Review: The Murderer's Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman
I received my copy of The Murderer's Daughter from NetGalley for a fair and honest review.
What I liked: This is my first read of a Jonathan Kellerman novel. I've heard of him of course but never had the time to start his Alex Delaware series. Since The Murderer's Daughter is touted has a standalone novel, I thought I'd take a chance and check out Mr. Kellerman's writing.
I'm not going to rehash the synopsis but the short explanation is Grace Blades is present as a young child at the murder-suicide of her mother and father, if you could call them that. She's moved around in the foster care system until finally ending up at a place she's comfortable. That comfort all goes to heck with the arrival of 3 children from a cult. They aren't supposed to stay long and they don't....as a matter of fact Grace feels sure at least one of the three spoils her refuge but she finally ends up in a wonderful place that appreciates her intelligence and she prospers.
Got that? Okay. Mr. Kellerman's writing is fine and it was pretty easy to follow the story. I did find the flashbacks of Grace's life more interesting than the present day Grace. I didn't find her either a good or bad heroine, she just was a unique individual driven to solve a murder mystery many years old.
I enjoyed the read but wasn't blown away by it. It kept my attention and I was able to read it very quickly. I enjoyed the psychologist side of Grace's character. She had been through so much herself; she was able to connect almost instantly with her patients. Mr. Kellerman did get a bit verbose in several areas of description and I don't know that we needed all the information provided or if he was just trying to stretch the page count.
What I didn't like: The Murderer's Daughter is billed as a thriller and yet, I didn't find it thriller-like. I found it to be more of a mystery with a small cast of characters. There were a few times where the over abundance of what I felt was unnecessary information just bogged down the story.
This was an okay read for me. Not one that is going to stick with me for awhile but interesting while I was reading it. It's also one of those cases where based on the price of the e-book, I would either borrow the book from a friend or read the library edition. It's not one, unless you collect Mr. Kellerman's works, I would recommend buying.
Overall a good, solid book.
