Have you ever wished another family was your own? Photographer Delta Dawn falls in love with the Straubs and their seemingly perfect, enchanted life after being hired to shoot daughter Natalie’s birthday party. When the Straubs have a babysitter cancel last minute, Delta sees her opportunity to become closer to them. Soon, she’s a regular part of their daily lives, but her almost insatiable need for more drives her to further and further extremes.
The drama accelerates once Delta learns Amelia is desperate for another child. In a way, each of them is willing to bend societal and moral boundaries to get what they want. However, due to Amelia’s status and wealth, her behavior is overlooked or explained away. Delta knows her position is precarious and she works diligently to maintain the balance she’s fought for.
This is a book I've been eagerly looking forward to since its cover reveal. I was hooked from page one and had a hard time putting it down, but I would have liked to see more of Delta’s past and what shaped her. We’re offered a few hazy and vague glimpses, but nothing to explain or really hint at her current state and motivations. Since the book is told from Delta’s POV, it could be the character isn’t self-aware enough to recount these edifying events and experiences, but it felt like there was something missing for me in understanding her character.
This book felt like a cross between Single White Female and the movie One Hour Photo with Robin Williams. Apart from being an engrossing thriller, it also provided a look into how easily we can use photography and borrowed stories to manipulate our own narrative. In an age when sometimes images alone are enough to serve as proof, it was unsettling to read about what all can be accomplished with only a few photos and some easily purchased software.
Thank you to Minotaur for a complimentary advance copy. This did not impact my review.

I really liked the idea of this book, but did not feel the suspense. It just seemed like it was given that you were supposed to be drawn into the suspense when there really was no suspense to speak of. There was no background really on Delta so you have this crazed woman that just seems to be obsessed with Amelia, but there was no rationale for this. The reader is supposed to just think Amelia is so great that Delta should naturally feel this way because she is a creepy girl for no reason. The picture thing was certifiably crazy and did add to the column that says Delta is a nut with pretty much nothing else besides an odd obsession that is not really aimed at anything particular. This book did not work for me. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Delta Dawn was one weird chick, with all of her obesessions and stalking personality. I was engaged from page one because I wanted to see what she was going to do next. Creepy.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Listened on audio. Predictable but loved the Single White Female vibes. I read this in one setting and it was very easy to do, as I had to find out what was going to happen! A good beach read.

Delta Dawn has a way with photos. She has a way of making family photos shine. She can make unhappy and sullen children look happy and engaged. That’s what she does—she photographs family moments, especially children’s birthday parties, making lasting memories for parents who want to display the success and warmth of their families. And those parents are willing to pay her for her services.

But when Amelia Straub hires her for Natalie’s 11th birthday party, everything changes for Delta. She had looked the Straubs up online before the party. She knew they were architects. She knew about their gorgeous house. But what she didn’t know in advance is how she’d feel when she walked in that beautiful house,. It made her feel like she was special too. It made her feel like she belonged. And she wanted to hang on to that feeling as long as she could.

Delta can tell that Natalie likes her, so she uses that to her advantage, offering to stay and watch her one evening when the Straub’s babysitter can’t make it. Occasionally, Delta picks up the dry cleaning for Amelia. She starts going out with a friend of Amelia’s just to stay in Amelia’s orbit. She would do just about anything to stay in Amelia’s orbit.

But it’s what she does at home, in her small New York apartment that brings her the greatest sense of satisfaction. That’s where she photoshops her pictures. Sometimes it’s just a matter of adding a little light, to show more joy on a face. Sometimes it’s Delta putting herself into her client’s pictures. She’s sharing a laugh with Amelia. She’s sharing some cake with Amelia. She’s sharing Amelia’s husband.

Delta knows that she is walking a fine line. The more time she spends in Amelia’s orbit, the closer Delta gets to people finding out the truth about her. Can she keep her new place in the Straub family long enough to take advantage of the giant opportunity right in front of her?

The Photographer is a domestic thriller filled with a growing sense of unease. The creepiness factor is high in this debut from Mary Dixie Carter, and if you’re like me, you will not be able to look away until you get to the end. The writing is beautiful, the characters strong, and the questions are never-ending. Just like Robin Williams’ masterful performance in One-Hour Photo, The Photographer puts on display human desperation and invites us to feel what it’s like to need a family so much you’ll do anything to make it happen.

I love a good domestic thriller, and this one is excellent. Carter brings the goosebumps over and over as we see through the eyes of a woman who will not give up on what she wants. She has spent her whole life creating a persona who will fit in with her rich clients. But given the chance to become one of them for real, she is faced with a series of choices that can bring her ultimate happiness or banishment from everything she’s been working towards. It’s difficult for an author to find that tightrope between too creepy and dishwater dull, but Carter has found that perfect balance and walks it all the way to the end. If you love a good creeper, The Photographer is for you.

Egalleys for The Photographer were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Well this book was a quick read, but it was rushed at the end and I felt that the author could have put some more into it… just as things picked up, it was over.

Delta is a photographer and does an amazing job snapping photos. When she gets hired to take pictures for the Straub’s daughter she is envious of their life. Delta desperately wants to be a part of their world. Delta becomes close friends with Amelia and Fritz and their daughter Natalie. Soon she is part of their family and then she discovers she can manipulate them quite easily. What Delta does to this family is a bit insane. Just as she is exposed, it’s over. This book was just ok. Nothing I would rush out to buy… Thank you to Minotaur books and St. Martin’s Press as well as Netgalley for the ARC.

The Photographer is the creepiest psychological thriller that I have read lately. Amelia and Fritz Straub hire Delta to photograph their child’s birthday party. Their babysitter can’t showup at the end of the event so Delta volunteers to babysit for therm. This should seem odd to the couple that a photographer would babysit but they shrug it off and end up using her weekly to babysit. There is multiple layers of deception in this story and it is a very dark story. If you loved You, this one is a must read.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Love! Love! Love!

It's so easy for the rich to overlook the many people they have "working" for them. As a photographer, Delta has access right to the innermost secrets of the families and is a silent, observant part of all their life events. Delta first meets the Straub family when she is hired to photograph their daughter Natalie's birthday party. It is not long before she wants to be a part of the Straub family, have what they have, live in their house, ....twisted and disturbing, this is one psychological thriller you don't want to miss.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

This is the type of thriller that follows a seriously deranged, infatuated, obsessive, well respected female photographer to NYCs finest, without anyone suspecting a thing. It doesn’t have many shocking twists or turns, but how creepy is it to think that someone you hire, for such an intimate moment in your life such as the birth of your baby is a crazed sociopath?? It gives me pause the next time, I hire anyone to come around my kids thats for sure!! Eeek!!
It does start a little slow, but I definitely recommend you continue to read it!!

A tale of obsession taken to the extreme. The main characters are all kind of unsettling in different ways which is what makes the story a suspenseful page turner. The story itself is one of obsession, darkness, and could even serve as a warning to beware of things that seem too good to be true. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.

I enjoyed this suspenseful story. This is a new author for me, I look forward to reading more from them in the future. This is a well written story that the author used attention to details that give the story life. This is a faster paced story that is engaging and has characters that are connectable. This is a story about Delta who seems to have it all including the love of taking photographs. What will happen when she goes to Natalie's birthday party and realizes that this is the life she wants. As she puts a plan in place to take what she wants the story takes a twist and is hard to put down. What happens next I would highly recommend. The characters made the story entertaining to read and just made the story for me. This is worth the pick up for sure.

Delta Dawn is her name, photography is her occupation, deception is her game. To reveal too much of Delta's secret life would ruin the book as you need to discover who and what she is from the book, not from me. Each new revelation is another tick on the crazy scale, and her's is off the charts.

They say you have to create your own memories but this is likely not what they had in mind. Very warped, very clever indeed.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my copy.

This book just wasn't for me. The narrator Delta was untrustworthy and unlikable. I felt like I was getting whiplash reading this book. The storyline was glacially slow in the beginning then the middle was full of forced dialog. The plot was interesting enough, I just wish I had someone to root for.

Addictive, compelling, pulse-pounding, pure entertainment! A novel that I quickly sank into and devoured until I flipped the last page. I enjoyed reading the novel and learning about the main character, photographer Delta Dawn. Hired by the wealthy elite families living in NYC, Delta finds herself behind the lens of her camera at many of their events. She sees things that others might not be aware of, things they might be trying to hide and keep secret, things that she probably shouldn’t see. Needing to know more, she gets close to members of one family in particular, the Straub family. At best Delta is a very sketchy character, and you never know which line she will cross, which secret she will unfold, and what she will do next.

She was an interesting character for sure, always sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong, and I loved it! It added to the suspense of the novel and I found myself wanting to know more just like Delta did. I loved how she tried to find out secrets about the family members and added pieces together to come up with answers. Delta is a very unreliable character and I loved how that added to the suspense and enjoyment of the novel.

A definite must-read that you need to add to your TBR list. Hands down one of my favourite books of 2021!

Delta Dawn is a photographer who records the lives of wealthy New Yorkers on film. She mostly takes pictures of their children's parties and prides herself on being able to get photos which convey the perfect image, and if the photos don't come out with the families looking happy she is skilled at manipulating the photos to still sell the idea of happy families and lives. Delta has always been on the outside of these groups she photographs but she likes to imagine herself as part of her clients' lives. This book follows what happens when she becomes fixated on one particular family and begins to try and insert herself into their life, her methods escalating as tries to get closer and closer to them.

I've sat on this review for a couple of weeks now because I'm really torn on how I feel about this one and I wanted to really think about it and make sure I was giving a fair and honest review. This book had some highs and lows but I think ultimately it just wasn't for me. The premise for this one was so interesting and reminded me of some other books/movies I liked so I felt compelled to give it a try but I didn't really feel like it delivered. My main issue was that the book is quite short so what I thought was going to be the rising action/climax right as things started getting exciting ended up basically being the end of the book and it just felt like there was little resolution or "reward" for the book.

I will say that there were a couple of characters I liked and I really enjoyed seeing that no one in this book is perfect as I felt like it added depth to the characters I just wish the book had been longer so we could have gotten to see them do more. Also, although parts of the story didn't really make sense to me the language used in the writing was also good and there were some really great lines that resonated with me as I read them.

Overall, this book didn't really work for me but I think it did have potential and seeing as how this was a debut I would definitely be willing to try another book by this author in the future.

Delta, a bit of a loner, is a professional children's photographer. Wealthy families pay her to shoot their children's events and provide photos that portray "the perfect family" no matter what it takes. Hired by Amelia and Fritz Straub (part of the NYC elite) to shoot their 11 year old's birthday party, Delta quickly becomes enamored with the Straub's and slowly finds her way into their family dynamic. When Delta offers the Straub's the greatest gift, people in her outer circle become concerned with her choices and wonder if she's hiding more than she's letting on.

This one had me hooked from the very beginning! Though I do think that Delta's connection with the Straub's was rushed - it is clear that Delta is hiding something from the very beginning. I really did like Delta's character, even though she was beyond creepy. Without a doubt, this has been one of my favorite ARC's in quite some time! Be sure to grab yourself a copy!

We all fantasize from time to time, so why not take it one step further and fantasize with photoshopping yourself into someone’s life? Is that so wrong?

Delta envisions what she wants, photoshops it, obsesses over it, and then does it. She moves into people’s lives to make her fantasy a reality.

I’m really torn after reading this book because I’m trying to figure out the point where Delta crossed a line. Was it dreaming and making it happen or dreaming? Because it seems that the characters in the book think that the dreaming part was the worst bit. Should you just let things fall into your lap without working to get there because wanting it ahead of time is wrong?

I guess the real question is how far to take something. It’s not wrong to want to befriend someone, but you can go too far. And Delta definitely goes too far. She uses photoshopped photos to create a backstory for herself that she starts to believe is true. And she uses them to manipulate other people to get what she wants.

By the end of the book, I went from thinking that maybe the fantasies she has isn’t so bad to realizing that she’s a full psychopath.

I guess the book is an interesting thought experiment, but it’s not a book I want to gush about. I didn’t turn pages frantically, but it was highly readable. I think it could be an “it” book if it’s marketed well enough because it’s an interesting idea to explore.

The Photographer
By Mary Dixie Carter

The Photographer is a suspenseful story about envy and obsession, told in an immersive and dizzying voice of a character that leaves an unsettling feeling in this riveting read!

Delta Dawn is a character that scared the bejeezus out of me. I guess I shouldn’t be too trusting if there are people in this world who are even just the slightest bit as crazy as Delta.

Delta is a talented and sought after photographer to the NYC elites, for her keen eye in transforming and capturing memories through her photographs and editing these photos to perfection. As a photographer, Delta starts to envy and obsess her clients’ life. She ruminates over her less than life, knowing her role is just one step above the help, and will never quite equal to her clients.

Her obsession to feel important and needed consumes her every being. So when Delta is hired for a birthday party, she finds herself intrigued with the talented and wealthy architects, and quickly attaches herself to the Straub family - Amelia, Fritz and their 11 yo daughter Natalie, while she carefully plans and manipulates to gain their trust and friendship.

The story is told in Delta’s first-person perspective and voice, which leaves an unsettling feeling, a distorted reality, and a masterful manipulation unlike any other. This psychological thriller will disturb you and get in your skin! This was a fun read.

I enjoyed this book very much. It was filled with creepy obsession and and fabrication. The story line kept me wanting to know how it would end. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

Hiring photographers to capture special moments is an age old tradition to celebrate milestones - marriages, births, birthdays and achievements. We hope that they will capture us in a light that illuminates our strengths, our beauty, and our personality in posed and candid photos. We want the photographer to see us, really see us and go beyond the lenses and filters.

Delta Dawn has just the right eye. She picks up on all the flaws and recasts them in a prism of light. She alters the narrative ever so slightly to provide clients with what they truly desire – an improved upon image of themselves and their family. But what happens when the photographer takes editing to the next level and reconstructs a new narrative? When the illusion is deconstructed and re-framed where someone in the family is edited out completely allowing them to be seamless rewoven into the picture. What happens when the photographer no longer wishes to remain behind the lens and seeks to step inside the frame?

The photographer is a quickly paced domestic and psychological suspense that turns a rather innocuous family activity into a family’s worst nightmare. This is a sinister summer read sure to entertain!

My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.