She Treads Softly: My Lovely Daughter

Friday, August 12, 2022

My Lovely Daughter

My Lovely Daughter by R.P. Bolton
10/7/22; 288 pages
HarperCollins

My Lovely Daughter by R.P. Bolton is a highly recommended domestic thriller.

Annie, a single mother and veterinary nurse, loves her thirteen-year-old daughter, Izzy. The two have built a life for themselves after Annie's devastating divorce, but now their safety and happiness has been threatened by an outside force. Some anonymous person is threatening to tell Izzy the truth about the secret that Annie holds, unless Annie gives him a huge amount of money. Annie will do anything to protect Izzy and her secret, but she does not have the cash demanded.

This is a suspenseful domestic thriller. Although Annie's big secret is easy to deduce, readers will know that she loves Izzy and wants to protect her from any nefarious person causing Izzy any harm. She wants to keep the secret from Izzy to protect her and a good mother's love is always looking out for what would be the best for her children. Admittedly, the antagonist is also very easy to guess before it is revealed, but the suspense is created in the chapters going back and forth in time, leading up to the present day dilemma and to the current life of Annie and Izzy.

Annie is a well developed character and portrayed as a realistic person, full of strengths and flaws. Because of the past Then chapters alternating with the Now chapters, readers will really see the good qualities of Annie along with her flaws. The writing is good and the pace moves quickly, which helps keep you focused on Annie's dilemma. 3.5 rounded up.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.