Dear Daughter by Elizabeth LittleMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
'As soon as they processed my release Noah and I hit the ground running. A change of clothes. A wig. An inconspicuous sedan. We doubled back once, twice, then drove south when we were really headed east. In San Francisco we had a girl who looked like me board a plane to Hawaii.
Oh, I thought I was so clever.
But you probably already know that I'm not.'
LA IT girl Janie Jenkins has it all. The looks, the brains, the connections. The criminal record.
Ten years ago, in a trial that transfixed America, Janie was convicted of murdering her mother. Now she's been released on a technicality she's determined to unravel the mystery of her mother's last words, words that send her to a tiny town in the very back of beyond. But with the whole of America's media on her tail, convinced she's literally got away with murder, she has to do everything she can to throw her pursuers off the scent.
She knows she really didn't like her mother. Could she have killed her?
Dear Daughter is a difficult book to review I feel as to begin with I found it a bit of a struggle to get into. I felt that I didn’t give myself enough time to get into it and this spoiled my enjoyment in the beginning. Saying this I loved the way the story was laid out.
Janie has just been released from prison for murder; murdering her mother. The thing is, she has no memory for ever killing her; the evidence was stacked against her and so it was a done deal. Janie used to be a socialite and always in the media. Now she has been set free, she is trying to dodge the paparazzi, the media and try to find out the truth about who killed her mother.
I love how throughout the book as a reader we learn more about Janie through the eyes of the media, via newspaper clippings, the internet, police reports and family trees. I thought this was really clever and kept the reader interested. It felt you were helping Janie along the way to discover the truth.
As I was reading this book, I kept thinking this should be a book that I cannot put down. It has everything in it that would make me want to read and sounds right up my street. Janie however is not a likable character and I cared for her very little, this also made it hard for me to get through the book and this disappointed me as I had such high hopes for it. Little is excellent at characterisation and I think intended Janie to not be likable.
This book is really hard to review without giving away too much and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. If you like Gone Girl this should be a book you enjoy, there is a little crime and mystery; I doubt if you will see the ending coming. This is certainly a clever book and a very good debut novel.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.
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