Scan barcode
janeeyre_914716's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.75
This was actually an interesting book not gonna lie. I did like the twist at the end of the book and had a good ending. However, I felt like it dragged on for too long after a while and was losing interest in it and just wanted it to end. Up until the surprise twist near the end I'm moving up from 3 1/2 to 3.75 stars instead, but not quite 4 stars. Overall, still in interesting read and I did enjoy/love-hated some of the characters which had good character development, but I don't know if I'd honestly recommend it unless you like twisty stories with crazy tiger mom's who push their children to greatness but then something crazy happens. Then you might like this one, but read it for yourself and see what you think of it. You'll either like this one or enjoy it. *shrugging*
judithdcollins's review against another edition
3.0
Paula Daly returns following The Mistake I Made landing on my Top Books of 2015, with her fourth and latest domestic suspense THE TROPHY CHILD with an array of dysfunction and madness, mixed with mystery.
Our favorite DS Joanne Aspinall (from previous books), revisits—always finding herself in the middle of trouble and mischief.
Karen Bloom (achievement-obsessed) is a tiger mom to ten- year-old Bonte. Karen is married to womanizer Noel and does not pay much attention to her stoner son, Ewan, and her teenage stepdaughter, Verity (drug possession). She had to agree to weekly onsite drug tests and counseling sessions.
Of course, Karen compares the other two children, to her precious Bonte. Brontë goes missing, and Karen is, of course, crazy with worry, since her daughter is her life.
Karen did not care that people called her a tiger mom. She was proud of it “It was an easy way to justify their own lazy lives, their own acceptance of mediocrity.”
And Karen was very sorry, but she wasn’t having that for Bronte. It was her duty to prepare her daughter for the life ahead of her in the best way she knew how.
Life was a competition. Only the best and the brightest succeeded, and if that meant Karen had to put her own hopes and dreams on the back burner, while she invested everything she had in Bronte’s future, so be it.
In the meantime, we catch up with Joanne, joining secondchance.com and her share of bad men and dating. She is always good for a few laughs.
Joanne is called in to investigate when Bronte goes missing from Windermere. She soon learns and is shocked to find a connection to Noel. (Seamus-whom she had gone to bed with six nights previously). She had no idea he was married. She had sex with the father of a missing child. Not cool.
Noel is a small-town GP. He had to be careful so as not to run into his patients. There was his first wife, then Karen. Second marriage problems, and stepchildren.
The child returns unhurt, (where was she), but not before Karen has stirred up all sorts of problems and outrage. Then Karen turns up murdered. Not liked by many, did Noel kill his wife? Was she sleeping around? There is a long line of suspects.
Now Joanne must find the killer and figure out what happened to Bronte. Was the same person involved?
A crazy bunch, this was my least favorite of all Daly’s books. I have read all her books and each has been 5-star, except for this one. Too much drama and not enough likable characters, except for Joanne (she is always a spark); however, beginning to question even her choices.
Fans of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies may enjoy the dysfunction, drama and dark humor.
A special thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
JDCMustReadBooks
Our favorite DS Joanne Aspinall (from previous books), revisits—always finding herself in the middle of trouble and mischief.
Karen Bloom (achievement-obsessed) is a tiger mom to ten- year-old Bonte. Karen is married to womanizer Noel and does not pay much attention to her stoner son, Ewan, and her teenage stepdaughter, Verity (drug possession). She had to agree to weekly onsite drug tests and counseling sessions.
Of course, Karen compares the other two children, to her precious Bonte. Brontë goes missing, and Karen is, of course, crazy with worry, since her daughter is her life.
Karen did not care that people called her a tiger mom. She was proud of it “It was an easy way to justify their own lazy lives, their own acceptance of mediocrity.”
And Karen was very sorry, but she wasn’t having that for Bronte. It was her duty to prepare her daughter for the life ahead of her in the best way she knew how.
Life was a competition. Only the best and the brightest succeeded, and if that meant Karen had to put her own hopes and dreams on the back burner, while she invested everything she had in Bronte’s future, so be it.
In the meantime, we catch up with Joanne, joining secondchance.com and her share of bad men and dating. She is always good for a few laughs.
Joanne is called in to investigate when Bronte goes missing from Windermere. She soon learns and is shocked to find a connection to Noel. (Seamus-whom she had gone to bed with six nights previously). She had no idea he was married. She had sex with the father of a missing child. Not cool.
Noel is a small-town GP. He had to be careful so as not to run into his patients. There was his first wife, then Karen. Second marriage problems, and stepchildren.
The child returns unhurt, (where was she), but not before Karen has stirred up all sorts of problems and outrage. Then Karen turns up murdered. Not liked by many, did Noel kill his wife? Was she sleeping around? There is a long line of suspects.
Now Joanne must find the killer and figure out what happened to Bronte. Was the same person involved?
A crazy bunch, this was my least favorite of all Daly’s books. I have read all her books and each has been 5-star, except for this one. Too much drama and not enough likable characters, except for Joanne (she is always a spark); however, beginning to question even her choices.
Fans of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies may enjoy the dysfunction, drama and dark humor.
A special thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
JDCMustReadBooks
jo_bookworm's review against another edition
4.0
Meet the Bloom's. Noel is a GP, with a daughter Verity from his first marriage. His second wife Karen brought to the marriage a son Ewan. Both Ewan and Verity are teenagers and not exactly what Karen would call perfect children. But Bronte is 10 years old and is the daughter of Karen and Noel and she will be the perfect child. She does every extra curricular activity possible, additional languages, music and her time is constantly taken up improving her education. Karen's whole life is consumed in ensuring that Bronte is the best.
Bronte is being pushed to the limit.
Verity has tried to strangle Karen and is now receiving counselling.
Ewan is achieving nothing other than familiarising himself with drugs.
Noel is spending more time at his job and in hotel bars. He seems to be struggling with the situation he finds himself in.
Karen isn't aware of anything other than her and Bronte.
This family is disintegrating in front of our eyes.
Then something happens, something perhaps expected but nonetheless frightening and the family disintegrates further.
However it is what happens next......
There is a uncertianty to this book, which adds to the plot and the pace of the novel, which are both excellent.
All of the characters are fully formed and within a shot space of time, I managed to feel sympathy and empathy as well as sheer loathing for them all. Their actions are played out in such a way as to lift right off the page. This is what kept me captivated as the book progressed.
I recommend this book as a good strong example of Paula Daly's work.
Bronte is being pushed to the limit.
Verity has tried to strangle Karen and is now receiving counselling.
Ewan is achieving nothing other than familiarising himself with drugs.
Noel is spending more time at his job and in hotel bars. He seems to be struggling with the situation he finds himself in.
Karen isn't aware of anything other than her and Bronte.
This family is disintegrating in front of our eyes.
Then something happens, something perhaps expected but nonetheless frightening and the family disintegrates further.
However it is what happens next......
There is a uncertianty to this book, which adds to the plot and the pace of the novel, which are both excellent.
All of the characters are fully formed and within a shot space of time, I managed to feel sympathy and empathy as well as sheer loathing for them all. Their actions are played out in such a way as to lift right off the page. This is what kept me captivated as the book progressed.
I recommend this book as a good strong example of Paula Daly's work.
karenleagermain's review against another edition
2.0
Thank You to Grove Atlantic for providing me with an advanced copy of Paula Daly's novel, The Trophy Child, in exchange for an honest review.
PLOT- Ten-year-old Bronte Bloom, is overworked and stressed-out. Her mother, Karen, keeps Bronte on a tight schedule, shuttling her between various lessons and tutors, accepting nothing less than excellence. She insists that her daughter is gifted and exceptional, but even if that isn't quite true, Karen believes that it's nothing that can't be fixed by pushing her daughter to work harder, or by hiring more qualified teachers.
Bronte isn't an only child. She has an older teenage brother named Ewan, who is a slacker, and rather than finding a job or attending college, he spends his days playing video games and smoking pot. He is Karen's son from a previous relationship, although the name of his father is a mystery. Bronte's older half-sister, Verity, has moved into their home. Verity's mother has multiple sclerosis and was moved to a nearby live-in care facility. Verity and Karen do not get along. Verity is fiercely protective of Bronte, whom she feels is being pushed too hard. The family patriarch, Noel Bloom, stays on the periphery of the madness going on in his own home. He is unhappy in his marriage, yet afraid to take on the force that is Karen.
When Bronte goes missing for a day, the Bloom family is in a panic. Bronte has been so sheltered, that they fear she cannot survive on her own. When she returns the following day, happy, unharmed, and unwilling to talk about her disappearance, the Bloom's are left feeling perplexed. Karen faces a public backlash for her parenting style and is even accused of giving Bronte a reason to run away. The backlash is so intense, that Karen gets harassing phone calls and written death threats. Karen vanishes a month later, her car found abandoned with splattered blood. Could Bronte and Karen's disappearances be linked? Was Karen attacked for being too much of a "Tiger Mom?"
LIKE- The Trophy Child has two separate elements going on: It's a family drama, but it is also a murder mystery. I preferred the family drama to the suspense/mystery elements of the story. As a drama, we have a blended family struggling to make it work, and that dynamic is compelling.
At the start of the story, we don't know if Verity is an unreliable character. When we meet her, she is in trouble for choking her step-mother in a blind rage, and her private school is threatening to expel her, if she doesn't attend therapy sessions. However, we quickly learn that Verity is incredibly protective of Bronte and through Karen's rigorous demands of her younger daughter, she was physically hurting her. Yes, Verity was enraged, but Karen was also acting in an extreme manner. Verity is actually incredibly mature for her age and compassionate of others. Not only does she try to help her younger sister, but she is kind to her half-brother, Ewan and his mentally handicap friend, who is a frequent visitor to the house. Verity visits her mother, sneaking her in marijuana, which calms her mother's tremors. She is even patient with Karen's bullying parents, who accuse her of potentially harming Bronte and Karen, when each goes missing. Verity takes this all in stride, even though her life has been nothing but upheaval with factors out of her control. This makes her even more sympathetic than Bronte, and it's hard to beat the sympathy factor of a abused child!
I love the setting of the Lake District in England. Having visited there ( it's magical), I could easily picture the village and the houses. I could see Lake Windermere, which is the setting ofa pivotal scene in The Trophy Child. I have such good memories of my visit there, that I was delighted to revisit it in this story world, even if murder and shady characters were involved!
I'm intrigued by the helicopter parenting/tiger mom thing. I have step-children, but they do not live with us, so I don't really have parenting experience, and my mom, although she pushed me, definitely didn't fall under this category. I liked how Daly played with the backlash that Karen receives. Clearly, Karen thought that she was doing the best thing for Bronte, but she could not see or admit to the negative ways it was affecting her daughter. Certainly, Karen was extreme and doing Bronte harm, but Daly adds another layer of the community members being judgmental regarding her parenting, and the idea that you never quite know what is going on in someone else life.
DISLIKE- I'm on the fence about the murder mystery and the character of detective Joanna Aspinall. I didn't find the budding romance between Joanna and Noel to be compelling or necessary. I kept expecting that this would have a large repercussion on Joanna investigating the disappearance of Karen, but other than a slight internal conflict, i.e.- she knew she should mention it to her boss, nothing came of it.
The very end of the story, in which the crime is finally resolved, felt like a very big coincidence. Too many pieces of the puzzle slid together neatly. Although the twist played out as far as me not realize the story would head to that conclusion, I didn't feel that the twist was satisfying.
I think part of the problem with the crime aspect of the story, is it lost momentum when Bronte returned home and the mystery of her disappearance was quickly eclipsed by the disappearance of Karen. We do learn what happened to Bronte, but it doesn't come until the end of the story, and it doesn't have much of a link to Karen's disappearance, other than it put Karen into the spotlight.
RECOMMEND- No. The Trophy Child was a quick read. Daly has a knack for writing family dynamics and conflict. I would be inclined to seek out other books that she has written, but The Trophy Child was an uneven read.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
PLOT- Ten-year-old Bronte Bloom, is overworked and stressed-out. Her mother, Karen, keeps Bronte on a tight schedule, shuttling her between various lessons and tutors, accepting nothing less than excellence. She insists that her daughter is gifted and exceptional, but even if that isn't quite true, Karen believes that it's nothing that can't be fixed by pushing her daughter to work harder, or by hiring more qualified teachers.
Bronte isn't an only child. She has an older teenage brother named Ewan, who is a slacker, and rather than finding a job or attending college, he spends his days playing video games and smoking pot. He is Karen's son from a previous relationship, although the name of his father is a mystery. Bronte's older half-sister, Verity, has moved into their home. Verity's mother has multiple sclerosis and was moved to a nearby live-in care facility. Verity and Karen do not get along. Verity is fiercely protective of Bronte, whom she feels is being pushed too hard. The family patriarch, Noel Bloom, stays on the periphery of the madness going on in his own home. He is unhappy in his marriage, yet afraid to take on the force that is Karen.
When Bronte goes missing for a day, the Bloom family is in a panic. Bronte has been so sheltered, that they fear she cannot survive on her own. When she returns the following day, happy, unharmed, and unwilling to talk about her disappearance, the Bloom's are left feeling perplexed. Karen faces a public backlash for her parenting style and is even accused of giving Bronte a reason to run away. The backlash is so intense, that Karen gets harassing phone calls and written death threats. Karen vanishes a month later, her car found abandoned with splattered blood. Could Bronte and Karen's disappearances be linked? Was Karen attacked for being too much of a "Tiger Mom?"
LIKE- The Trophy Child has two separate elements going on: It's a family drama, but it is also a murder mystery. I preferred the family drama to the suspense/mystery elements of the story. As a drama, we have a blended family struggling to make it work, and that dynamic is compelling.
At the start of the story, we don't know if Verity is an unreliable character. When we meet her, she is in trouble for choking her step-mother in a blind rage, and her private school is threatening to expel her, if she doesn't attend therapy sessions. However, we quickly learn that Verity is incredibly protective of Bronte and through Karen's rigorous demands of her younger daughter, she was physically hurting her. Yes, Verity was enraged, but Karen was also acting in an extreme manner. Verity is actually incredibly mature for her age and compassionate of others. Not only does she try to help her younger sister, but she is kind to her half-brother, Ewan and his mentally handicap friend, who is a frequent visitor to the house. Verity visits her mother, sneaking her in marijuana, which calms her mother's tremors. She is even patient with Karen's bullying parents, who accuse her of potentially harming Bronte and Karen, when each goes missing. Verity takes this all in stride, even though her life has been nothing but upheaval with factors out of her control. This makes her even more sympathetic than Bronte, and it's hard to beat the sympathy factor of a abused child!
I love the setting of the Lake District in England. Having visited there ( it's magical), I could easily picture the village and the houses. I could see Lake Windermere, which is the setting ofa pivotal scene in The Trophy Child. I have such good memories of my visit there, that I was delighted to revisit it in this story world, even if murder and shady characters were involved!
I'm intrigued by the helicopter parenting/tiger mom thing. I have step-children, but they do not live with us, so I don't really have parenting experience, and my mom, although she pushed me, definitely didn't fall under this category. I liked how Daly played with the backlash that Karen receives. Clearly, Karen thought that she was doing the best thing for Bronte, but she could not see or admit to the negative ways it was affecting her daughter. Certainly, Karen was extreme and doing Bronte harm, but Daly adds another layer of the community members being judgmental regarding her parenting, and the idea that you never quite know what is going on in someone else life.
DISLIKE- I'm on the fence about the murder mystery and the character of detective Joanna Aspinall. I didn't find the budding romance between Joanna and Noel to be compelling or necessary. I kept expecting that this would have a large repercussion on Joanna investigating the disappearance of Karen, but other than a slight internal conflict, i.e.- she knew she should mention it to her boss, nothing came of it.
The very end of the story, in which the crime is finally resolved, felt like a very big coincidence. Too many pieces of the puzzle slid together neatly. Although the twist played out as far as me not realize the story would head to that conclusion, I didn't feel that the twist was satisfying.
I think part of the problem with the crime aspect of the story, is it lost momentum when Bronte returned home and the mystery of her disappearance was quickly eclipsed by the disappearance of Karen. We do learn what happened to Bronte, but it doesn't come until the end of the story, and it doesn't have much of a link to Karen's disappearance, other than it put Karen into the spotlight.
RECOMMEND- No. The Trophy Child was a quick read. Daly has a knack for writing family dynamics and conflict. I would be inclined to seek out other books that she has written, but The Trophy Child was an uneven read.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
carlg88's review against another edition
4.0
This book gripped me from the opening sentence and didn’t let up once. I wasn’t even aware of how quickly the pages were flying by which is always a sign of a great book. The twist at the end was well hidden and I did not see it coming, however once it was revealed things did make more sense. I cannot wait to read more of Daly’s work, as this is the first book by her I’ve had the pleasure of delving into. It certainly will not be the last.
andintothetrees's review against another edition
3.0
Things I liked about this book:
- I like Paula Daly's writing style, it isn't flowery but isn't too-simple either.
- Almost all the guesses I made at the plot twists I knew were coming were wrong, and I was genuinely surprised by the ending.
- Although Noel and Karen were very middle class, Joanne was not, which made a refreshing change (see below).
- It was interesting to read a critique of competitive parenting and over-scheduling.
Things I didn't like quite so much:
- As mentioned above, Noel and Karen were very middle class. They have a big house, their kids are at private school, they shop in posh supermarkets... Fair enough, but that isn't my life and I am bored and mystified by the tendency of psychological thriller authors to place their characters in this socio-economic group.
- I didn't find The Trophy Child quite as gripping as the other Paula Daly books I've read, or as exciting - there were parts I couldn't put down, but most of it I could.
I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
- I like Paula Daly's writing style, it isn't flowery but isn't too-simple either.
- Almost all the guesses I made at the plot twists I knew were coming were wrong, and I was genuinely surprised by the ending.
- Although Noel and Karen were very middle class, Joanne was not, which made a refreshing change (see below).
- It was interesting to read a critique of competitive parenting and over-scheduling.
Things I didn't like quite so much:
- As mentioned above, Noel and Karen were very middle class. They have a big house, their kids are at private school, they shop in posh supermarkets... Fair enough, but that isn't my life and I am bored and mystified by the tendency of psychological thriller authors to place their characters in this socio-economic group.
- I didn't find The Trophy Child quite as gripping as the other Paula Daly books I've read, or as exciting - there were parts I couldn't put down, but most of it I could.
I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
gilmoreguide's review against another edition
2.0
With a title like The Trophy Child I was all set to settle into what I thought would be a farce about one of today’s most easily identifiable tropes: the child who’s been elevated by their parents to a standard of achievement not seen since DaVinci. My bad for not reading the synopsis—it’s a mystery replete with troubled teens, kidnapping and the problems created by the illusion of perfection. All in a small English suburb. Which is fine—I’m loving mysteries these days.
Daly arranges her characters with a neat proficiency right from the beginning of The Trophy Child. Verity is a teenager who has been required to undergo counseling for trying to throttle her stepmother. Noel is her father—a doctor who’s also a womanizer and likes to drink. Karen is the ubiquitous tiger mother and the sweet, quiet Brontë is the average ten-year-old focus of her formidable energy. On the fringes of this family unit are Verity’s mother, who is in an assisted living home due to MS and Karen’s older son who lives above the garage and seems to have no interests outside of gaming and marijuana.
When Brontë disappears this family unravels more quickly than a Walmart sweater. A female detective is put on the case and happens to be a woman Noel recently had a one night stand with and lied to. Verity was supposed to be watching Brontë and Karen wants her interrogated. Karen wants everyone interrogated and alienates anyone trying to help. Soon enough, there’s nothing but a puddle of yarn left in The Trophy Child.
The rest of this review is at: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/03/its-not-you-its-me-mini-reviews-6/
Daly arranges her characters with a neat proficiency right from the beginning of The Trophy Child. Verity is a teenager who has been required to undergo counseling for trying to throttle her stepmother. Noel is her father—a doctor who’s also a womanizer and likes to drink. Karen is the ubiquitous tiger mother and the sweet, quiet Brontë is the average ten-year-old focus of her formidable energy. On the fringes of this family unit are Verity’s mother, who is in an assisted living home due to MS and Karen’s older son who lives above the garage and seems to have no interests outside of gaming and marijuana.
When Brontë disappears this family unravels more quickly than a Walmart sweater. A female detective is put on the case and happens to be a woman Noel recently had a one night stand with and lied to. Verity was supposed to be watching Brontë and Karen wants her interrogated. Karen wants everyone interrogated and alienates anyone trying to help. Soon enough, there’s nothing but a puddle of yarn left in The Trophy Child.
The rest of this review is at: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/03/its-not-you-its-me-mini-reviews-6/
sci_mom's review against another edition
4.0
I was torn on whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars. I decided to go with 4 because I really like it until about the last 25%. The ending was abrupt and too neatly packaged. I won't do any spoilers, but it bothered me that the detective didn't keep unraveling the thread and find the twist herself. She was too sharp to not catch that bit. Also, that epilogue...too far. It was unnecessary. Otherwise, though, I did really enjoy the book and would read other stories by this author.
kbranfield's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
The dysfunctional Bloom family takes center stage in Paula Daly's latest release, The Trophy Child, a gripping investigation into the disappearance of ten year old Bronte.
Following Bronte's disappearance on an outing with her sixteen year old stepsister, Verity, "tiger mom" Karen quickly alienates her family, the police and the public with her withering accusations and rude comments. Ignoring the woman as best as she can, Detective Sergeant Joanne Aspinall and her newly assigned partner Detective Sergeant Oliver Black continue their search for clues to Bronte's whereabouts. Joanne has no doubt that Verity's account of the day her little sister went missing is truthful but she cannot discount the teenager's recent troubles with her stepmother. Joanne is also keeping her personal connection to the girl's father, Noel, a secret from her boss and her partner. When Bronte eventually returns home unharmed and with a somewhat vague account of her whereabouts, the investigation reaches a dead end. However, Joanne and Oliver are soon back at the Bloom's when another person from the house goes missing. This investigation has a very different outcome than the previous one and Joanne has to take a hard look at everyone in the Bloom household, including Noel, Verity, Karen's son Ewan and Ewan's friend Dale. Will Joanne and Oliver uncover the truth about who is responsible for this latest disappearance?
Based on their outward appearance, the Bloom family seem to have everything going for them. Patriarch Noel is a successful GP with a lucrative practice whose second marriage to Karen seems to be happy. But beneath the surface, there is a high degree of dysfunction and no shortage of misery within the family. Noel drinks a little too much and works long hours, rarely interacting with his wife or children. Verity has recently gotten herself into a situation that involves weekly drug tests and counseling. Ewan is a slacker with little ambition and a fairly impressive pot habit. Bronte's schedule is so full of activities and tutors that the poor girl has no time just to be a child. Karen is an overbearing, ambitious and pushy mother who makes everyone's lives miserable. Everyone feels a great deal of sympathy for Bronte and they search tirelessly for her when she goes missing.
Following the second disappearance of someone from the Bloom home, Noel immediately contacts Joanne for assistance which raises a few eyebrows including Oliver's. The two detective sergeants are soon searching for clues but they are soon at a dead end. With very little evidence to go on, their investigation raises more questions than answers, but neither of them are quite ready to give up. While Joanne decides to take a second look at the circumstances of Bronte's disappearance, Oliver broadens his search and uncovers a vital clue that takes the case in a very shocking direction.
The Trophy Child is a riveting police procedural that fans of the genre do not want to miss. Paula Daly has chosen a disturbing parenting trend to focus on and with Karen Bloom, she has created a detestable character whose ambitions for her child border on abuse. The rest of the characters are realistically drawn with both positive and negative traits that are easy to relate to. The disappearances and subsequent investigations are compelling with plenty of red herrings and plot twists that will keep readers guessing right up until the novel's somewhat dramatic conclusion. An absolutely spellbinding mystery that is fast-paced and quite interesting. Highly recommend.
The dysfunctional Bloom family takes center stage in Paula Daly's latest release, The Trophy Child, a gripping investigation into the disappearance of ten year old Bronte.
Following Bronte's disappearance on an outing with her sixteen year old stepsister, Verity, "tiger mom" Karen quickly alienates her family, the police and the public with her withering accusations and rude comments. Ignoring the woman as best as she can, Detective Sergeant Joanne Aspinall and her newly assigned partner Detective Sergeant Oliver Black continue their search for clues to Bronte's whereabouts. Joanne has no doubt that Verity's account of the day her little sister went missing is truthful but she cannot discount the teenager's recent troubles with her stepmother. Joanne is also keeping her personal connection to the girl's father, Noel, a secret from her boss and her partner. When Bronte eventually returns home unharmed and with a somewhat vague account of her whereabouts, the investigation reaches a dead end. However, Joanne and Oliver are soon back at the Bloom's when another person from the house goes missing. This investigation has a very different outcome than the previous one and Joanne has to take a hard look at everyone in the Bloom household, including Noel, Verity, Karen's son Ewan and Ewan's friend Dale. Will Joanne and Oliver uncover the truth about who is responsible for this latest disappearance?
Based on their outward appearance, the Bloom family seem to have everything going for them. Patriarch Noel is a successful GP with a lucrative practice whose second marriage to Karen seems to be happy. But beneath the surface, there is a high degree of dysfunction and no shortage of misery within the family. Noel drinks a little too much and works long hours, rarely interacting with his wife or children. Verity has recently gotten herself into a situation that involves weekly drug tests and counseling. Ewan is a slacker with little ambition and a fairly impressive pot habit. Bronte's schedule is so full of activities and tutors that the poor girl has no time just to be a child. Karen is an overbearing, ambitious and pushy mother who makes everyone's lives miserable. Everyone feels a great deal of sympathy for Bronte and they search tirelessly for her when she goes missing.
Following the second disappearance of someone from the Bloom home, Noel immediately contacts Joanne for assistance which raises a few eyebrows including Oliver's. The two detective sergeants are soon searching for clues but they are soon at a dead end. With very little evidence to go on, their investigation raises more questions than answers, but neither of them are quite ready to give up. While Joanne decides to take a second look at the circumstances of Bronte's disappearance, Oliver broadens his search and uncovers a vital clue that takes the case in a very shocking direction.
The Trophy Child is a riveting police procedural that fans of the genre do not want to miss. Paula Daly has chosen a disturbing parenting trend to focus on and with Karen Bloom, she has created a detestable character whose ambitions for her child border on abuse. The rest of the characters are realistically drawn with both positive and negative traits that are easy to relate to. The disappearances and subsequent investigations are compelling with plenty of red herrings and plot twists that will keep readers guessing right up until the novel's somewhat dramatic conclusion. An absolutely spellbinding mystery that is fast-paced and quite interesting. Highly recommend.