Friday, March 17, 2017

Only Daughter

This is a psychological thriller written by Anna Snoekstra. In 2003, at age 16, Rebecca Winter disappeared from her Canberra neighborhood. She had been enjoying Summer break, working at McDonald's, shoplifting with her best friend, crushing on an older boy. Then came feelings of being watched, an ominous presence in her bedroom at night...then Bec disappeared. In 2014, panicked after being arrested, a young woman claims to be Bec, now missing for a decade. Soon, this imposter is welcomed into Bec's life, hugging her parents, teasing her younger brothers, sleeping in her bed. But the more entrenched the imposter becomes, the more "off" she finds things. And she realizes whoever took Bec is still out there, and she herself is in great danger.

I read this book in a day. A couple of times I thought I had it all figured out and was wrong. Twists kept coming.  Few names are used for characters; this adds to the atmosphere of the book. It is far creepier to read about "the father" crying than about "Bob" or somebody crying. The main character, the imposter, is never identified by her actual name; to make the merging of her life with Bec's more seamless, perhaps, but also I think so the reader will more readily identify with her. An interesting novel.

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