This debut novel is chilling! The daughter of a serial murderer, Anna's memories were erased through an experiment with a therapist. But, after she kills a man in the line of duty as a cop, the memories begin resurfacing. Anna wants to understand the mind of her father, and why he killed so many women. Now, more women are dying, and Anna is seeking answers, without revealing her connection to the case.
There is a supernatural element/fantasy aspect to this novel. There is also a lot of suspicion around all the players, and you wonder throughout: who is good and / or bad? It all wraps to a satisfying conclusion.
I am excited to see what this author does next!

4.5 stars, rounded up

The Hunter’s Daughter by Nicola Solvinic is a compelling, dark thriller and debut novel. It is well-written and I found it compulsively readable, grabbing me from the very beginning and not letting go until the final words of the story.
The protagonist is Lt. Anna Koray, a respected and decorated sheriff’’s detective. No one in her present life knows that, as a child, she was raised as Elena Theron by an ineffectual mother and a father who taught her to track and hunt in the forest. He is eventually found out to be a sadistic serial killer and sent to prison for life. In an effort to protect her daughter, her mother has a psychiatrist manipulate Elena’s memories through hypnosis, and she grows up to be Anna, the police sheriff, with no recollection of the horror she saw as a child.
A series of new murders she investigates trigger remembrances of seeing the past victims after being killed by her father—until now sealed in her “memory vault.” The rest of the tale is a thrilling search by Anna for the current killer and for the truth about her past.
For a debut novel, this is stunning! Anna is a wonderfully complicated character. She is a heroine who is also deeply flawed by her upbringing. The story is complex, with revelations about Anna’s past and present unveiled at just the right time to keep up the dramatic tension. The plotting is clever with many twists and a touch of folktale spirituality, referencing the obscure Slavic Forest God Veles, whom her father reveres. The nuanced prose is highly descriptive and is a pleasure to read, giving depth to the story explores the role of repressed memories, seriously disturbed parenting, and the struggle of good vs evil.
This is an excellent police procedural with plenty of suspense and drama. I look forward to more works by this talented author!

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Have you guys heard about this book? It’s a debut that was published this week. When I saw the cover I was a little unsure thinking vampires, but I was wrong. It’s kinda a crime procedural. Anna, the main character, is a police detective, but it is really more about her than her job.

She has a big secret that no one in her life knows about and she is trying to solve a series of crimes that are related to her secret. I instantly connected with her. She is complex and deeply flawed. In the first couple pages of the book, she is exposed to a lot of PCP. I waffled through the entire book about whether she was reliable or hallucinating.

I loved how the author set the book up with me learning about her past as she was remembering it. And I need to do a shout out for chapter headings. I have been seeing them a little more, but this one had them. I love them and think they add a lot to the read.

I was also fascinated by the people in Anna’s life. Her ex, her parents, and others. I suspected almost everyone, so bragging that I figured it out is really not all that impressive. Having everyone around Anna having their own secrets was a great way to keep me wanting to know more.

Very character driven, but I also enjoyed the exploration of childhood trauma, the patient therapist relationship, and how to determine who you can trust with your secrets.

At times this is a little gritty and has moments that border a little paranormal/horror.

I highly recommend this one. I know I already thanked Berkley but this one wasn’t on my radar prior to receiving it. So this is a big thank you!!!

this was everything I wanted it to be and more! it gave the chestnut man vibes with the spooky creepy serial killer on the loose and the paranormal lore surrounding it 😳

while I’m not usually one for horror, this felt just the perfect amount of scary mixed in with a typical detective procedural! the “daughter of a murderer” trope is a bit overdone, in my opinion, but this one was written so well! I was fully invested in finding out the detective’s lost memories and what really was the truth about her childhood…

the length of the book was pretty heavy and dragged on at times, but I enjoyed it all the same. for a story with extremely gruesome detail, it read like a spooky halloween thriller and didn’t spend much time on the actual deaths of the victims (which my gentle soul appreciates)

I did guess the ultimate plot twist as I was able to figure it out based on the clues the author dropped, but it played out was fun and intriguing and kept my interest until the end. what a fabulous debut thriller!!!!!

thank you to berkley and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 4 stars
wine pairing: dry creek zinfandel

I am in shock that this is a debut, it blew my mind! Nicola Solvinic is able to create an atmosphere that made the hair on the back of my neck rise, my heartbeat quickened, my stomach churn, and my mind go to the deep dark crevasses that you never want to think about. When I hear the word serial killer, I know that someone out there is hunting people. Can you imagine if that person was your father? How would that make you look at life, think about yourself, and wonder if you are like him in any way?

Anna is a cop that is determined to play by the rules, and she wants to be a good, no, the best cop she can possibly be. She grew up in the most disturbed environment you could ever dream up. She was close to her father; never thought he could do anything wrong. Until the day the FBI came knocking on their door. Anna's father had disappeared days before, but she knew she could find him. He had shared all the secrets of the forest with her. When she stumbles into a situation that no child, let alone adult, should witness. She is left with confusion, hurt, and not knowing where she truly stands as the floor of her life drops from beneath her. When a copycat killer begins leaving a trail of bodies in the same way her father did. All bets are off. Anna needs to work on this case, to find out who is behind it, and if it will give her closure with her past. She quickly becomes lost in her mind, losing time, spending more time in the forest, and has the feeling she is being watched. She knows she must find the killer before he exposes her past.

This book is all about the ultimate power. The killer needing to know that they have control of the situation and the only way they can do that is through controlling every situation. The characters in this book are phenomenally written. They draw you into the story and never let you go. The twists will leave you with your mouth dangling open. I was shocked so many times, that I lost count. Do yourself a favor and read this book! Thank you to Nicola Solvinic and Berkley Publishing for this terrifying read.

This book was a creepy page-turner that blended real(ish) world and supernatural elements. It wasn't quite one or the other. It wasn't scary or gory necessarily, though there were several on-page deaths as well as depictions of corpses. I thought the author did a great job capturing the eerie tone and reflecting Anna's uncertainty about whether she was hallucinating or whether things were real. The cover captures the repeated imagery of the deer antlers well.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Anna Koray had her memory wiped as a child. As the daughter of a serial killer, that was probably for the best. When she shoots and kills a man in the line of duty something inside of her comes undone, and the gruesome memories start emerging alongside something sinister.

To add to Anna’s horrors, a serial killer emerges, mimicking her father’s past murders. Is her father still alive, did he have a partner all that time? Or is there something truly wrong with Anna?

I’ll start by pointing out that there are a lot of supernatural aspects to this story. I wasn’t expecting this. I of course loved the use of it (in this case the god, Veles, is haunting Anna). It was even more enhanced by Anna, our very unreliable narrator. Is the god real? Is Anna imagining things? Is someone messing with her? I’m honestly still not sure!

For a serial killer story I kept waiting for it to get really gruesome and dark, but this was much more psychological. I found the story engaging overall, but I figured out what was going on quite early on and the ending felt a bit rushed.

Definitely an entertaining read. I will be keeping an eye out to see what this author writes next.

*Thank you to Berkley Pub and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to read and review.

I loved this book! It was really hard for me to put this down. The storyline was so intriguing to me, and it had me wondering the entire time if our main character Anna was unreliable or were things just really this coincidental or was it something paranormal going on. Towards the middle to end of the book I thought I had it figured out, but I was wrong this time around and the end twist I did not see coming. I think this was an amazing debut and can’t wait to read more from the author. I think fans of police procedurals or psychological thrillers will enjoy this one. Many thanks to Berkley Publishing for my eARC. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 is out now.

The Hunter's Daughter is a nerve crunching, haunting serial killer thriller that will absolutely be on of my favorite reads of 2024!

Anna Koray is doing everything she can to be a good cop, but the memories of her serial killer father have been leaking into her mind and making her question her own good-ness. When she was a child, she underwent an experimental therapy to lock the traumatic memories away, but the lock has come undone just as a copycat serial killer shows up killing women in the same way her father did. At first, she tries to stay away from the case, but can't help but get pulled into the messy web of murders. She's changed her name, and no one in her present life knows about her past, but as the clues pile up pointing to her past with her father, she wonders if she will be able to maintain the mostly happy life she's created for herself.

I can't say enough good things about this book - I was absolutely glued to every single page, and struggled to put the book down. Every chapter, every scene, is rife with tension and questions, and Anna's eerie relationship with the forest ratcheted up the moody, haunting vibes of the story.

Fans of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, The Night Bird by Brian Freeman, Karin Slaughter and serial killer thrillers in general will devour The Hunter's Daughter!

Looooved! Not too dark, and was hooked from the beginning. A great serial killer story mixed with a police procedural. Definitely recommend to thriller fans

THE HUNTER’S DAUGHTER is a multi-genre debut that combines a crime procedural, a psychological thriller, horror/supernatural elements, character study, and an unreliable narrator together to make a super compelling read with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers guessing until the end.

This book drew me in from the first page and kept me compulsively reading until the end. I could not put this book down. The writing is far superior than one might expect from a first-time novelist.

Police Lieutenant Anna has repressed the memories of her childhood with a father who is a serial killer, but then a police shooting brings back memories and all of the childhood trauma. And now there are murders mimicking her father’s handiwork. What is going on?

The well drawn and complex characters are what make this book for me. Highly recommended.

The cover synopsis of THE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER describes a dark period of the main character's life that was hidden from her but has now surfaced. This is the main section of the back story but it's really more than that. As a young girl, she idolized her father and spent a good part of her life exploring with him, bonding in nature. Then she finds that the time she spent with him was not what she thought. The discovery is so traumatic that the adults in her life erased her memory. But now she's remembering. As a police officer, she must investigate murders that replicate her father's crimes. The BIG question????? Nope, not going to tell you!!! Nicola Solvinic spent the time and effort to build up to some major tension building, and it's appreciated by this reader. While the story may not be totally original, Solvinic took it places that you'd not predict.

I am so impressed that this book was a debut novel. This story was intense, gritty, and pulse pounding, and I enjoyed it all. Talk about broken relationships and toxic upbringing. Anna was raised by her mom and dad, but mainly, she learned everything she knew from her dad. A skilled and agile hunter, he is slso a very dangerous man.

Surpassing her childhood trauma, Anna becomes a decorated sheriff, trying to have a normal life. All that changes when she kills a man in the line of duty. Her buried memories of the past will come rushing through her, and we, as the reader, will experience every heartbreaking moment. This has such a great combination of horror, suspense, and thrilling. I literally couldn't put it down.

Happy Release Day, Nicola Solvinic! Special thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of The Hunter's Daughter. This gripping novel kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The storyline was fantastic, and the rich details truly painted vivid scenes for the reader. However, the transitions between present-day events and past memories were sometimes abrupt and could have benefited from clearer labeling. Despite this minor issue, the characters were relatable, and the writing was superb. The Hunter's Daughter is a compelling psychological thriller that I highly recommend!

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I really enjoyed listening to this police procedural but much more. Anna is a police detective of fairly high rank. When murders which resemble her father's crimes of 20 years ago, she starts remembering that time. We follow her point of view with the present of wanting to figure out the crime, and the past memory flashbacks from what happened when he was at home with his family.

Anna loved the woods and learning about the plants and wildlife. She spent quite a bit of time with her dad in the forests near their home. Then he went away to prison. She and her mother were protected for a bit partly to help shield them from the media. Anna (then Elena) was in a mental hospital briefly to help with her trauma but more because her mother was horrible, and gave her up for adoption. She then had a wonderful life with loving foster parents.

Now Anna is afraid of her past being discovered. She is working on the history of the "Forest Strangler" to find out who was close enough to carry out the current crimes with the held back aspects. It's twisty with many possibilities. There's the reporter who is a fan boy of the crimes. There's Anna herself who is losing time as her memories resurface. There's her boyfriend Nick who has some strange disappearances and a big new SUV. There are other possibilities too. And there is her stalker who says he knows who she is.

Anna works the case and learns much about her father and his death. She learns a lot about her history and what became of her mother. Anna does many things which are not allowed in the police, because she is too close to the case. She does a few things outside the law to get more information. I worry for her and about her. I was glad to have a strong resolution to the case.

This is a good one, folks. Right from the start, I found myself sucked into this thriller, and I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up way too late reading because I had to know what would happen next. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing right up until the end. I was surprised to learn this is a debut novel; it is very well done.

I loved the premise of the story. I’ve always loved the idea of a serial killer’s family. Did they know? How does it impact them? This story has an extra added layer because Anna had her memories essentially erased as a child via hypnosis. After she kills a man while investigating a domestic call, her memories start to return, and she turns to the original doctor who treated her for help. Together, they unlock more of her memories, and things start to get weird. Of course, this happens just as new murders mimic her father’s pattern, adding to the drama.

The story is told from Anna’s point of view, and I love her character. She is smart and complicated. A good cop, she felt driven to her career by a desire to help people. As her knowledge of her past comes to light, things get strange; lines start to blur, and nothing seems as black and white as before. The deeper she gets into the investigation of the new murders, the more she remembers from her past. There is a bit of a supernatural element to the story in a presence Anna feels. Is it all in her head? Or is it real?

Dark and atmospheric, you won’t be able to put The Hunter’s Daughter down.

4.5 stars, rounded up. What an excellent and accomplished debut. This combines fascinating psychology and investigation work with atmospheric setting and lyrical storytelling. This one absolutely sucked me in and there were a lot of unexpected surprises in it.

Thank you @netgalley @berkley for the advanced copy!

The Hunter’s Daughter follows Officer Anna Korey as she investigates recent ritualistic murders that have a haunting similarity to a well known serial killer. A serial killer Anna herself has ties to… he was her father. Or is? Has this killer returned? How can Anna help solve murders she is so closely tied to? How long can she keep her secret?

This book was explosive! I powered through needing answers, reading until way too late until I got them. The author, Nicola Solvinic, has built a dynamic character in Anna and folded her into an elaborate, well done narrative. The descriptions of the crime scenes were visceral and beautiful, matching horror with fairy tale for just the right tone that matches the intent of the killer. I do wish some of the motive was fleshed out more, but that’s more me wanting more. Not having those details makes sense for the character and story.

This was a really well done thriller with a touch of the supernatural to keep you unbalanced. I was on the edge of my reading chair trying to figure out what was happening. Anna's character pulled me in and definitely had me going back and forth on whether or not I trusted her. I loved this book and how the author ended it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for access to this arc.

“No one ever knows the secret lives we lead.”

ER. MEH. GERDDDDD. I knew within the first two chapters that this was going to be a five star read! Yayy me for my accurate prediction.

Read this if you:
▪️love serial killer documentaries
▪️are addicted to the ID channel
▪️have a morbid fascination with murder
▪️love TWISTY TWISTS

Anna, a police officer who is secretly the daughter of a notorious serial killer, finds herself in the precarious position of investigating the copycat murders of her own father. Man what a wild ride this was! And it’s a debut?! Sign me up for all future works by Nicola Solvinic…please and thanks.

Thanks you so much to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.