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A review by erin_lawless
Daughter by Jane Shemilt
2.0
2.5 stars. I struggled with this. I actually started reading it months ago - twice - and put it down each time. When I picked it up for the third time I knew for sure that it wasn't just that I wasn't in the mood for a slow-burn depressing domestic mystery, and forced myself to finish.
It's not bad. It's very accomplished for a debut and there are instances of breathtaking prose. The structure is clever and handled admirably; I didn't get lost or confused as to where we were in the Before or After once. But the structure itself causes fault - it means that you lose all tension or anticipation with the Before scenes, as you know from reading the interspersed After scenes that all these red herrings are exactly that, and lead nowhere, as Naomi is still missing over a year later. And the After scenes, well, they are just Jenny sitting in a cottage, thinking to herself, painting - hardly gripping.
I just didn't connect or care, and that was what made it a slog. Nothing rang particularly true - and I know I'm not a GP or a mother of three teenagers, but still. All the characters are odious pricks. The ending was a bit eye-rolly, right when I wanted it to pack the sort of punch that would have made it a solid three-star read. It never got there.
So, all in all, a bit of a disappointment. But it does sit better with other readers, and if you're interested by the blurb and an aficionado of the genre, certainly don't be put off by my review!
It's not bad. It's very accomplished for a debut and there are instances of breathtaking prose. The structure is clever and handled admirably; I didn't get lost or confused as to where we were in the Before or After once. But the structure itself causes fault - it means that you lose all tension or anticipation with the Before scenes, as you know from reading the interspersed After scenes that all these red herrings are exactly that, and lead nowhere, as Naomi is still missing over a year later. And the After scenes, well, they are just Jenny sitting in a cottage, thinking to herself, painting - hardly gripping.
I just didn't connect or care, and that was what made it a slog. Nothing rang particularly true - and I know I'm not a GP or a mother of three teenagers, but still. All the characters are odious pricks. The ending was a bit eye-rolly, right when I wanted it to pack the sort of punch that would have made it a solid three-star read. It never got there.
So, all in all, a bit of a disappointment. But it does sit better with other readers, and if you're interested by the blurb and an aficionado of the genre, certainly don't be put off by my review!