The Bad Daughter: A gripping psychological thriller with a devastating twist

It says everything about Robin's relationship with her family that when her sister Melanie calls to say her father is in hospital her third reaction is that he has been shot. Not something that would cross most of our minds in that situation. It also tells you something about the way the tale is going to unfold. Robin is a therapist, but just the sound of her sister's voice on her voice mail gives her a panic attack; she assumes that her father would be murdered. Safe to say Robin is "damaged" and that all her interpersonal relationships are predicated on this. This is a story about family dynamics more than the actual crime itself. Robin and Melanie's father is very wealthy and not particularly well liked because of the brashness of his wealth. He is married, for a second time, to Tara who was formerly Robin's best friend at school and has a failed teenage marriage behind her and a 12 year old daughter to show for it. Melanie is a single mother of an autistic child. Her brother Alec has moved well away from Red Bluff after Tara broke her engagement to him to marry his father. Sadly, a handful of chapters in I was pretty sure of the circumstances that led to the fatal shooting of Tara, Robin's father (whose name I simply cannot recall), and Tara's daughter Cassidy. I did enjoy the interpersonal relationships in the book and the claustrophobia of life in a small town where everyone knows your private business was well depicted but it was somewhat spoilt by knowing the who and how of the crime so early on. The writing is tight and well paced, with relatively good characterisations of the major players. The relationship between Robin and Blake is particularly well written and felt like a genuine relationship with all its misunderstandings. Without that this would have been a big, fat fail of a book. Certainly not a "must read" but enjoyable enough. I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

Not as good as her others. Took a long time to get to the point. Liked the end.