Daughter - Jane Shemilt

Daughter

Title: Daughter
Author: Jane Shemilt
Publication Date: 8/28/14
Pages: 392
Genre: Thriller / Fiction
How I Found It: TLC Book Tours
Date Completed: 2/19/15

Summary: Dr. Jenny Malcolm lives in Bristol with her neurosurgeon husband and three teenage children. Life seems to be going quite smoothly until her daughter Naomi suddenly disappears. As the investigation into her disappearance begins, Jenny learns that no one in her family is quite what they have seemed to be.

What I Thought: I enjoyed the way Shemilt bounced back and forth between Jenny's present day (one year after Naomi's disappearance) and the days immediately surrounding the event. It kept the story vibrant and mysterious, offering many more opportunities for shocking moments or tantalizing details left unresolved for a while. 

For a psychological thriller, I did not actually find the book that thrilling. I mean, in a scary sort of way. The nature of the plot lends itself to mystery and concern for the missing teenage girl. Yet, at its core, the book is barely about that. Instead, Daughter is really about the mother. 

Jane Shemilt

The reader walks through the process with Jenny as it slowly picks apart her life. Spoiler alert: her husband is a cheater, one son is a druggie, and Naomi had a completely secret second life. Jenny spends much of the book contemplating her own naivete and wondering how it had all slipped by her before the disappearance. She gets to know her family in a new way, but, more profoundly, she learns about herself again. 

I liked the book. I was not ground breaking or life changing, but it was well written and kept me interested. Jenny's continually questioning of herself and her decisions was relatable to me. Her fictional experiences and emotions serve as a great reminder not to let life pass you by on auto-pilot, especially when you have family around you. 

Rating: ★★★★☆

Will I Re-Read: Maybe

If You Liked This Try: The Dinner / Chasing the Sun / Gone Girl

A Reduced Review: A family torn apart by secrets is peeled back one layer at a time through the eyes of the naive matriarch. 

*to read what others thought about Daughter, check out the full blog tour schedule*