Daughter

By: Kate McLaughlin

Narrated by: Justis Bolding

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Kate McLaughlin’s Daughter is a young-adult novel about trying to right deadly choices that were never yours to begin with.

Scarlet’s life is pretty average. Overly protective mom. Great friends. Cute boy she’s interested in. And a father she’s never known - until she does.

When the FBI show up at Scarlet’s door, she is shocked to learn her father is infamous serial killer Jeffrey Robert Lake. And now, he’s dying and will only give the names and locations of his remaining victims to one person: the daughter he hasn’t seen since she was a baby.

Scarlet’s mother has tried to protect her from Lake’s horrifying legacy, but there’s no way they can escape the media firestorm that erupts when they come out of hiding. Or the people who blame Scarlet for her father’s choices. When trying to do the right thing puts her life in danger, Scarlet is faced with a choice - go back into hiding or make the world see her as more than a monster’s daughter.

©2022 Kate McLaughlin (P)2022 Recorded Books

Intense

4.5 STARS

Scarlett discovers she’s the daughter of a notorious serial killer when on his deathbed, he agrees to give the names and locations of other victims if she visits him.

I wanted to love DAUGHTER as much as I liked Kate McLaughlin’s THIS IS WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE. DAUGHTER starts off slowly with party scenes not central to plot or character. Once Scarlett learns her identity and that of her mother, the pace picked up a bit and I finished the story in one sitting.

Scarlett should be a more compelling character, but I never *felt* her pain, anger or fear. The minor characters had more personality and nuance. I did root for her. Her father was felt more like a character than an actual serial killer.

Scarlett’s narration grabbed me more than the articles and letters, which felt more like info dump than useful additions to the story. McLaughlin didn’t do a lot of research about death row, prison security or prisons in general. Her father wouldn’t have his own room in an infirmary and Scarlett would have never been left alone with him etc.

DAUGHTER had more potential than the story, which made the book disappointing, though I still enjoyed it.

I raised the review a full two stars after listening to the audiobook. The narrator engages me more into the story than the reading experience. I was better able to notice the quality of McLaughlin’s writing and her word building. I felt more engaged in Scarlet as a character and her experience. I even listened to the audiobook twice before writing the review.

Pretty good

This book definitely had its moments.. when Scarlet was speaking to her father was intriguing.. but I thought that the story would keep building. It got to like 7/10 level of interesting and then dipped back down by the end.
Too often I felt like the author was pandering to me about being a voice for the victims.

Tbh around this same time I watched Promising Young Woman, which was more my speed. It was unsettling which is what I expected this book to be.
Kind of hoped for more but I don’t regret listening!