I'll be up front about this.  I did not like most of this book.  Although the writing itself was solid, and the story was gripping, the themes of child molestation turned me off.

Daddy Darkest is divided into two stories - that of eighteen-year-old Samantha and that of her mother, Clare.  Samantha's story is in present time, and her mother's is a series of flashbacks to the time before Samantha was born.  I thought that stories worked well together, and I was never lost when I read.  I was also very interested in both stories, so I didn't mind jumping from one to the other.  Not once in this book did I ever lose interest.  I simply had to read to the end.

I also liked Samantha.  She was a bit naive, but at the same time, she was a fast learner.  She coped with a great deal of trauma without whining or becoming bitter.  She was a strong character - not necessarily a bad ass - but still a force to be reckoned with.  There's a bit of a love interest in her story, and I thought that worked well in the book as well.  Levi, her companion, didn't have a lot of depth, but I did like what I saw of him.

So far, so good.  But now, it's on to Clare.

I can't state strongly enough how much I hated this character.  Yes, she had a terrible childhood, and yes she was the victim of a child predator, but instead of using her past to turn her into a stronger person, she becomes a beast herself.  Every choice she makes is a bad one.  She throws aside all the good advice she's given.  She is nasty and manipulates everyone she meets.  At one point in her life, she does something so heinous that I could never forgive her for it.  I had no sympathy for this character whatsoever and was actually rooting for her demise.

So there you have it - the good and the bad.  I'm not sorry I finished the book, and the ending did come together nicely, but I'm not planning on reading the rest of the series.

Excellent read and highly recommended. Could not put it down.

This book grabbed a hold of me gently and by the middle of the book I was hooked and speeding to the end to see how it all ended. The characters are well written and interesting enough that you can picture everything occurring in your mind. I found this book very interesting not just for the story itself but the insights to what these people are actually thinking and feeling as the story unfolds. I definitely will be looking for more to read from this author, thank you Ellery Kane for a very good book!

This one surprised me, because I didn't have any idea what it was about. I actually picked it up because of the title and the cover, surprisely it was better then I thought it was going to be, love how you got both sides of the stories , it's a must read. With that said I would love to say thinks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review it, in change for my honest opinion.

Daddy Darkest started off with Samantha and Ginny going to San Francisco , two young 18 year old girls alone. They meet a handsome young man on the plane. At the airport Ginny goes to the restroom and never comes out. Samantha embarks on finding her friend. Lots of twists and turns and secrets that come to light. Definately could not put it down.

DADDY DARKEST SHORT REVIEW

"I wish my first plane ride had ended in a crash. An unforeseen plunge to Earth. A few minutes of white-hot terror, followed by a rising ball of fire. And no survivors."

Samantha is a small town girl who just graduated from high school. She has her entire future ahead of her and she can't wait. Her best friend, Ginny surprises her with a weekend in San Francisco.

Samantha knows her Mom would not approve so she waits until she is already on the plane before answering her mother's texts and calls.

Samantha and Ginny may be best friends, but they are polar opposites of each other (except in physical appearance since they look so much alike, they could be sisters.

Samantha is quiet. Ginny is loud. Samantha does not like to flirt. Ginny seems to have learned to flirt in the womb. Samantha is careful, Ginny is not. Ginny likes to go with the flow, Samantha would rather have a plan. But, despite their differences, or maybe because of them, they compliment each other and their trust in each other is complete.

What neither of the girls know is that the amazing and fun weekend they'd planned is about to turn into a nightmare. One in which Samantha will discover that everything she thought she knew about her life, has been a lie.

Fast paced, heart-thumping action that will appeal to her new target readership of Young Adults and will not disappoint her adult fanbase.

This book, however, should come with a warning and could be a trigger for survivors of violent crime; including, but not limited to, stalking, mugging, domestic violence and especially to survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

I enjoyed most every part of this book and am glad author Ellery Kane has chosen to bring the issue of childhood sexual abuse into the light. She has included a description of one of the ways that pedophiles groom their victims. I believe this is important. The more information that is distributed to people, the less likely they or their loved ones will fall victim to this type of crime.

Tackling a sensitive subject while crafting an unforgettable thriller could not have been easy, but Ellery Kane has done exactly that. It is for that reason that I chose to rate this book as 5 out of 5 Stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

** Thank you to NETGALLEY for providing me with a free copy of this book.**

Daddy Darkest starts off in a fairly standard YA thriller format: introducing eighteen year old Samantha Bronwyn and her boy-crazy best friend Ginny on their way to San Francisco for a weekend trip. Soon Ginny disappears and it becomes clear that she was kidnapped, targeted because she was wearing Sam's high school letterman jacket. The boy Ginny had been chatting to on the plane, a cute and mysterious boy only a few years older than them, offers to help Sam.

Then the book veers off into much more adult material via flashbacks to 1996. Dr. Clare Keely, Sam's mother, is a therapist starting at San Quentin. We quickly learn that she was sexually abused and raped by a friend's father over a period of years in her early teens and that this has had a deep impact on her sexuality. She is unable to really connect emotionally to others and has internalized the words of her abuser so deeply that she believes herself responsible for the way men react to her.

Ellery Kane plays these narratives off each other well, with Sam's first person perspective almost chaste. Even at her most confused Sam is a confident if inexperienced young woman, drawing on her basketball training to keep her grounded in even the most extreme situations. Comparatively, Clare is an educated woman in her twenties, a doctor even, yet her third person narrative is splintered and unsure, the voice of her abuser often overtaking her own. In many ways Clare is the more interesting character, her dangerous fascination with a serial killer with a slew of female victims is compelling, but I began to look forward to Sam's chapters as I needed a break from Clare's constant bad decisions.

My biggest problem with Daddy Darkest is that I hated Clive "Cutthroat" Cullen, the serial killer that Clare is so captivated by. He charms her completely and they embark on a toxic love affair that brings her abuser's voice to her head more and more often. I'm not sure if I was supposed to find him charming or compelling or just feel repulsed but whatever it was, I spent most of the novel wanting to shake Clare and scream at her that he's a misogynist that kills women.

I enjoyed the way that Kane peppered the novel with different sorts of predatory men, from the obvious like Cullen and the misogynist prison gangs with their violence and slurs, to Clare's abuser and the way he manipulated her emotions to make her feel as though she was to blame for his vile actions, and even to Clare's colleagues and the way they undermined her, persistently asking for dates despite her lack of interest.

All in all, Daddy Darkest was an enjoyable read, a wild ride from start to finish with tension never really letting up. The plot is far-reaching, starting with kidnapping and expanding to prison gangs, child abuse, infanticide, FBI conspiracies, drug running, secret parents and many, many gunfights. It's a decent thriller to curl up with on a cold night while you're warm under a blanket with a warm drink and a pet on your feet.

This book is too farfetched for my liking. It just was not my cup of tea.

Daddy Darkest
by Ellery Kane
Ellery Kane
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 01 Jun 2017
I am reviewing a copy of Daddy Darkest through Ellery Kane and Netgalley:
Just a month after High-School graduation Samantha (Sam) Bronwyn a small town girl boards the plane for San Francisco with her best friend Ginny. But Sam disappears into an airport Bathroom wearing Sam's jacket. Sam quickly realizes she was the attended target. Sam finds herself on the run, alone in a strange city, on the run for her life. She soon finds herself in the midst of not so buried secrets from the past.
Who is Sam? Who can she trust? The mysterious stranger with a gun in his backpack? The guilty ex-con, her Mother, the FBI agent?
The only thing she knows for certain is she is in danger.
I give Daddy Darkest five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!

Best friends Samantha and Ginny take a trip to San Francisco. It was supposed to be their pre-college trip of a life time, but things go awry shortly after landing: Ginny is abducted from the airport bathroom. Armed with her luggage and Ginny's cell phone, Sam is on the run for her life after realizing that she was the target, not Ginny. Told through rotating narrators, we learn about Sam's mom, Clare, and why her secret past just caught up with Sam.

I love when authors have rotating narrators, so it was exciting to see that the book is written from Ginny's perspective in the present as well as Clare's perspective in the past. The closer we get to the end of the book, the closer the events in both perspectives collide. Clare has no idea about her mom's true past. She just knows her as her strong doting and protective mom who also hates psychology. However, Clare's past reveals that she was once a green psychiatrist working at a prison. She's a survivor of abuse who feels broken and blames herself for what happened to her and for the way men respond to her. What Ginny knows of her mother clashes with the life that Clare shed when she fled and started a new life.

Ginny and Clare are very different characters, so it's interesting to jump back and forth between the two and see what's going on in their minds. Clare's young, getting ready to enter college, and is terrified while running for her life and trying to save her best friend at the same time. She went from living the small town life that she's always known to being thrown into this whole new world where she has to trust a guy she just met, try to save Ginny before she gets killed, and face the fact that her father is far from who she thought he was. Meanwhile, we jump into the past every couple of chapters and read about Clare's life, the long term havoc that her attacker has left her with, and how she fell for the charming murderous man, Cutthroat Cullen. It's also interesting that Cullen is so charming because it echoes reality. We're taught to get away from the people who look like "weirdos" when the suave guys are often the ones who we should be weary of.

It was an interesting mystery to get sucked into because the true mystery is not what it appears to be at the beginning of the book. I thought I had everything figured out when one final mystery, one that has been fueling Levi for years, is the one that pulled the wool over my eyes. It is a difficult read because of the nature of Clare's chapters, which are very dark as well as sad, but Kane put together a story worth reading. I will definitely be back for the second installment in the series.

<b><i> Thank you NetGalley and Ellery Kane Publishing for generously providing the ARC of the book in exchange of my honest review. </i></b>


The story starts with 2 young girls,Samantha and Ginny, on a flight flirting with a young man, Levi.They talk about a serial killer Cut-Throat-Cullen (who literally cut's throats) who recently escaped from prison and the newspapers are headlining it everywhere. Soon, the girls disembark at the destination and Ginny goes to the washroom to get "beautified" (her words!) wearing Sam's jacket (basketball championship jacket with Sam's name on it)!! When Sam goes to check on her, she finds that her friend has disappered. And now Levi is there whereever she goes. The plot revolves around a prison, it's politics and Dr.Keely. Why is Dr.Keely so special ? And who is trying to get her attention by this kidnapping ?

My thoughts : I didn't know whether to like or dislike the story.Dr.Keely is a very dark character, too damaged to be a psychiatrist. Infact, she was even darker than the Daddy. I feel both sympathetic and annoyed with her. <i>Some lines are never meant to be crossed.</i> And Dr.Keely crossed them all, getting pulled deeper and deeper into a whirlpool.You know you cannot come out unscathed from that !! The author did an extra special work with Cullen's character. I mean, you know he has slit throats and that he is a BAD BAD man. But, you cannot stop yourself from liking him. How can we blame Dr.Keely then? But, Dr.Keely goes one step too far getting involved in a lot of things way above her pay grade, if you know what I mean. But, I guess the prison environment had a big part to play in this darkness. I think it helped habour and even nurture the darkness already present in Dr.Keely's mind. I think that's why part of my mind wanted to dislike the story. Because, hell, the plot gave me some dark thoughts !! But, that means, job well done by the author, I guess !

Why, I won't give it 5? Because the event that triggered a lot of actions, was sorted out in 5 minutes towards the end. Cause of Dumas's death was sidelined throughout the book and in the end became a very important part of the prison politics, which kind of blindsided me. Looks like Cut-Throat-Cullen is not the worst there is out there ! And doesn't that give me the creeps !! I felt the end was too abrupt.

I won't deny that I want to read the next book. What is Cullen going to do next ? Is there any personal vendetta that he is going to take care ?? How is Sam going to be affected ?? Only time will tell !!

I really enjoyed this. It reminded me a lot of Chelsea Cain’s Gretchen Lowell series in terms of the incredibly dark and twisted relationships that the book explores.

The story line is refreshingly different and so is the narrative style. Ellary Kane has done a good job of the first book in a series. Characters are entertaining especially the teenagers. This book had the potential to be more gripping .While the first half drew me in, the story especially ,the mothers" had some unbelievable twists. The last few chapters where the action takes place is overdone with too many characters and shootings . It read like a movie script, which is something I detest in a book . Also the character Cullen could have been better defined by giving insight to his childhood etc. Looking forward to reading other works by this author.

The premise is interesting- post graduation weekend trip, energetically opposed by mom, starts off with a disappearance and an all too convenient 'friend' close by. Things get weirder and scarier as things suddenly change and the ground beneath her feet shift quickly and dramatically.

For me, it was pretty clear what was going on, horror after horror. The secrets we know we have to keep can't ever seem to stay hidden, they bubble up in the worst and most untimely ways.

For the mom, her life was awful and she buried it, along with a few other things she got along the way.
Its is a complex and at times painful read, but well written. The switch back between then and now takes some getting used to, but it deepens the story.

The author did a great job of combining past and present with alternating chapters to give the background story of Sam's mom Claire. Suspense as Sam and her friend Ginny go on a girl's get-away to San Fran and Ginny immediately disappears. Sam teams up with Levi a young man she met on the airplane to find Ginny. Along the way Sam discovers many things about her mother's past and moms ties to an escaped convict named Clive.

i couldn't finish this i only got like 10% i just couldn't do it

This was a quick, but entertaining read. The plot follows a daughter in the present, and her mother in the past, and then both threads conclude together in the present. The premise struck me as a combination of Taken with Silence of the Lambs, and then as if to confirm this, the book references Silence of the Lambs in one of the later chapters.
I would caution against this book if anyone cannot read about sexual assault, or molestation, as it quite frequently depicts the language, actions and mindset following the abuse of a teen girl. This does not come across as gimmicky, or cliche, but seems realistically portrayed, and shapes the actions of the character it affects for the rest of her life. A lot of the "surprises" of the book are easy to guess at, but still hit emotionally, as the reader hopes that their guess is wrong for the benefit of the character.
I really liked the author's voice, and would consider reading other books by her. The dialogue seemed natural and not weird teenager speak. The daughter's love interest seemed a bit rushed, but no different than a typical action movie. I would have preferred more of the daughter's story, than watching the mother treat a prison like a high school through flashbacks, but obviously the backstory is needed. It's good to put emphasis on the humanity and worth of prisoners, especially to the people who work with them, but I was a little uneasy at how much of the book was devoted to how hot a multiple murderer is while forgetting about his murders. A lot of the mother's story rotates around men objectifying her for her looks, which given the news lately, may be more interesting to the reader. I didn't really connect with the mother's character, but she felt flawed enough to be realistic for her circumstances, and I respected the complex psychology that drove her decisions, even if I was repulsed by them.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. The flashbacks weren't obnoxious, and the material was suitably dark for the genre without going overboard. I would recommend it to people who enjoyed The Silence of the Lambs and want to try to get in the head space of the people who work in prisons, and some of the emotional traps they can fall into.