I'm getting tired of this "how-well-do-you-really-know-your-kid" genre. Someone's missing, cue guilt-ridden professional mother who then marinates in extended angst of woulda, coulda, shoulda. The ending on this was so stupid as to be unbelievable. Would probably make for great discussion for a book club read though.

Did not finish. Disappointed. Quote on cover said "A thriller you won't be able to put down." - Tess Gerritsen
Six chapters in and it does not even feel close. Am bored and am not gelling with the main character.
Putting down.

2.5

I am giving this four stars as it was a real page turner and very gripping, as well as very well written. I would definitely read more from this author and recommend this book. However there were a few things about it that troubled me. Daughter is the story of the 'perfect' family, GP Jenny, her neuro-surgeon husband Ted and their three teenage children. Their lives are blown apart one day when their fifteen year old daughter Naomi fails to return home after her school performance. The story is told from Jenny's point of view, and as she is plunged into every mother's worst nightmare, we see her trying to piece together the clues she missed in the lead up to Naomi's disappearance. It is soon revealed that she did not know her daughter at all, and their family is far from perfect. This book is certainly gripping and powerful, and I had to keep reading it every chance I got. Sadly the more I read the less I engaged with the characters. There were times I felt pity for Jenny, as she shoulders the blame for being a busy working mum while nothing is made of how unavailable the husband is. He seems to get off scott free which annoyed me. The two timelines, one told in the present where Jenny is still trying to find out what happened to her daughter, and one told in the past, leading up to and after the disappearance actually works very well. It makes you turn the page, desperate to piece the puzzle together. There are twists and turns and the ending was a surprise. What I found unrealistic was Naomi's obvious hatred for her mother. It was hard to fathom that Jenny had done anything to deserve such behaviour. Jenny herself becomes rather weak and irritating as time goes on, and there were many times I wanted her to stand up for herself where her children were concerned, Thought provoking though and a very powerful first debut.

More about the mother finding herself than finding the daughter...........

I first picked up this book because I saw it advertised on an underground billboard (great reasoning eh!?) and to an extent, it did not disappoint.

While I was confused at first with the back and forth of the timeline (the book jumps between before and after the daughter’s disappearance) after I got into it I honestly started to enjoy it ...more

I’m reviewing this book long after I read it, so my memory is fuzzy. I remember enjoying the ending because it was so open and seemed like there could be another story focused on the daughter. But overall the story wasn’t compelling enough to keep up steam, though I did finish it. It wasn’t as suspenseful as I would have liked it to be.

Daughter by Jane Shemilt starts quickly and you will need to keep reading. I devoured this book in only a few days. It was delicious. Basically, a daughter of two doctors goes missing and the fissures in the family start to show, as they do in books like this, but some of the fissures were different twists and turns. The narration is interesting too--before she went missing and after she went missing in the same chapters. This novel felt well paced--I never felt dragged along or forced to read something in which I was not interested.

This is a great book to read as winter as ending, as much of the action takes place in an environment that feels chilly and rainy. The atmosphere is great here. You will want to curl up with a cup of coffee, then tea, then cocoa and realize you have spent the whole day reading--furiously page-turning, blissfully reading.

The ending is worth the read, although I am sure that some people may feel it is too adrupt and want more but I thought it fit. It took me off guard--I read a good number of these "family crime dramas" and have come to realize that most of the time, the ending isn't as satisfying as the twists along the way, but Jane Shemilt's Daughter's did not leave me with this feeling. I was pleased that I'd not seen it coming.

I have to tell you my copy was provided to me at no charge by Goodreads Firstreads Program.

I really wanted to like this book, but in the end, I was just angry. It turns out that the caring, really great pediatrician mom who raises three kids while working at a clinic for the uninsured is actually a terrible mom because ... she works. There was the possibility in the book of interesting messages about class--not assuming that people are terrible parents because they are poor--and about how we don't know teens' internal lives as well as we think, but in the end, these messages got muddied and buried under the idea that [SPOILER AHEAD] pregnant and stealing drugs at 15 is the healthier lifestyle for a teen girl because at least the adult man who got you pregnant and had you steal the drugs cares about family and would never go to work all day.