Title: The Daughter

Author: Lucy Dawson

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: January 24, 2018

Page Count: 291

My rating:  4 stars

About the book:

You lost your daughter. You will never forgive yourself. And now someone’s determined to make you pay…
Seventeen years ago, something happened to Jess’s daughter Beth. The memory of it still makes her blood run cold. Jess has tried everything to make peace with that day, and the part she played in what happened. It was only a brief moment of desire… but she’ll pay for it with a lifetime of guilt.

To distance herself from the mistakes of the past, Jess has moved away and started over with her family. But when terrifying things begin happening in her new home, seemingly connected to what happened to Beth, Jess knows that her past has finally caught up with her. Somebody feels Jess hasn’t paid enough, and is determined to make her suffer for the secrets she’s kept all these years.

My review:

The Daughter by Lucy Dawson is a psychological thriller that should come with a box of tissues with every book purchase. The first few chapters of this one take the reader back to a time when Jess was a happily married young mother to her little girl Beth.

After enrolling her daughter into a new school Jess has a blast from the past when the man she had loved at nineteen turns out to work at the school. This opens up a whole mess of secrets and lies but before Beth even gets a chance to wrap her head around what it all means she gets the phone call that is every parent’s nightmare, her daughter Beth has been rushed to the hospital.

The story then jumps seventeen years into the future for Jess and picks up with her seemingly now having gotten her life together and again at a happy place. But things begin happening in Jess’s life that begin to shake her to the core and bring back the memories and nightmares of that day years before.

The way the author set up this story was a twist of genius since the reader already knows just from the small description that Jess is going to lose her daughter but taking a close look at just what happened was a surefire way to pull me into the story and have me emotionally invested within the opening pages. It was such a heartbreaking beginning to the story that I do think it will be handy to have tissues at the ready and prepare yourself beforehand.

After the time jump I wondered if the story would still flow and be as engaging but I didn’t need to worry at all as I found myself still connected to Jess and wanting to know what was now going on with her life. The book has a creepy vibe with some things thrown into the story as events begin happening which I rather enjoyed too. I did find myself guessing the outcome which led to my 4 star rating but this was still an engrossing read that I would recommend checking out regardless.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

Lucy studied Psychology at Warwick University before becoming a children’s magazine editor. Her first bestselling book – His Other Lover – was published in 2008. Since then she has published four other novels and her work has been translated into numerous other languages. She lives in Exeter with her husband and children. Lucy finds writing in the third person uncomfortable.