Karin Slaughter pens frenetic, fraught thrillers designed for the thriller market, and although I stopped reading her a while back, it is clear she has all the needed chops. Based on Slaughter’s book of the same name, “Pieces of Her” is an eight-part series that commences with a commanding, baffling opening scene and never lets up. Ideal entertainment fare, the show ascends one notch with two impressive acting performances that insert characterization into the excellent plot. Bella Heathcote gives a wonderful turn as a thirty-year-old thrust into a bewildering, violent race, while Toni Collette reigns supreme as the mother with a deeply buried past. A competent crew of writers deliver the different episodes under the eye of showrunner Charlotte Stoudt, and all eight episodes are tightly delivered by director Minkie Spiro. The entire series unfurls with gratifying suspense, although the post-finale twist finished too hazily for me, and the show’s music is subpar. Overall, Pieces of Her is fine, none-too-cheap entertainment.
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