Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

Very creepy and uncomfortable concepts, so if you are a reader that has a pull for such a genre; this is the book for you.

This is weird, disturbing, obsessive, making your entire body hair stand up kind of freaky slow burn psychological thriller!

It’s definitely psychological because narrator/ heroine Delta Dawn is not only a quite brilliant photographer named after a song ( if that’s her real name? Maybe the author may write a sequel in near future and name her as Barbara Ann or Mustang Sally, who knows?) is truly deeply batshit crazy, obsessive, a female combination of Joe Goldberg meets Jennifer Jason Leigh from Single White Female!

She’s a chameleon! She meets people and learns the intimate details about their life stories, then she wears these details as if they’re her own past! We don’t know who she is, only thing we know her parents are dead and she raised in Disneyland because of her parents’ occupations as janitors.
She has quite exquisite talent for reflecting the inner light of people to show the better parts of them to help them believe in illusions ( she creates magic with her photography but the worst part not only the people are enchanted by the reality she creates but also she truly believes the fake, artificial cocoon she built around herself !)

Delta takes photos of families, editing them according to their demands, best interests, making them believe they are happy families! But she also edits those photos for herself, inserting her own pictures to fill the emptiness of her life.

After her last gig, she truly gets connected with Straub family. A power couple and their young daughter Nathalie ! The mother Amelia is sophisticated, fancy, ambitious architect works with her husband but she’s better at her job, bringing all important customers to the company so she defines herself as real bread winner.
Her husband Fritz is also good looking man, a little resentful because of her wife’s long working hours and their nonstop social life. Poor Nathalie doesn’t get much attention from them and when her parents decided to have a second kid but their plan failed after several miscarriages, she gets affected from their marriage problems.

Delta watches them like a hawk, photographing their intimate moments, slowly intruding their lives by dating with coworker of Fritz, babysitting Nathalie and bonding a unique relationship, rolling around their rug naked ( okay! She just lay down but she was still not wearing clothes! You naughty girl)!
Her last step of the plan to be surrogate mother for their second child to be connected with them forever! Will her plan be accomplished? Go on, read and tell!

It was quick, fast pacing, gripping read! Interestingly I enjoyed the creepy mind of Delta but the character I didn’t like was Amelia: she was true drama queen and I want to throw my full glass of Pinot Grigio on her face several times! But it would be waste of my drink!

Overall: ending was smart, well played and I enjoyed the creepy, obsessive but also entertaining narration! Giving my shiny 4 photographic, illusional , mysterious, darkish stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

The Photographer
“A twisted, dark, psychological thriller...”

Wow! That Delta chick is.....Crazy crazy crazy! I can’t get over it!!!

First off, thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this advanced reader copy to read and review. I loved this book! I was NOT expecting Delta to be so unhinged and I loved it!

This book follows Delta, a very experienced and an expert photographer. She mainly takes pictures of children. You learn very early on in the book that something is a bit “off” about Delta. She has very good skills in editing pictures to look the way she wants which if you get my gist, can open a whole world for her. I can’t go too much into detail because I don’t want to spoil anything. Delta gets asked to photograph Natalie’s birthday party and feels an unhealthy connection/obsession with the Straub family. She finds a way to weasel herself into their life and make them need her. She will stop at nothing and go to extreme lengths to stay a part of that family.

After reading this and understanding how easily pictures can be manipulated I may think twice about who I higher for important events haha

#justonemorechapter #thephotographer #thriller #stmartins #bookjunkie #bookaddict #netgalley #digitalcopy #advancedreadercopy #booknerd #bookjourney #addictedtobooks #bookreviewer #bookreview #humbled #decemberreads

A photographer with the unlikely name of Delta Dawn has clawed and pulled her way out of poverty and made a successful career taking pictures of the children of the wealthiest residents of New York. She’s satisfied with her life until she take photos of Natalie Straub at her 11th birthday party . Delta is consumed with a desire to be on the other side of the lens, part of Natalie’s family. And really, wouldn’t she fit in much better than Natalie’s mother, Amelia? She befriend the family, becoming a trusted friend and confidant, determined that the perfect family becomes hers

Delta dawn will inspire readers to pick up a camera and practice their photography and photo editing- not only because Carter’s
descriptions of this career are so detailed and beautiful, but also because they’ll never want to invite another photographer into their lives again. Delta’s intricate self-descriptions of her trade and talent drew me in to a deep connection with this main character, then her actions genuinely shocked me as she inserted herself into her client’s life. Her obsession brought both her and me to incredibly uncomfortable and suspenseful places, making this book genuinely un-put-downable. Cater masterfully created was such a well developed character - albeit creepy and misguided - and the calculated movements throughout the book really created the perfect puppeteering for the twist and turns. I’d recommend this to any fans of psychological thrillers, family dramas, and photography nuts.