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The Detective's Daughter
 
 

The Detective's Daughter [Kindle Edition]

Lesley Thomson
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (654 customer reviews)

Print List Price: £16.99
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Product Description

Review

'A thoughtful, well-observed story ... It reminded me of Kate Atkinson' Scott Pack.

'Tense and gripping ... On the edge of my seat? No way - I was cowering under it' Shotsmag.

'Skilfully evokes the era and slow-moving childhood summers ... A study of memory and guilt with several twists' Guardian.

'This is a haunting novel about loss and reconciliation, driven by a simple but clever plot' The Sunday Times.

'This book has a clever mystery plot - but its excellence is in the characters, all credible and memorable, and in its setting in a real West London street, exactly described' Literary Review.

Product Description

Kate Rokesmith's decision to go to the river changed the lives of many.

Her murder shocked the nation. Her husband, never charged, moved abroad under a cloud of suspicion. Her son, just four years old, grew up in a loveless boarding school. And Detective Inspector Darnell, vowing to leave no stone unturned in the search for her killer, began to lose his only daughter. The young Stella Darnell grew to resent the dead Kate Rokesmith. Her dad had never vowed to leave no stone unturned for her.

Now, thirty years later, Stella is dutifully sorting through her father's attic after his sudden death. The Rokesmith case papers are in a corner, gathering dust: the case was never solved. Stella knows she should destroy them. Instead, she opens the box, and starts to read.


Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 1730 KB
  • Print Length: 470 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1908800240
  • Publisher: Head of Zeus (1 May 2013)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00APDWTJC
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (654 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
174 of 178 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Creepy, tense and compelling. 6 Jun 2013
By Bookie TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I haven't come across this author before, but on the strength of this read, she's on my list of favourites.

This is a tale where every character has a different and totally plausible voice. I can't say I felt empathy toward any of them, but that was of little consequence in a story where the complexity of the plot takes the reader on a journey which is truly chilling. The fact that the action, in the main, takes place during the winter, when falling snow affects a number of scenes, adds an almost tangible chill to unfolding events, both figuratively and literally. The POV switches between the principals, but the craft of the tale is in the very slowly unfolding 'reveal'. It kept me guessing well into the plot, although some clues were dropped along the way. This is a story of obsession; it's almost a study in obsession as every character has idiosyncrasies which control or dominate their life in different ways.

This is an inventive and compelling page turner. Apart from the characters and plot, Lesley Thomson has a real skill in creating a palpable sense of threat and menace. This is a rare talent. It takes a lot to make me feel unsettled, but there were some really chilling scenes. Nothing gory, but tension just crept up and up and reading late at night could be disturbing. It really is that good. Enjoyed it and like any great read, was sorry when I'd finished and had to find something else to match the enjoyment.
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An air of menace 24 Jun 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this because I am a detective's daughter myself, and it was inexpensive for kindle. I was drawn in straight away, and could not put it down. The narrative is written from several perspectives and initially took great concentration to know whose eyes you were seeing through. I read on, late into the night, then was scared going to bed through the dark house! One of the main characters sneaks into other people's houses, and remains undiscovered -really creepy! I was completely absorbed by the interwoven lives in the plot, and genuinely surprised as the murderer was revealed. It took me ages to warm to the characters - but that didn't matter, and I don't think the author intended us to anyway. I m about to search now for the other one she has written, can't wait.
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I think she's done it again ... i read A Kind of Vanishing on a friends recommendation and really enjoyed it, so was very pleased to see this come out. Thompson writes a strong whodunnit, but her storylines and characters are so much deeper on many levels that the books need a second reading because first time around you will miss some of the detail and crafted prose as you get sucked in to the plot.
Like her first book, she moves around in time and uses the ability we all have to remember things as we would like them to be, rather than as they actually were, but this is not confusing, it adds to the layers.
Initially, I found it a little distracting that characters from the first novel cropped up in this one, I felt perhaps it was un-necessary - but since then it has occurred to me that in the first novel, two mothers 'lost' their daughters because of a crime and in this one, two children lost their parents or their childhoods because of one ... very interesting Lesley - yet again you have produced a crime novel that I am still thinking about a month after I read it ... well done!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars A little bit "too clever"? But thought provoking 7 July 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The story revolves around the daughter of a dead detective (as per the title), how she deals with this sudden death and the complex developing relationship with a man she hires as a cleaner on the spur of the moment. The fact that the story is set in midwinter with heavy snow falls reflects the apparently cold nature of Stella, the daughter, and the closed-in views of Jack, the mystery man. The downside to this setting is that the author seems to confuse her timings, with it becoming unclear as to when a given piece of action takes place as much seems to happen in darkness that could be night, dawn, twilight or simply a dark winter's day. Stella exercises control over her life by running a successful cleaning company, and has chosen to have very limited contact with her father, Terry, since he "stood her up" as a child to run a murder enquiry that eventually closed without identifying the murderer. This then became his "raison d'etre" for his retirement,during his investigation at an out-of-the-way seaside town on a cold winter's day he suffers a heart attack which kills him. Stella has to clear his house, which happens to be very close to the house where the murder victim had lived. Stella's ordered structured life is thrown into turmoil by what she discovers in Terry's house and by the ramblings of one her elderly clients.
The unravelling of the plot is slow and measured, but with so many subtexts the author narrowly misses confusing her characters and timings. This meant that I sometimes had to go back a bit to sort out exactly who was doing what. I had sorted out how Jack fitted into the story and who had committed the murder well before the denoument, but the conclusion was still satisfying.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A real mystery......
When I first started this book I wasn't sure it was for me, it was slow and heavy going but as I hate to give up on a book I determinedly kept reading. Read more
Published 3 minutes ago by Christine Yeomans
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Loved this book not my usual type of book I go for but I loved it and couldn't put it down from start to finish.
Published 2 hours ago by Clair Ferry
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book.
Took me a few chapters to get used to the style of writing, but I stuck with it and found I couldn't put it down!
Published 2 hours ago by JANICE E MARTIN
3.0 out of 5 stars a slow burner
I did eventually enjoy this book, it did take a while to get into it, little bit confusing at first but it all became quite clear halfway through.. Read more
Published 7 hours ago by mrs karen d carter
2.0 out of 5 stars The Detective's Daughter
Gave up reading this book after a few chapters. Just could not get into the story, Perhaps not my type of book.
Published 7 hours ago by Carole Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Stuff
Great stuff,
This is a wonderful book an I would recommend it to all my friends and relatives two words
Published 9 hours ago by TJ MCGINN
3.0 out of 5 stars I found this book
a little slow and predictable in places. However, the story was good and generally well written. I would read other books from this author
Published 10 hours ago by Carole Samuda
2.0 out of 5 stars Boring
Hard to get into and didn't like the characters. Very slow from the beginning and gave up half way through
Published 10 hours ago by Mrs Loren Bradley
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
I read the prologue and wasn't impressed but I kept going and it became brilliant. I loved reading it and could hardly put it down. Read more
Published 10 hours ago by R. Bates
4.0 out of 5 stars Well written
A good holiday read - at first the change of setting and number of characters was slightly confusing but then the cobweb began to take shape. Read more
Published 11 hours ago by ritz
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