Review of 'Good Me Bad Me'

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

good_me_bad_me.jpg Annie, a young girl, is sent to live with a foster family having turned her mother into the police. Annie's mother is a serial killer who forced Annie to participate in the torture and murder of children she brought home. As the months go by Annie, now “Milly”, prepares for the trial where she will be testifying against her mother. Her foster family has it's own problems: Mike, the father, is a psychologist helping Annie prepare for the trial yet seems unable to address the issues of his own family; Saskia, the mother, has given up engaging with her daughter and is giving up on her marriage; Phoebe, the daughter, is a rebel and takes an instant dislike to Annie and seeks ever more creative – and dangerous – ways to embarrass her. Annie is not about to just roll over and take it, she has been taught how to be cruel and is not afraid to strike back…she is her mother's daughter…

Told from Annie's perspective, “Good Me Bad Me” is a terrifying story of psychological and often physical horror. Annie's perspective is that of a young girl attempting to make sense of the horror that is her life. Thankfully though the physical horror is present Land does not dwell on it longer than strictly necessary moving on instead to focus on Annie. There are a number of shocks here that, to be honest, are fairly easy to spot but not any less horrifying when they do come.

Quite easy to read, the book does tend to drag a bit in the middle as the days count down to the trial but this surprisingly comes and goes quickly leaving Annie to deal with the predictable outcome with, of course, a bit of a surprise ending.

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2019-08-31


Genre: General Fiction

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 2017

ISBN: 9781405923910