Only Daughter, the debut novel by Anna Snoekstra is one creepy, dark and disturbing read!
When a down on her luck, unknown female is caught shoplifting she realises that the consequences are serious but she may also have a way out if she's brave enough to try it. Several years ago a teenage girl went missing and the unnamed female bears a striking resemblance to her so she utters the words "My name is Rebecca Winter. Eleven years ago I was abducted"
Soon the unnamed girl has managed to avoid a DNA test as well as any other formal identification and is living with Rebecca's (Bec's) family and hanging out with her friends, but all the time under the watchful eye of Detective Vince Andopolis who is determined to find out where's she's been for the last 11 years.
The imposter tells herself that she will only hang around long enough to work out what her next move will be but she finds herself wanting to find out more about Bec's and wondering what happened to her. The longer she stays though, the weirder her 'family' become, until she realises that her own life may be in danger and she must leave but has she left it too late?
Told from the points of view of both Bec's in the months leading up to her disappearance and the unnamed girl trying to convince everyone that she is Bec's and just wanting to get on with her life, makes this an engrossing read.
Ms Snoekstra has written an impressive debut novel with Only Daughter. It made me literally gasp when I finally realised what was going on. I enjoyed the past and present approach to telling the story and the pace of the novel was steady enough to keep my interest and then as I got towards the end the tension ramped right up and I was completely blindsided with what I was reading! I honestly never saw THAT coming and then I was frantically reading to find out how it was going to end. The only downside for me was the fact that the epilogue seemed to be cut a little too short, but having said that I can see why the author chose to end it that way. I can honestly say some of the characters in this book totally creeped me out, which isn't a good thing when you're just about to go to sleep! If you enjoy a thriller that's full of twists and turns then this could be a book for you and I can't wait to see what's coming next from this author.
With kind thanks to publishers Harlequin (UK) Limted and Netglley for the review copy.
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