ISBN: 9780345545312
Publisher: Random House/Ballantine
Publication Date: 8/18/2015
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars
From the #1 New York Times bestselling creator of the acclaimed Alex Delaware series comes a tour de force standalone novel that illustrates perfectly why “Jonathan Kellerman has justly earned his reputation as a master of the psychological thriller” (People).
A brilliant, deeply dedicated psychologist, Grace Blades has a gift for treating troubled souls and tormented psyches—perhaps because she bears her own invisible scars: Only five years old when she witnessed her parents' death in a bloody murder-suicide, Grace took refuge in her fierce intellect and found comfort in the loving couple who adopted her. But even as an adult with an accomplished professional life, Grace still has a dark, secret side. When her two worlds shockingly converge, Grace's harrowing past returns with a vengeance.
Both Grace and her newest patient are stunned when they recognize each other from a recent encounter. Haunted by his bleak past, mild-mannered Andrew Toner is desperate for Grace's renowned therapeutic expertise and more than willing to ignore their connection. And while Grace is tempted to explore his case, which seems to eerily echo her grim early years, she refuses—a decision she regrets when a homicide detective appears on her doorstep.
An evil she thought she'd outrun has reared its head again, but Grace fears that a police inquiry will expose her double life. Launching her own personal investigation leads her to a murderously manipulative foe, one whose warped craving for power forces Grace back into the chaos and madness she'd long ago fled.
About the Author
Jonathan Kellerman was born in New York City in 1949 and grew up in Los Angeles. He helped work his way through UCLA as an editorial cartoonist, columnist, editor and freelance musician. As a senior, at the age of 22, he won a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award for fiction.
In 1985, Jonathan's first novel, WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, was published to enormous critical and commercial success and became a New York Times bestseller. BOUGH was also produced as a t.v. movie and won the Edgar Allan Poe and Anthony Boucher Awards for Best First Novel. Since then, Jonathan has published a best-selling crime novel every year, and occasionally, two a year. In addition, he has written and illustrated two books for children and a nonfiction volume on childhood violence, SAVAGE SPAWN (1999.) Though no longer active as a psychotherapist, he is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Jonathan is married to bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman and they have four children. Website Goodreads
My Review
A special thank you to Random Hosue/Ballentine for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTER by Jonathan Kellerman, a standalone featuring protagonist Dr. Grace Blades, a dedicated and intelligent psychologist with a horrific past; when her two worlds collide – an intriguing, psycho-crime suspense, with a strong mix of literary fiction. Grace, 34, a highly regarded psychotherapist in L.A. Her therapy room is located in a 1920s English cottage serving as her professional headquarters on a quiet corner in West Hollywood. Grace had insisted on the ideal location so patients could enter on one street and exit on the other. She has a gift for treating troubled souls and tormented psyches—and her own childhood tragedy. Flashing back and forth we learn of a five-year-old- Grace in a trailer park, who lived with two strangers on the fringes a desert. Her biological mother and father were alcoholic drug addicts. There was a violent murder – a bloody suicide, and she is placed in foster care and later adopted. Grace, now a highly intelligent psychologist, has a dark secret life. She enjoys one night stands with strangers. Turns out, one man (one of the hookups), Andrew becomes a new patient, traveling out of state to see her. (using an alias, of course). When she realizes he is from her past, and turns up dead, she now is in danger. Now her professional life and past collide – a past she thought was behind her. Will her double life be exposed? Now Grace conducts her own investigating, pulling her back into the evil violent past, she thought she had escaped. Grace, an intriguing damaged character a survivor, brilliant, intelligent, yet cold and dark, at times and detached. She possesses tenacity and is driven to solve the mystery--She has to face her demons from the past in order to have a future. Due to Grace’s complex character, felt THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTER was more of a deep character study, than a thriller, with seamless transition from past to present- Nicely Done.
My first book by Kellerman and look forward to more!
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