jump straight into this one without having read the previous one, or watched the Netflix series. However I would recommend both reading and watching it, the book is better than the tv series but you find that a lot with adaptations, but having said that, I binge watched the entire show in one sitting!

Not as fast paced as some of her other books but this book drags you deep inside Andrea’s life and the investigations and holds you there from start to finish.

And that ending! Omg, I truly hope there will be a next one. It definitely leaves you wanting more!

Girl, Forgotten will be published on 23 June 2022 and is available to pre order now

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LibraryThing member DebTat2

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LibraryThing member techeditor

Karin Slaughter is a wonderful author. She not only writes well; she also puts together a great story--always, I thought. Maybe this time is an exception, though.

GIRL, FORGOTTEN is a continuation of Andrea's story from PIECES OF HER. She's more mature now and a US Marshal in a small town outside

Baltimore. She and her partner are assigned to "babysit" a judge there who has received death threats.

Also, this is the town where Andrea's father, the psychopath in PIECES OF HER, grew up. Although she and her mother now feel safe knowing that he is in prison, Andrea wants to be sure he stays there.

The judge Andrea has been assigned to guard is the mother of a teenager who was murdered back in the 1980s. Andrea has assigned herself the job of determining whether the murderer was her father. That would keep him in jail for life.

Slaughter alternates chapters between the teenager in the 1980s and Andrea in present day. The problem is with the experiences of the pregnant and unmarried teenager. If you were born before 1980 and especially if you were the same age as this teenager during the 1980s, her experiences will not ring true. They are unrealistic. The 1980s are described as backward, as if they are the 1930s. I knew pregnant teenagers back in the 1970s who were not ostracized by friends and family. They were not thrown out of their public school. Their doctors acted professionally. Their parents, though angry and upset, did not find it necessary to keep them as prisoners in their homes.

The teenager's mother, the judge, had been appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan. She was afraid her daughter's pregnancy would ruin her career. That is especially unrealistic, considering all the trouble Reagan had with his own kids.

All this and more about these 1980s chapters irritated me so much that I had a hard time enjoying Andrea's chapters. I'm not even looking forward to the next book in this series, although I will read it if Slaughter writes it. I won't drop her as a favorite author for this one mistake.

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