By: Daniel Hurst
Narrators: Harrie Dobby, Tamsin Kennard
ISBN: 9781837908875
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 06/03/2023
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
My daughter thought she had found the man of her dreams. But now her life is in danger…
When Ellie tells me she has a new boyfriend, I am absolutely thrilled and can’t wait to meet him. She finally seems so happy and in love.
But there’s a catch. Ellie has never met him in person. In fact, he doesn’t even live in the same country. Our home is in England, but Daryl is in Los Angeles.
When handsome Daryl invites Ellie to stay with him at his luxury Los Angeles mansion for a few weeks, I insist on joining her. I need to find out more about the man who has my daughter so enamoured.
Daryl welcomes us into his whitewashed house, complete with a stunning swimming pool and sun-drenched patio. Then one morning, I discover a terrible secret in his basement that changes everything. He has been lying to us from the start.
I go to confront him, but Ellie and Daryl are nowhere to be found. I call Ellie’s phone but there’s no answer.
Has something happened to my precious girl? And will I be able to save her?
An utterly gripping psychological thriller that will keep you up all night from the author of the number one bestselling novel The Doctor’s Wife. If you love Gone Girl, The Night She Disappeared and The Perfect Couple, you’ll be hooked by My Daughter’s Boyfriend.
My Review
The king of thrills, Daniel Hurst, returns following, The Bride to Be with his latest gripping psychological thriller, MY DAUGHTER'S BOYFRIEND —From England to LA, a mother-daughter duo gets caught up in an online match-up in a web of deceit, secrets, lies, and MURDER.
Prologue: Opens with a frantic mother, Dawn Andrews, from the south of England with a missing daughter in the US. It all started with her daughter's boyfriend. Their lives would never be the same.
Before America to after. Told from POV: Dawn and Ellie
Dawn, a mother meets her friends for coffee—they are all planning vacations. Not something she would know about. She is jealous that she is a widow (no life insurance when Sean died) and now a low-income single mom with a twenty-five-year-old daughter, Ellie, who still lives at home and does not pay rent. She thinks it is time she gets her life together and moves out. She is currently a waitress with no ambition.
Ellie acts like a teen (far younger than her years), plays loud music, and disrespects her mum. She writes in her diary and is online video chatting with a guy named Daryl from California in the US.
Ellie must tell her mom she has a boyfriend, Daryl, in the US (if you can call it that. They have never met or dated).
Ellie and her mom get into an argument. Of course, she does not understand why her mom would be worried about a guy she met online who lives in another country.
Flash forward, Daryl invites Ellie to fly to California (at his expense). Her mother only agrees if she goes along. (at her expense).
So the mother-daughter duo sets off to California to meet Daryl and his dad. Ellie is thrilled to see LA — Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Sunset Boulevard, etc.
Ellie dreams of staying in LA with a future. (again, she has never met him in person and knows nothing about him.) Maybe Mum may be a new person after some sun and vacation.
From England to LA, the two set off. The father, Harvey (wife, Jodie, died from an accident, but we do not know all the story yet), and son, Daryl, arrive at the airport to greet them.
In the car, on the way to their home, there is news about a mother and her missing daughter, about the same age as Ellie, named Aubree. She has been missing for three months—this news disturbs Dawn.
Their beautiful home has the WOW factor with a pool and luxury. They will be there for a week. Miles from home in a stranger's home. Maybe they should enjoy it.
However, they have no idea how intense things would get. Dawn gets an uneasy feeling. She will have to trust her daughter, Daryl and Harvey.
If you know Daniel Hurst, you know something SINISTER is about to happen, and he does not disappoint.
Daryl and Ellie take off on an adventure before Dawn awakes. Now Dawn and Harvey are in the car looking for them. Dawn sees a gun in the glove compartment. They are driving towards the remote desert in the middle of nowhere, looking for her daughter.
Something weird is going on. Other things give Dawn reason to believe they need to leave now. She does not trust Harvey or Daryl. She sees other evidence that makes her think Daryl and Harvey know about Aubree, the missing girl.
Did Daryl kill Aubree and his dad, covering it up? She must convince her daughter to leave ASAP for their safety. They must devise an excuse to leave so they do not suspect anything.
However, when they think they have escaped—Dawn takes matters into her own hands, and they are back in England.
Who will be the next victim? Who is the real killer? How far will a parent go to protect their child?
However, Daniel Hurst is also known for his jaw-dropping twists—another big one is coming before the end, back in England, that will BLOW YOU AWAY. Will this mother and daughter survive?
Just wait for the spine-chilling Epilogue by Harvey! Revenge.
I cannot say more—you must read to find out for yourself! It is a good one!
As always, Hurst entertains and is a pro at ratcheting up the suspense, fear, anxiety, and emotions and knows how to keep you glued to the pages/audio and gives you that last twist with his endings. A cautionary tale - stay away from online dating!
My only con: Ellie constantly whining about being in love when she knew nothing about this guy and did not act her age.
AUDIOBOOK: I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Tamsin Kennard and Harrie Dobby, for an outstanding performance for all voices! Highly recommend the audiobook.
Thanks to #Bookouture #HachetteUK and #NetGalley for an ALC. Also, read the e-book on KU.
Congrats to Daniel on his new baby girl!
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Dat: June 3, 2023
About the Author
Daniel Hurst was born in the northwest of England, a part of the world famous for its comedians, pasties and terrible weather.
He has been employed in several glamorous roles in his lifetime, including bartending, shelf stacking and procurement administration, all while based in some of the most exotic places on the planet, like Bolton, Preston and South London.
Since following his lifelong passion for writing in 2020, he has amassed a loyal and devoted set of readers, and regularly has several books in the top 100 of the Psychological Thriller Charts on Amazon. His title The Passenger became the #1 selling psychological thriller in the UK in October 2021, and his bestselling book to date is his title The Doctor’s Wife, which topped the Amazon UK Kindle Chart on February 16th 2023. He remembers that date because he stayed up all night celebrating.
