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Daddy's Girl
Every battle has a winner.
But not everyone will survive the war…
Crystal wants out. Out of her small-town life. Out of shared parenting with a man she no longer respects. When she decides to take her daughter and move across state lines, she tells herself she’s doing nothing wrong.
Supported by his father and sister, Jake believes in doing the right thing and trusts the system. He just wants access to his daughter. He just wants to be a good dad. But he has no idea of the danger he is in...
Seven-year-old Holly is caught in the middle. And love, she discovers, is conditional.
Meanwhile, in a collapsing trailer on the edge of town, resentment is reaching breaking point. Wayne, Crystal’s father, has spent his life being overlooked. When he sees his daughter being held back, something inside him snaps.
But violence doesn’t stop once it starts…
The truth doesn’t matter. Only who survives.
Inspired by a chilling real-life case, Daddy’s Girl is a psychological thriller about entitlement, silence, and the slow, deliberate path to murder. Told through multiple intimate viewpoints, it explores how cruelty often wears a mask, and how the most dangerous people are the ones who believe they are justified in their actions.
Dark, unsettling, and impossible to forget, Daddy’s Girl is perfect for readers of Jess Lourey, Alice Feeney and Gillian Flynn.
But not everyone will survive the war…
Crystal wants out. Out of her small-town life. Out of shared parenting with a man she no longer respects. When she decides to take her daughter and move across state lines, she tells herself she’s doing nothing wrong.
Supported by his father and sister, Jake believes in doing the right thing and trusts the system. He just wants access to his daughter. He just wants to be a good dad. But he has no idea of the danger he is in...
Seven-year-old Holly is caught in the middle. And love, she discovers, is conditional.
Meanwhile, in a collapsing trailer on the edge of town, resentment is reaching breaking point. Wayne, Crystal’s father, has spent his life being overlooked. When he sees his daughter being held back, something inside him snaps.
But violence doesn’t stop once it starts…
The truth doesn’t matter. Only who survives.
Inspired by a chilling real-life case, Daddy’s Girl is a psychological thriller about entitlement, silence, and the slow, deliberate path to murder. Told through multiple intimate viewpoints, it explores how cruelty often wears a mask, and how the most dangerous people are the ones who believe they are justified in their actions.
Dark, unsettling, and impossible to forget, Daddy’s Girl is perfect for readers of Jess Lourey, Alice Feeney and Gillian Flynn.
284 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 16, 2026
My biggest issue with this story is that it has been sorely mis-genred. This is not a thriller In my opinion. It doesn't bear the hallmarks of a thriller because it misses the following:
- Its extremely slow burn with no parts where you are on the edge of your seat.
- Motives and personal characteristics are analyzed like you are studying different lives, and how people react because of differing morals and ethics, and different ways of being raised and differing ideals. It looks at life and who wins and the way that how people treat life, and react to situations affect entire outcomes and affect others. Thrillers dont really do this analysis, they move with the story.
- There are no twists in this book. There's no mystery or who done it. The closest you have to a who done it is that you aren't sure until the last couple of paragraphs whether Crystal told her Dad to do it. Right from the get go you know what is coming, it sits there, looms large that someone will die. And as soon as you get to Betty's narrative she tells you she knows her husband is going to do this thing, she tells you what that thing is going to be. She tells you that she is sure her daughter has knowingly or unknowingly guided her husband into this action that he would've taken even without being asked to. There is no mystery about whats coming or who did it.
For THOSE reasons this ISNT a thriller. It isn't thrilling. It is slow. Real slow.
That said it ISNT a bad story. I went into this wanting a thriller. Something that met the criteria above. And what I got with this was more like a drama (?) Maybe a contemporary fiction (?). It certainly wasn't a thriller. Even the death scenes weren't looked at with any kind of gruesome, the death scenes just were. They were looked at with some emotion and other than that just as a statement of fact of what happened. You dont hear that the blood bubbled out of the hole that was made or anything. I dunno, it was looked at more dramatically than thriller-y. But because I picked this book for a thriller vibe and that was what I was after it lowered my rating on this story. That if I had of been looking for a contemporary fiction, or something looking at life more that I may have rated this MUCH higher. But that's not what I wanted. Thats not what I expected. And I havent got this wrong, because the title DOES say "Daddy's girl. A thriller".
This story is looking at Crystal who has a child with her ex husband who she divorced. She (for whatever reason, not made explicit except she likes to move around) wants to move states. She wants to take her daughter with her without care about her daughters ability to contact her father.
Her father, Jake, wants to stay where he is, he wants to offer his daughter stability, and he (justifiably) wants to be present in her life. So he goes through the courts to do it. The courts say she has to stay at this time. And Crystal is PISSED OFF. She thinks this is a complete injustice. And she goes to her father, Wayne, and tells him how angry she is and how its not fair. And he, being a veteran and on the poverty line, already has thoughts about how unfair the system is. How it always prioritises those who have money. (Jake doesn't have heaps of money. He's not presented as rich, hes just presented as someone who follows the rules of the land, and who has a home and farmland).
So Wayne goes out and takes matters into hus own hands and shoots Jake. And because hes had a taste of this power, and he thinks Jake's Dad is also going to interfere with his right to protect his daughters "best interests" by questioning what happened to Jake, decides to shoot him too.
This causes Molly, Jake's sister, to point to Crystal as having motive and immediately Wayne is arrested and charged.
At this point Molly thinks Holly (the daughter) is not safe with Crystal, and that she should step in and try to get custody because, though Crystal hasn't been charged with having any part in the murders, Molly can't help but think she set it in motion.
The courts agree and give Holly to Molly to care for, for the foreseeable future. Then Crystal thinks, well, I've been given my freedom, I can move now. The end.
The interesting part about this book is the look at how our silence is active. Both Betty and Crystal have a tendency to say less than they should. Betty to keep the peace and to keep herself safe, and Crystal because she always thought that saying less, having less presence, shifted blame from her to others. Even though she was VERY active in setting the wheels of her life and others' lives turning.
Molly is similar in that she chooses when to speak and when to be silent. But in her circumstance there really is nothing she could do to stop the events from happening. But rather she halted the actions of others by speaking at the right times.
This book is all about silence and its power, both for destruction and for repair. The final chapters of Holly and Molly where Molly gives silence weight for Holly to grieve and come to feel safe again gives a contrast to how silence is depicted throughout the rest of the book.
Overall I did enjoy this book. But if you're reading it as a thriller I'd say find another thriller and pick this one up if you are wanting more of a contemporary fiction.
- Its extremely slow burn with no parts where you are on the edge of your seat.
- Motives and personal characteristics are analyzed like you are studying different lives, and how people react because of differing morals and ethics, and different ways of being raised and differing ideals. It looks at life and who wins and the way that how people treat life, and react to situations affect entire outcomes and affect others. Thrillers dont really do this analysis, they move with the story.
- There are no twists in this book. There's no mystery or who done it. The closest you have to a who done it is that you aren't sure until the last couple of paragraphs whether Crystal told her Dad to do it. Right from the get go you know what is coming, it sits there, looms large that someone will die. And as soon as you get to Betty's narrative she tells you she knows her husband is going to do this thing, she tells you what that thing is going to be. She tells you that she is sure her daughter has knowingly or unknowingly guided her husband into this action that he would've taken even without being asked to. There is no mystery about whats coming or who did it.
For THOSE reasons this ISNT a thriller. It isn't thrilling. It is slow. Real slow.
That said it ISNT a bad story. I went into this wanting a thriller. Something that met the criteria above. And what I got with this was more like a drama (?) Maybe a contemporary fiction (?). It certainly wasn't a thriller. Even the death scenes weren't looked at with any kind of gruesome, the death scenes just were. They were looked at with some emotion and other than that just as a statement of fact of what happened. You dont hear that the blood bubbled out of the hole that was made or anything. I dunno, it was looked at more dramatically than thriller-y. But because I picked this book for a thriller vibe and that was what I was after it lowered my rating on this story. That if I had of been looking for a contemporary fiction, or something looking at life more that I may have rated this MUCH higher. But that's not what I wanted. Thats not what I expected. And I havent got this wrong, because the title DOES say "Daddy's girl. A thriller".
This story is looking at Crystal who has a child with her ex husband who she divorced. She (for whatever reason, not made explicit except she likes to move around) wants to move states. She wants to take her daughter with her without care about her daughters ability to contact her father.
Her father, Jake, wants to stay where he is, he wants to offer his daughter stability, and he (justifiably) wants to be present in her life. So he goes through the courts to do it. The courts say she has to stay at this time. And Crystal is PISSED OFF. She thinks this is a complete injustice. And she goes to her father, Wayne, and tells him how angry she is and how its not fair. And he, being a veteran and on the poverty line, already has thoughts about how unfair the system is. How it always prioritises those who have money. (Jake doesn't have heaps of money. He's not presented as rich, hes just presented as someone who follows the rules of the land, and who has a home and farmland).
So Wayne goes out and takes matters into hus own hands and shoots Jake. And because hes had a taste of this power, and he thinks Jake's Dad is also going to interfere with his right to protect his daughters "best interests" by questioning what happened to Jake, decides to shoot him too.
This causes Molly, Jake's sister, to point to Crystal as having motive and immediately Wayne is arrested and charged.
At this point Molly thinks Holly (the daughter) is not safe with Crystal, and that she should step in and try to get custody because, though Crystal hasn't been charged with having any part in the murders, Molly can't help but think she set it in motion.
The courts agree and give Holly to Molly to care for, for the foreseeable future. Then Crystal thinks, well, I've been given my freedom, I can move now. The end.
The interesting part about this book is the look at how our silence is active. Both Betty and Crystal have a tendency to say less than they should. Betty to keep the peace and to keep herself safe, and Crystal because she always thought that saying less, having less presence, shifted blame from her to others. Even though she was VERY active in setting the wheels of her life and others' lives turning.
Molly is similar in that she chooses when to speak and when to be silent. But in her circumstance there really is nothing she could do to stop the events from happening. But rather she halted the actions of others by speaking at the right times.
This book is all about silence and its power, both for destruction and for repair. The final chapters of Holly and Molly where Molly gives silence weight for Holly to grieve and come to feel safe again gives a contrast to how silence is depicted throughout the rest of the book.
Overall I did enjoy this book. But if you're reading it as a thriller I'd say find another thriller and pick this one up if you are wanting more of a contemporary fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2026
Not for the impatient
Interesting story that lies between miles of repetitive inner monologue — with characters saying next to nothing- and sounding like clones of one another. Also, the setting and characters are supposed to be American - but UK colloquialisms and phrasing slip in constantly. This is a pet peeve and often happens when British authors write American subjects. I managed to get through to the end because I wanted to find out what happens - so it caught and kept me at least.
Interesting story that lies between miles of repetitive inner monologue — with characters saying next to nothing- and sounding like clones of one another. Also, the setting and characters are supposed to be American - but UK colloquialisms and phrasing slip in constantly. This is a pet peeve and often happens when British authors write American subjects. I managed to get through to the end because I wanted to find out what happens - so it caught and kept me at least.
April 1, 2026
Very intense edge of your seat kind of thriller. The twists and turns were wild. I really felt sorry for their child. No one deserves to have to go through something like that. This was really intense and had a great depth to it. First time reading this author and I really liked this one.
April 18, 2026
I had a hard time reading this book. At 52%, I considered not finishing it. I powered through, and I finished, but I can’t say that I enjoyed reading it. Maybe it’s because it was so slow. I don’t know. But, it won’t be one I recommend to others.
May 3, 2026
hard to get through
This was a long story, with lots of description without explaining anything. I got through it but honestly did not enjoy the writing. There were no explanations but lots of words to get through. Do not recommend.
This was a long story, with lots of description without explaining anything. I got through it but honestly did not enjoy the writing. There were no explanations but lots of words to get through. Do not recommend.
April 16, 2026
Daddy's Girl
Well written - such a disjointed family, don't any of them.have any emotion in them. No crying no affection. Crazy lot.
Well written - such a disjointed family, don't any of them.have any emotion in them. No crying no affection. Crazy lot.
April 19, 2026
not what I expected it to be
This was a terrible read for me, no plot twist and it just dragged on for no reason at all. It was a terrible read of 2026 for me.
This was a terrible read for me, no plot twist and it just dragged on for no reason at all. It was a terrible read of 2026 for me.
April 27, 2026
Terrible book! Very slow. Not a suspense or thriller
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews