She Treads Softly: Her Father's Daughter

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Her Father's Daughter

Her Father's Daughter by T. M. Dunn
7/18/23; 272 pages
Crooked Lane Books

Her Father's Daughter by T. M. Dunn is a recommended domestic horror story following a serial killer.

Anthony is devoted to his daughter, Linda. Now twenty-five, Linda is working for her father Donovan and Daughter Exterminators in New York City. While her father visits her mother's grave, Linda continues on to an apartment building do her job. In an apartment she finds the body of an elderly woman who was clearly murdered and sees that rats have been at the body. This looks bad for their exterminating services.

Alternating chapters are personal written accounts by Anthony, detailing horrific abuse from his father and his subsequent life as an actor/serial killer.

In this case presenting the narrative through the alternating voices of Linda and Anthony didn't totally work for me. Readers will know right from the start that Anthony is a killer with major issues, which reduces the amount of suspense and tension. Anthony's written accounts of his actions are oddly paced and worded, which can be just as off-putting as his actions. They do provide a deep look into his insanity. Linda's narrative is more interesting, but uneven. This was more horror than thriller or mystery.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.