Having read most of Lucy Dawson's earlier books, I was eagerly anticipating this latest release from her new publisher Bookouture and it did not disappoint.
Lucy’s writing is so addictive and throughout I constantly wanted to discover more. The Daughter is brilliantly written with an amazingly gripping storyline that will keep you guessing right until the end.
There’s only one of Lucy's books I haven’t yet read but will be doing so soon.
Thank you.

I read this book in about 24 hours, I think that says it all! The Daughter is chilling, heartbreaking and unputdownable. The opening of the book is so emotional, and it really made me think about how quick things can change from one moment to the other. Lucy Dawson manages to describe such raw emotion, I couldn't help but be drawn in to the story.

I did however think that the book was a bit slow at times. It starts so extremely powerful, and then it sort of goes down from there. UNTIL - because there's definitely an until here - it starts to get very creepy. After it becomes clear that someone is playing with Jess's head, I could not put the book down. I did work out part of the ending quite early, but there's a big old creepy twist at the end I didn't see coming at all. The Daughter definitely kept me at the edge of my seat throughout.

★ 4/5 - The Daughter is a dark and creepy book that'll make your skin crawl. A must-read for psychological thriller fans!

This was just OK, nothing new and different Im afraid so I couldn't really get excited over it. Easy to read and follow.

OMG, what a fantastic read! This book totally gripped me from the first page and left me an emotional wreck. Jess and Ben are devastated when their 5 year old daughter Beth dies in a schoolyard accident. Seventeen years later Jess has remarried and has a two year old son. But things start to happen in Jess’s life and the past comes back to haunt her. This book has everything, tragedy, moments of joy and dark secrets. It is a fast paced psychological thriller with a big surprise ending. Don’t miss reading it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

The start of The Daughter was fantastic. It was chilling, emotional and extremely hard-hitting and one more chapter resulted in me reading it for ages before finally going to bed. I imagine it will be difficult for readers to not be affected somehow by the opening to this story.

Sadly, things only went downhill from there. Even though she had just lost her child, I disliked Jessica because I can’t feel sympathy for a woman who had an affair that resulted in her having a child that wasn’t her husbands. To lie to a man like that about a child being his is probably one of the worst things a woman can do and I hate all this ‘oh but it might be his child..’ when clearly it isn’t. That said, putting all that to one side Lucy did portray Jess as a grieving woman quite well and with having to add into the mix that she was a cheat and was still trying to prevent Ben from finding out, it did add some excitement to the story. Unfortunately there were never any moments that I began to like Jess. Her new life I felt was undeserved and how her wet drip of a new husband just accepted her past was beyond me. She also kept secrets and only told people what she wanted them to hear. Whilst I guess this is probably true of a lot of us, these are still traits that are hard to witness in a main character when ordinarily I would want to sympathise with or at least like the person I was going to be spending the majority of the book with.

Now, read on at your peril because there may be some minor spoilers but I worked out very early on, pretty much as soon as I found out Jess had somebody after her as some kind of revenge plan who it would be. It is just so obvious and then even more so later on in the story when another character arrives. Plus even when it all came out and I rolled my eyes at how predictable everything was, the ending of the actual book was as flat as a pancake. It could have been so much more thrilling, as could the lead up to the big reveal. Literally the suspense just disappeared. The biggest problem for me is the book’s title. That’s the biggest giveaway of the whole story and I honestly think it needs a different title because it just gives away too much.

I’m a little disappointed that I worked everything out because the actual story itself could have been great. And, it probably will be great to those who don’t work the twists out (but if you don’t you must be new to this genre). Lucy’s writing is strong and she does manage to create some good suspense, there’s a real eclectic mix of characters and she captures the emotions of them all incredibly well. This is definitely a book I could see being the next big TV drama, I just hate that I worked everything out so soon because even though I was still gripped to the book, part of the reason I was gripped was because I wanted to be wrong. I wanted a twist to come from nowhere and completely surprise me, sadly it didn’t and I can only rate a book mostly on how much I enjoyed it and when you work out all of the main twists of a psychological thriller then that lessens the enjoyment you can take from it.

I would definitely read another book by Lucy Dawson in the future and I would recommend The Daughter to fans of psychological thrillers however I will be surprised if, like me, seasoned readers of the genre don’t see the twists coming from a mile away.

I literally did not put this book down once I started it. After a tragic beginning, the story twists and turns, dropping hints before the big reveal which I definitely was not expecting. This book is brilliantly written and the epitome of a page turner.

Seventeen years ago, something happened to Jess's daughter Beth. Since the book description doesn't give away what that is, I won't either. Jess has since moved away but it seems the past has caught up with her once again and someone has decided Jess hasn't yet been punished enough.

I am not known to be an emotional person (although these days, that's rather debatable) but the beginning of this story is so utterly heartbreaking and devastating that it left me with a massive lump in my throat and nearly brought a tear to my eye, thinking I might need to go find some tissues. These first few chapters will suck you in like a vortex and rip out your heart. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Unfortunately for me, I figured out quite early on what was going on and who was responsible for taunting Jess. Maybe I just read too many books in this genre but I felt it was rather obvious. However, that didn't take anything away from my enjoyment. Ultimately, this "thing" that happened in the past (vague, I know) has had an impact on quite a few people, not just Jess and that's what stood out for me in this story. Actions have consequences and they often affect more people than you realise.

This is a gripping and compelling page-turner about family, grief, secrets, guilt and obsession. I can't say I particularly warmed to any of the characters, except maybe Ben, but I could sympathise with them which is down to Lucy Dawson's fantastic writing and her ability to bring these characters to live. Jess, in my most humble opinion, made some mistakes and bad decisions but I could always somehow understand where she was coming from.

I'd say The Daughter was a pretty new experience for me. I can't quite remember reading such a tearjerking psychological thriller before but it worked like a charm and I look forward to reading more by Lucy Dawson in future.

<b>4.25 intriguing stars🌟🌟🌟🌟.25</b>

The beginning of this book is heart wrenching.... Jessica lives every mother‘s worst nightmare.... that phone call from the school, that your child has been rushed to the hospital.... this was brilliant on the authors part, it made Jessica such a sympathetic and relatable character.... I have to say Beth’s funeral was one of the toughest things I’ve read.... definitely have tissue handy.....

After Jessica loses her little girl she is encouraged to leave her home town, Her dad, and her husband.... The book then jumps forward 17 years and we find Jessica living a new life, but never forgetting her old life..... and her old life has definitely not forgotten her....

Secrets lead to lies and lies lead to secrets... it is a vicious circle.... Jessica absolutely has not always made the best choices, but I could always understand her motivations....

Some pretty creepy things happen in this book... that keep you wanting to know what exactly is going on..... I was keeping my fingers crossed for Jessica the entire time.... I did see one of the twists coming, but another twist took me by surprise.... and that was the creepiest of them all.....

I unquestionably recommend this book to all fans of the psychological thriller..... I especially recommend if you are a mother, you will sympathize with Jessica and feel her struggle throughout....

*** i’d like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for a copy of this book ***

This is a tense, gripping psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.
The first few chapters about Jess’ daughter are pretty heart wrenching and as a mother, I really felt sorry for Jess.
Jess moves away from that life and starts again and is lucky to meet Ed and have a son, James.
Soon things start happening in Jess’ life that are causing her to worry about her safety and the safety of her son. But she can’t work out who is behind the strange things happening in her home...
The book has a fantastic ending that will take your breath away.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Man. This book. I tell you what, when I start to read a book which looks to be a kind of domestic-come-psyhcological thriller style of book, I don't quite expect my emotions to be so totally amnipulated from the off. That is exactly what happens with The Daughter, the brilliant new thriller from Lucy Dawson. The book opens in the voice of young Beth, a girl much like any other, playing at school during break time, her whole future ahead of her. And yet it is amazing how quickly things can change. In just a few short paragraphs you get a feeling for the young child, a feeling cemented as the point of view changes to her mother, Jess, herself only very young and seemingly a little overwhelmed. We follow them on that fateful morning, when Jess takes Beth to school, starting a chain of events which will change everything. 

I have to be honest, by just a few short chapters in I was so in shock, so overcome by what had happened, that I wasn't sure quite how this was going to turn around from a tragic family tale of loss into a harder thriller with a real edge and yet it did. So quickly and effectively that I was hooked from the very beginning until the turn of the last page.

The bulk of the action takes place many years after the tragic loss of Beth, and as first I wasn't sure if I would take to Jess. Her actions at the start of the book seem almost selfish and yet there is also a clear sense of sacrifice in what she does. Whatever her motives, she has moved on with her life, now a mother once more and in a new relationship with Ed and everything seems to be going really well. Until one day it isn't. A name from the past comes back to haunt her and suddenly everything that she ran from seems to have been brought ever closer. I love the way that the author slowly feeds in these revelations, making you wonder how much of it is Jess's imagination and how much reality. There has always been something a little ... different about Jess, not that she would ever admit it, but even by her standards these new coincidences are a bit much.

There is a kind of otherworldliness to the plot at times, with things happening around the home that you are never quite clear if they are deliberate sabotage or something less tangible, or perhaps more spectral, with many things bringing Jess back to the fateful day that she lost Beth. It is slightly creepy and unnerving and Lucy Dawson has done a great job of letting the tension build and letting the question of Jess's sanity hang in the air, with even those she loves and trusts perhaps doubting her a little.

Despite there being a perhaps reasons not to, I really liked the character of Jess. I could kind of identify with her struggles and the sense of her grief and guilt is palpable as you read through the passages. But she seems far more settled in the latter years, her relationship with Ed far more grounded and much stronger than that of her first marriage. And Ed is a great character to get to know too, fiercely protective of his family and highly suspicious of the people from Jess's past. They share everything, all of her doubts and fears and this is a pairing which can stand almost anything, which is good because they are going to need to.

While some of the revelations weren't entirely unexpected, and I did manage to deduce one of the key reveals very early on, there were still plenty of shocks to be had and moments in which I could feel my eyebrows raise in complete surprise. Certainly there are elements to the story which, once revealed, are capable of making the skin crawl. This is a story of obsession, revenge, loss and regrets. Of new beginnings and second chances. Of betrayal and of unrelenting and undying love. Of the ultimate sacrifices which are made for family. But first and foremost it is a cracking good read which had me hooked from the off, and one which is highly recommended.

The book was a classic . Jess loved had a little girl called Beth . But she didn’t have for long.
Ben was married to Jess but Jess could not loved him enough . Thank you for Netgalley

I found The Daughter intriguing. The beginning was desperately sad, but drew me into the book immediately. After this traumatic start, the book skips 17 years and starts becoming seriously creepy. Very odd things happen to Jess, who has moved on with her new family. Who is playing with her head? Or are the strange events all merely coincidental? The Daughter is well-written, adeptly crafted and ultimately a satisfying read. Recommended for psychological thriller fans.

I do love me a good thriller and let me introduce you to an EXCELLENT one.

This one grabs you instantly. The worst happens incredibly early on and you're left reeling. Your emotions are all over the place and you wonder how on earth this story will continue.

Then cut to seventeen years later. This could have felt incredibly disjointed as I was already absorbed with the story, but Dawson is a great writer and after one page I was just as consumed by the present day part of the story.

From then on in I could not put it down. It starts to get super creepy and I LOVED THAT. There were parts where I was genuinely freaked out and unsettled, as the tension of the story starts to build. There was one part, I'll just say, that featured the clocks (no spoilers here!) that made my skin crawl!

Great, fully fleshed out characters that you believe in and care about, a fast paced story and enough intrigue to make you second guess who you think the'culprit' is, all come together to make this a stellar tale. I'll be looking up more of Dawson's books that's for sure.

Heartbreakingly brilliant. The characterisation is so good you can feel every emotion in this, the first couple of chapters had me crying. With an explosive ending that twists you are amazed at the actions of so called pillars of the community. Flawed people, with flawed lives and some tragic circumstances
#thedaughter#netgalley

The Daughter
By Lucy Dawson

A chilling thriller that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat .A highly recommend read. 5 Stars !

I received this ARC through Netgalley for Bookouture.

Seventeen years ago, something happened to Jess's daughter Beth. Jess has tried everything to make peace with that day and the part she preyed in what happened . 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, Jess knows that her past has finally caught up with her.

This book will mess with your emotions at the start (have the tissues handy). The story starts again seventeen years later and Jess has remarried and now has a two year old son. There is a lot of suspense that is entwined like a fine weave throughout the second part of the book. The strange events and occurances that had strangely started to happen. There were twist and turns by the bucket load. I thought I knew where the story was going, who the culprit was and maybe how the story was going to end. But I was wrong, very wrong. This is a gripping, well written, page turning book that I just did not want to put down.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Lucy Dawson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a great book! After running into her ex-flame who is now a teacher at her daughter’s school and being ambushed by a stranger who tells her God loves her daughter, Jess is worried whether she should have let Beth go to school that day at all. And then the worst happens and Jess and Ben are plunged into a parent’s worst nightmare. Fast forward seventeen years, Jess has a new life with a new family. But someone thinks that Jess has not paid enough for her sins…

The first part dealing with Beth’s death is undoubtedly difficult to read, but the second part really pulls you in and there’s no letting go after that. Fast-paced, thrilling, and absolutely riveting…you won’t be able to put it down! I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves a good psychological thriller.

"You cannot understand what it's like to lose a child unless it happens to you. It's every pain you have ever felt turned up so loud you can't think, move, speak -- and nothing drowns out the agony, not even for a second. It's what annihilation actually means."

Jessica's life changed when the unthinkable happened -- her darling 5-year-old daughter, Beth, died in an accident on the playground at school. Jessica left her then-husband, Ben, and walked out of that life. Someone made her go. And now, 17 years later, Jessica has remarried and has a new husband. She and Ed have a son, James, and Ed knows everything about Jessica's sordid past. So does someone else -- and all of a sudden, things start to unravel in their family life. Who is tormenting Jessica and what more does she have to do to pay for her past mistakes?

Although the identity of the tormentor is easily guessed by the reader, the narrative is told in such a manner as to create tension as Jessica tries to figure out why her past is ruining her present life. Jessica does the usual dumb things and makes choices that seem unlikely given her relationship to the various people in the story, but the tale unfolds with the drama of the evenentual unmasking. This is an emotionally wrenching book that tugs at the heartstrings and is hard at times to read because no parent wants to go there. Jessica is very three-dimensional and though at times I wanted to shake her, at others I just wanted to hold her and give a big hug. She has a lot of baggage to work through in addition to dealing with the loss of her child.

This was the first book by this author I've read and I'll definitely look for another. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-book ARC to read and review.

Thankyou Bookouture and Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review. The daughter by Lucy Dawson Is the first book that I have read from the author.
The story starts in 1999 when Jess is married to Ben and they have a daughter called Beth. She takes her daughter to school when she is surprised to see that the new headmaster at her daughter’s school is her old boyfriend Simon and his daughter Cara is going to the same school. Both the girls become friends. That morning Jess is met by a woman at the school gates saying that God loves her daughter. She thinks it’s weird and mentions it to her husband Ben.
Later on that day, Jess is called to the school to be told that Beth has had accident on the climbing frame. She asks to see her daughter, but then is told that her daughter is dead. Jess is distraught and blames herself. As she thinks that because she hasn’t told her husband that Beth might not be his, that she has been punished by her daughter dying. It is a very emotional time. She is consoled by Simon, but in walks Simons wife and later on threatens to stay away from Simon all she will kill her. With all that has happened in the last few days. Jess leaves Ben.
Seventeen years later. Jess now happily married to Ed and they have a two-year-old son. When strange things start to go wrong to her and her au pair Sandrine….
I really enjoyed this psychological thriller. It gripped me from the start and had so many twists and turns so many different emotions felt throughout the book. The only reason I gave it 4 stars as was waiting for a big ending but unfortunately it didn’t come. I was disappointed.

Loved this ,dark ,gripping with plenty of suspense . Highly recommended although I did guess The twist as the end !