Actually 4.5 stars.
I've read and enjoyed a couple of books by this author so I knew what I was getting into when I started this book and I wasn't disappointed.
This is a very emotional psychological thriller, mostly due to the topics covered but, as I started, I swiftly got rather emotionally invested into the characters. I needed to know what happened, what was going to happen. In short, I cared. It's best not to know too much before going in so I will try and tone my review appropriately.
We start in the past and Jess is taking her daughter Beth to school. An incident occurs on the way that unnerves Jess a little and, once she has dropped her daughter off, she goes to see Beth's teacher to voice her concerns. It then transpires that there is more to the relationship between Jess and the teacher than meets the eye. Then the unthinkable happens and there's an accident - one that rocks Jess's world; one she has to distance herself from.
Back in the present and Jess is now married to Ed and they have a young son. Things are ticking along quite nicely for them even though the past still haunts Jess. Then her nightmares start to come out from her head and into her life. At first it's just little things but things soon escalate and her present starts to mirror her past and it is at this point that she really fears for her life and the lives of those she loves.
Boy did this book grip me. I do have to admit to guessing certain key things along the way but they were never completely nailed on certainties and, as I did also get a few things woefully wrong, and more than enough paths that could be the right one, I was never really sure of anything. It's hard to explain without going more into the plot but I hope you get the gist of what I am struggling to say.
Characterisation was excellent. I really bought into the turmoil that was going on around Jess. Yes, she's not perfect, she's made some really rather bad mistakes in her life but, to be honest, who hasn't? But I really felt for her and what she, along with other characters, was going through. Other characters were just as well described and played out perfectly. Again, I can't give examples due to the nature of their individual characters and motives but needless to say for a book of this genre, there were secrets, lies and more than a bit of duplicitous behaviour to be had along the way.
There were, to me anyway, a couple of really obvious clues as to what was really happening, to someone who was, well let's just say someone with a dubious motive and duplicitous behaviour, but that motive and the complete truth evaded me right up until the end when, at the final reveal, I sat back and applauded the author for a job well done. I don't consider getting the clues as me being clever, more to the fact that I basically drink in this kind of book and some things just stand out to me more than others these days.
All in all, another winner from both the author and one of the most exciting publishers around these days. My thanks go to them and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 STARS
ARC-Book Review
Release Date Jan 24th 2018

The Daughter (Kindle Edition) by Lucy Dawson is the first thing I have read by this author and this is a great psychological thriller that gripped me from the very start.
So I am trying to be as vague as possible with this review to avoid spoiling this thrilling piece of fiction as I feel explaining the plot too much will do just that, so I'm just going to give you my personal impressions of The Daughter.
So first, I wasn't aware of what was going to occur at the beginning so this hit me completely out of left field and left me in shocked disbelief.
To continue The daughter portrays its characters in all their flawed glory and I'm sure each of us can find at least one individual here to identify with, or at least find one to resemble an acquaintance we know.
And as the tension mounted and the terror campaign intensified, I was holding my breath in anticipation and also a somewhat fearful fascination.
The Daughter itself I found wasn't completely unique and at times it seemed quite predictable but during each new experience, you felt an almost stomach-churning dread right alongside Jess as shes made to somehow pay for what someone sees as her past guilt.
Like she hasn't suffered enough.
Jess even seeming at times to almost accept the mantle of blame like an atonement she really shouldn't have to feel.
I did kinda guess the perp and I was silently screaming at Jess to catch on and dig her head out the sand, this I found didn't affect my enjoyment of The Daughter, I almost felt like I was watching a movie, the only thing missing was the popcorn and the TV of course.
In fact, this would be fantastic on the big screen.
In conclusion, this was an excellent piece of fiction I enjoyed immensely and I would definitely recommend if you are a psychological thriller junkie like me.
Although somewhat predictable this didn't disappoint.
NetGalley provided me with an ARC of The Daughter by Lucy Dawson
of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

There is a brutally tear-jerking tragedy in the first part of the book. Jess & Ben lose their only daughter Beth aged five. I honestly don't know how anyone moves on from something like that. This is a book about the past, present and future and the life-changing decisions that were made because of the loss of Beth. Naturally, the paroxysm of grief always makes you revisit any grief you have personally suffered so it resonates strongly with all of us. It's hard to revisit. Jess however is not allowed to forget the past and move on properly after she meets up with an old lover. The effect of this meeting triggers no amount of trouble and it's a gasp at the end when you discover who is punishing her so wickedly. It's about the choices we make and the people we befriend. I found it decidedly creepy at times. Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read this novel. I shall spread the word after publication.

Jess enjoys her life. She is happily married with a young daughter. That is until a new head teacher comes to the school. An old flame. It is at that point that life starts to unravel and things are never the same again. Even years in the future it all comes back to haunt her - possibly literally!
This is a well constructed psychological thriller. There is an excellent build up throughout the book. The scene where Beth has a terrible accident at school at the start of the book is particularly well written and moved me to tears. Perhaps this isn't to be read in public!
There is a big twist at the end which I did actually see coming. I am not sure what clues led me to see this but I did. It didn't stop me enjoying the end of the book, however. The ending was quite in keeping with the story and worked well for me.
This is a good psychological thriller & I would be happy to read further work by this author.

I really loved this book I couldn’t put it down ! Real edge of the seat stuff. An excellent psychological read ! 8/10

This was such a page turner! The story revolves around a missing child, which is always chilling, and I could wait to know what had happened in the past and how the mystery would be solved. Gripping!

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.

The daughter was such an addictive read that you will not want to to put down, I enjoyed every minute of this book it was brought

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

A young couple Jessica and Ben lose their young daughter Beth in a tragic playground accident.These early chapters are so emotional and heart breaking. Thank goodness for Kleenex. Fast forward seventeen years and Jessica is remarried with a two year old son. Ben is also in another relationship with step children.

Someone wants to upset the applecart however and doesn't want Jessica to enjoy the cosy happy little life she has managed to attain after years of unhappiness and guilt. Strange things begin to happen in their house and soon Jess, her family and the French nanny Sandrine are subjected to some strange and horrifying events that threaten their existence. Who is out to get Jessica?

This is a well written story that kept me guessing and engrossed. My heart bled for Jessica and Ben over the loss of their darling daughter and the terrible effect it had on their lives. I had a feeling who the culprit was but quite honestly it could have been several people and I was pleasantly surprised how it all came together and the ending panned out. A clever and emotional book with both likeable and unlikeable characters. I will definitely be looking for more by this author.

How does a young Mom move on with her life when her five year old is dead from a school yard accident?
Jess needs to get her life together, but she can't. The father of her daughter's wife, is stalking her and threatening her.
The plot thickens.
The years go on, and Jess is finally able to move on with her new husband and son,
But.... is she?
This is a book that will have you on the edge of your seat as you quickly read each page of the novel.
Definitely not the ending I was expecting and I was not disappointed! Well written, with so many details to keep the reader enthralled!

I am a huge fan of this author and this book - wow! It blew me away. From the first page to the last this book took me over, and I just couldn't put it down. What an utterly gripping story! Every page reveals a new twist and I didn't know if I was coming or going until the absolutely stunning ending. Brilliant. Original. Unputdownable. An incredibly tense and thrilling read!

A book of heartbreak twisted in deep with mystery. A mother feeling the loss of her child deep in the marrow, always and forever, the pain bleeding out, sometimes expected, sometimes totally unexpected. A husband, an affair, a mistake, a threat, and a new life. But past seeping slowly into the present, like the eerie claustrophobic fog, creepy and sinuous, attacking the lives, winding its way around, till it starts choking and attacking them all

The atmosphere is wild, the roads are twisted, the winds blow willy nilly, the characters collide when they were meant to be away and locked in solitary. The jealousy invades deep into the psyche. The guilt cores the soul. The decisions pull apart when they should be together. The sinister tricks, the death omens, the deja vu. The girl who never was. The daughter who is gone and the daughter whom no one can see.

All this is found in the daughter by Lucy Dawson. And what a spinner of a tale she has written. What I thought the book was, and what it turned out to be is quite chilling. Lucy has kept the atmosphere of the book extremely gripping, every page has an incident which makes the previous one look milder.

The story is simple, Jess lost her 5 year old daughter in an accident in the playground, she leaves everything and seventeen years hence, she has settled into her new husband Ed and son. Then things start happening, in and around her, to make pay for the secrets of the past…

I didn’t find the plot of the story and the reasons given very convincing, and I wanted something deeper from the plot. But this is overshadowed by Lucy’s writing, by the suspense that is weaved and entwined in the scenes and incidents. At one point, I didn’t know where the story was moving to, all I knew that it was leading to a crashing finale… And it did..

It crashed into all our lives, and I realized that sometimes the nightmares of the past are so dark that light of the present reality hardly penetrates.

I read the book in the afternoon, and it took me awhile to process all that had happened. I was pretty hyped up, and at the same time shocked, by the reasonings of the characters and their decisions.

A winner of a book, an unputdownable, entertaining potboiler, where the pages turned on its own as the scenes brought the twists, the characters reasoned their way, and I was left shaken in the aftermath, wide-eyed and dry-mouthed...

An excellent offering from Lucy Dawson which will keep you gripped until the end.

Beth is 5 when she loses her life in an awful accident, Jessica and Ben, her parents are devastated. Jessica has been hiding a secret and when it comes to light and she is threatened with exposure she decides to leave Ben and start a new life.

Fast forward 17 years and Jessica is now married to Ed with a new son, life is pretty easy when a blast from the past leaves her feeling vulnerable and not knowing who to trust.

A gripping thriller with plenty of twists, although I guessed who was causing some of the problems and the way the obsession of one person caused so much trouble was amazing. An excellent well written story.

Loved this one! Fast paced and grippy from start to end. Read this book in one day. A must read for any fan of this genre.

A complex,creepy & at timesunbelievably sad book. The Daughter begins fast & ends with a twist you won't see coming. The Characters are so well written that I felt sorry for each of them in turn. There everthing in this book....Shocks,Twists,Scares & plenty of emotion! Only my 2nd book to read in 2018 but already this one is going to be big.

An easy read but a bit far fetched and unbelievable. Didn't really like most of the characters either.

Enjoyed this book. Highly recommend! Looking forward to reading more by this author

Oh my gosh. Was she or wasn't she Simon's This book was full of surprises and my haw dropped several times. A great book.

Let me start by saying that I was wrong about this book. I read the first sentence in the blurb and immediately made an assumption on what the word lost meant. The first chapters caught me by surprise. I didn’t expect to feel such heartbreak. I was fighting back tears as I turned the pages. However, the story gradually changes as it progresses.

So 17 years ago, Jess lost her daughter and this is where the story begins. Readers are taken back to that day. The author shares details of the day right from when it started. Some of the details later prove to be key in the story. After the first chapters, the story moves to 17 years after the tragedy when weird things start happening.

Jess is the MC in the story and the story is narrated from her POV. She is easily likeable and relatable. There are events that took place that made me want to yell at her. However, her character was so well crafted that it was easy to understand even her crazy actions.

I loved the suspense in the story. I was able to guess part of the mystery a bit early. I knew who the perpetrator was and guessed their backstory. However, I wasn’t one hundred percent certain. The author brilliantly managed to throw me off and I ended up changing my mind a couple of times. In the end, my guess was right but I was still shocked by the revelations. I think the author handled this aspect really well.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the premise and enjoyed the twists and turns along the way. I enjoyed reading aboutthe characters and I admit, I absolutely fell in love with one, little gentleman called James. This was an entertaining, gripping read perfect for fans of psychological thrillers.

This was a very good book, with a wonderful beginning. Although the end was predictable, I really enjoyed it from cover to cover.