Good Me Bad Me
Ali Land, 2017
Flatiron Books
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250087645
Summary
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. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
After graduating from university with a degree in Mental Health, Ali Land spent a decade working as a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Nurse in hospitals and schools in the UK and Australia. Ali is now a full-time writer and lives in a creative warehouse community in North London. Good Me Bad Me has been translated into over 20 languages. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The new Girl on The Train, which was the new Gone Girl. You get the picture. This psycho-thriller by Ali Land is set to be massive.”
Cosmopolitan (UK ed.)
A gripping tale about a teenage girl waiting to give evidence at her serial-killer mother's trial. Unsettling and unforgettable.
Heat
Uncomfortable, shocking, and totally compelling, put this to the top of your to-read pile.
Sun (UK)
Unsettling. Holds our attention from the opening page. There is so much to praise here.
Guardian (UK)
(Starred review.) A deliberate pace and a skillfully woven plot conspire to create a visceral read that’s at once a gripping psychological thriller and a devastating exploration of the damage wrought by childhood trauma.
Publishers Weekly
[H]er mother is a serial killer and a child abuser, too… [so] 15-year-old Milly is given a new identity and placed with a posh foster family. Then her foster sister starts bullying her,…and Milly's intentions to be good—unlike her mother—start to buckle. Lots of buzz for this debut novelist.
Library Journal
A sense of creeping dread drives the narrative.… Readers will be more than happy to go along for the ride and may be surprised how they feel about the conclusion, proving the unmistakable spell that Land has cast. Sly, unsettling, and impossible to put down
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Good Me Bad Me is narrated by fifteen-year-old Milly. Discuss her voice. Why do you think the author chose to write the book in this style?
2. Milly is placed in a foster family that, on paper, looks ideal but behind closed doors is anything but. Is there such a thing as a normal family? Are the Newmonts "normal"? Do you think a different foster family would have changed who Milly became? Was it was the right decision to place Milly in foster care or should she have remained in a secure, psychiatric unit—and for how long? Forever?
3. Why do you think the author chose a female serial killer who is also a mother? Are bad women somehow worse than bad men?
4.Milly strikes up a friendship with a younger, vulnerable girl named Morgan. Discuss their relationship. There’s a scene in Milly’s bedroom where she’s tempted to harm Morgan but doesn’t. What does that tell you about Milly, and why was Morgan an important relationship for her to experience?
5. Lord of the Flies is referenced a number of times in Good Me Bad Me and particularly in the school scenes. Do you think the prevalence of mobile phones and social media has made school a more savage place? Had it been a mixed school, both boys and girls, do you think Milly would still have been subjected to such brutal bullying?
6. Phoebe is painted as the bad cop in the book. To what extent could you say she is also the product of her mother? Was she justified in her feelings toward Milly? Are there similarities between the two girls, and what do you think would have happened if they’d teamed up instead of going head to head?
7. Milly testified in court against her mother but she didn’t have to; she could have given evidence by a video link. Should she have been allowed to take the stand? Should any minor be allowed to? Why did she want to, need to, do this?
8. Following the court case, Milly makes a devastating confession to the reader about Daniel. Were you shocked by her confession? Did it make you feel differently about her?
9. Mike is a skilled psychologist and spent the most time with Milly, yet he missed what was going on between Phoebe and her. Or did he? How much did he choose to ignore the tension in his household so he could fulfill his own goals and have access to Milly’s mind? Do you hold him at all responsible for what happened at the end of the book?
10. What scared you the most in Good Me Bad Me?
11. The nature/nurture debate rages on. Are there particular points you think the author is trying to make about this debate? Has reading this book changed your opinion on nature versus nurture?
12. Compare how you felt about Milly at the beginning of the book with how you feel about her at the end. Both the opening and closing lines of the book are "Forgive me." Does she need forgiveness? Do you forgive her? The ending was deliberately ambiguous; what do you see for her future?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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