I've really been intrigued by these "serial killers in the family" stories. I like the different perspectives possible - the children, the ex-spouse/partner, etc. And this one was good, I just didn't love it.

First, I didn't love the MC. I think maybe because this is YA, she was just over-the-top on every emotion and it got a little old. There were also a lot of in your face teenage behavior that also got distracting. I had wanted this to feel a bit more thriller, with me on the edge of my seat and a mystery of how it would all turn out, but I didn't quite feel sucked in enough to feel it.

But the story still was interesting. I was entertained and curious how it would all go even if I wasn't holding my breath to get there.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Daughter by Kate McLaughlin is a YA psychological thriller with a gripping premise - Scarlet thinks she is a normal teenager until the FBI shows up to let her know her father is a serial killer. Her dad is dying, and he'll only share the details of his murders to his daughter, and she's left with the choice to help or stay in hiding.

May thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I liked this one. There were a lot of parts that were awfully convenient, but overall it was good and I liked the idea of focusing on the families.

I really enjoyed this read, despite its dark content. It was written from an interesting perspective given all of the other serial killer books, and think both Scarlet and her mom were strong characters. I almost wish this wasn’t a standalone!

I listen to and read a LOT of true crime. I was really impressed with this story! I did not see all of the twists and turns coming. I felt the main character was accurate and realistic. Her emotions were spot-on throughout the story. A must read for all true crime lovers out there!

I didn’t know what to expect coming into this book. I don’t believe I’ve read anything by this author before - I definitely will now! This book is incredible. The story is so interesting because although the plot is a bit far out, it could definitely happen to someone. The characters in Daughter are outstanding. They are all so diverse and unique. My favorites were definitely the Agent and his family. The villain was written so well - I felt so icky after reading all of the scenes with him.

Daughter was one of those books where once I started, I didn’t want to put it down. I’m excited to read more by this author!

Daughter is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Daughter asap.

If you are a fan of YA and thrillers, then I think you'll enjoy this book. We're following Scarlet, a typical teen with a kind of overprotective mother. Well, it turns out that Scarlet's father is a notorious serial killer and Scarlet's mother has been trying to protect her from this knowledge. From there, we follow Scarlet as she processes this information and meets her father for the first time (as he's dying in jail). Enjoy!

I really enjoyed this story, it was less mystery and more a dark drama dealing with all kinds of demons and baggage that people can't escape. This was a standalone with everything resolved (which I am always a fan of) but keep in mind this is DARK, full of descriptions of abuse and murder that may be hard for some readers to tolerate. I do not recommend this for the younger YA readers due to the very mature, very detailed content, even though it is classified as YA.

Fair YA book about a girl who discovers she is the daughter of a serial killer.

I wanted more of a mystery but it wasn’t really that. Some parts were really not believable and others were kind of gross. Did we really need the information about necrophilia and it repeated over and over? No. Her dad gave me the absolute creeps and I suppose that was what the author was going for--showing us that glorifying these killers and making them out to be misunderstood rather than evil psychopaths is the wrong way to look at it.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this book, but it fell a bit flat to me. I didn't love Scarlet as the main character, and thought that her mother was a much stronger and more developed character throughout the book. I enjoyed Scarlet's relationship with her mom and I liked seeing her personality come out more when she was talking with her dad or her new friends. But thought everything, even at the end of the book, I felt like I still knew nothing about Scarlet.

The book itself is well written and was a quick read, but I personally did not feel like there was enough depth in it. The issues discussed are clearly heavy, the main character just had her whole life turned upside down, but it just didn't seem like that was the case to me at all . It felt a bit too surface level and the focus was not really on the whole murderer-father thing, but more on teenage drama/inconveniences.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Scarlet is just like any other normal teenager. She just wants some independence and get to hang out with her friends. Her mom is super strict and it's really bugging Scarlet lately. She feels like she can't do anything without her mom breathing down her neck. Little does she know that her life is about to change forever.

Scarlet answers the door one day to find two FBI agents on her front porch. When her mom gets home and is acting all buddy buddy with one of the agents Scarlet is even more confused. Scarlet's mom finally explains everything and now Scarlet has to make what might be the hardest decision she'll ever have to make.

Just like in What Unbreakable Look Like also by Kate McLaughlin, I had a hard time putting this book down once I started it. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a phycological thriller.

Great story! It took me longer than usual to fondos this book, maybe because the story was dense and complex.

Thank you so much @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for gifting me a copy of Daughter in exchange for an honest review.

🚔 Mini Review 📽
2 years ago I read What Unbreakable Looks Like and it was probably the hardest book I have ever read. This one comes pretty close. But I enjoy @alterkates writing and think she does an great job dealing with heavy topics.

Daughter is about a girl, Scarlet, who finds out that her father is one of the most famous serial killers out there. He is known for killing 14 girls but everyone knows there are more. The reason Scarlet finds out who her father is in the first place is because he has told the FBI that he would give up the names of the other girls if he could see his daughter. Scarlet’s whole life is turned upside down, but she knows that seeing her father to get the other names is the right thing to do. She also starts to understand why her mother has always been way to obsessively strict about everything.

This book takes us through what it’s like being the daughter of a psycho serial killer and the toll it takes on everyone involved. It isn’t totally sad and depressing. There are a lot of bright spots throughout and I really appreciated them.

I feel like saying enjoying this book is a bit much, but I really appreciated it. I never really stopped to think what it would be like for the child of a serial killer and this book made me think. I loved the characters and the growth we see in them throughout.

There are a few things that confused me a bit, but it wasn’t enough to take me out of the story 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you like reading books with hard topics and don’t mind hard things, then I would definitely recommend this book. I gave it ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ . If you’ve read this book I would love to hear your thoughts on it. My DM’s are always open!

This book is a game of cat and mouse and I really enjoyed seeing how it played out. The characters had a lot of depth to them and I liked the writing style. The father was super creepy and reminded me of Hannibal Lector from The Silence of the Lambs. I loved how that created the push and pull dynamic of his visits with his daughter. She was fascinating in her interactions with him and you could feel the tension in their meetings. The narrator Justis Bolding did a fantastic job bringing this story to life.

Scarlet is living the life of a typical, privileged, teenager in suburban Connecticut - even if her mom is extremely overly protective. When two FBI agents show up at her front door, Scarlet's life is turned upside down. Her life as she knows it, from her family history right down to her name, is a lie. Her absent father didn't abandon the family, he's an infamous serial killer in prison in North Carolina. He's also dying and wants to meet her in exchange for giving up more information on the women he killed.

The premise of this book sounded great, a slightly different take on the "my relative is a serial killer" story from what I had read recently. However, the more I read the more I realized that this was essentially the Ted Bundy story told from the point of view of his daughter. Given that the author was inspired by "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile" isn't too surprising, but it does feel a little like McLaughlin dramatized the Bundy story (which already was dramatic enough) by changing a few names and changing his manner of death from execution to cancer. Because of this, there didn't seem to be a lot of impetus moving the plot along, if you knew the Bundy story you pretty much knew what was coming. I wish she had used her own idea for the crimes of the father instead of co opting Bundy.

There were also times that bits of the story came off as, to use a phrase from other reviewers, "icky". I realize this is written for an older teen audience, but the way sex, though completely consensual, was described given that it involved a minor made me feel gross. Yes, she was "barely" a minor but she was still a minor. A lot of the drama felt fabricated, and almost melodramatic. Of course her father was going to out her identity as soon as he knew her "real" name. Of course! Why wouldn't he? Other small things also were irksome, like two FBI Agents who had been surveilling Scarlet and Gina coming to the house to speak to her, again a MINOR, when they knew her mother wasn't home. That...just wouldn't happen.

I liked that there was an attempt to focus on the victims and their lives not attached to Jeffrey Lake, but the included articles and transcripts still focused on their relationship to the killer and/or their deaths more than their lives outside of him. It was a nice attempt, it just didn't quite get there.

Kate's books are always fantastic and this one is no different. It was a fascinating read, and one of those that stay with you long after the last page has been read.

I really enjoyed Daughter, It was more coming of age than I expected.

Scarlet's world is turned upside down when she discovers who her father actually is. I was completely hooked from the start and I liked the focus on the family of the serial killer rather than the killer himself. There's a lot about the way the public perceives serial killers and how cruel the media can be to their families.

Jeffery Lake was a monster and the author did a fantastic job of displaying this. His interactions with Scarlet were creepy and gross.

I highly recommend this book. I loved all of the characters. I thoughts this was a creative story that I had not heard before, a very original storyline.
I received this galley from NetGalley.

DAUGHTER
By Kate McLaughlin

This is an intense and propulsive psychological thriller read that had an amazing story line and pacing that I really enjoyed.

The story revolves around Scarlet whose life upends when she is faced with the FBI showing up at her door and realizes that the father she has never known happens to be an infamous serial killer Jeffrey Lake dying with cancer on death row. As it happens, Lake will only disclose the victims locations to his daughter.

The writing of the story, along with the choices that Scarlet had to deal with despite her condition, and what her mother has kept hidden from her all these years to protect her, really made this read very suspenseful and thought provoking.

Fantastic writing I recommend.