I can quite honestly say that I did not expect Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra to be as outstanding as it actually was. At a time when there are so many incredible psychological thrillers hitting the shelves it had a lot to live up to and it most certainly did. Although it proved to be slightly disturbing on more than one occasion I was completely hooked on this book from the second I picked it up and oh did I struggle to put it down. It was gripping, compelling and addictive which for me is what makes a book of this genre so good.
In Only Daughter the book opens with an almighty bang as we meet a hungry and homeless girl who is on the run from a troublesome past and has just been caught shoplifting food. Aware that she’s about to get into a lot of trouble with the police she’s also aware that she looks very much like Rebecca Winter, a girl who mysteriously disappeared several years ago. Deciding to adopt Rebecca’s identity it’s not long before she’s living in the house where Rebecca grew up as a child. Our girl thinks she’s safe, that she’s escaped the law but it doesn’t take long for her to start questioning what really happened to Rebecca. In trying to solve the mystery for herself, will she survive?
This book is told from the perspective of the fake Rebecca in the present day whose real name we never learn and the real Rebecca in the past. I thoroughly enjoyed this particular element of the book and thought that the transitions between the two narratives were executed perfectly. They always seemed to happen at exactly the right moment with each becoming more dramatic and action-packed as the book progressed. We didn’t get to know each of the girls too much but what we was told was more than enough particularly for me when all I really cared about was discovering what happened.
Only Daughter has been written in a way that means you genuinely don’t know which way it’s going to go next, there were just so many surprises along the way. It was very fast-paced which I thought really worked in this book’s favour and probably helped to make it so gripping. As I said at the start of this review it was quite disturbing, particularly towards the end when I found one of the scenes quite hard to read with a bit too much vivid description.
I think the timing of the release of this book so close to Halloween when people may be looking for something a bit darker to read is exceptional. This is Anna Snoekstra’s debut novel and from reading this book I think she’s an author to look out for, one who we can expect to see many more psychological thrillers from in the future. At least that’s what I’m hoping as I would most certainly like to read more written by her.
