The Narcissist's Daughter: A Novel

by Craig Holden

Fantasizing about the downfall of the Kesslers, his well-to-do boss's family, streetwise pre-med student Syd Redding meets the family daughter and quickly becomes embroiled within the Kessler dysfunctions and sexual machinations. By the author of The Jazz Bird. 50,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller

240 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Craig Holden is the author of the novels The River Sorrow, The Last Sanctuary, Four Corners of Night, The Jazz Bird, The Narcissist's Daughter, and the forthcoming Matala. He is a recipient of the Great Lakes Book Award in Fiction, and was a featured guest at the Festival International du Roman Noir in Frontignan, France. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. He has taught at the Universities of Michigan and Toledo, and is currently the visiting writer at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where he, his wife, four kids and two dogs, have settled at the edge of the high desert.

Reviews

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disturbing look at the personality disorder of Narcissism and the effect it has on the people in the world of the narcissist. The question I have is can anyone be a victim of a narcissist or is there a matching personality that is drawn to the narcissist and becomes addicted to the degradation, the sex, the lies, the selfishness of the narcissist? It is rather fascinating as a disorder but incredibly destructive to the people that the narcissist uses to gain the admiration they need.
The characters in this book are interesting, not just the narcissist. While I was reading it I was disgusted by the behavior of the main players, but now that I have finished reading it I find that there is a lot to reflect on in each of the characters and their relationships to each other.
The end came as a shock to me, but it made sense, I just totally assumed something different.

[Judi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was really only then—as if I had been in some kind of trance before that, some dream I refused to wake from—that I finally understood (though I had known it already in the heart of my heart) how far it had gone, how far I had taken it, what calamity I had wrought.”

If people need to be honest about anything in their lives, they really should be honest in their sexual relationships. After all, sex is complicated enough without throwing lies into the equation, but given that sexuality is a very complex issue often complicated by guilt and inadequacy, it’s not really surprising that a fair number of people have difficulty being honest with their sexual partners. And this brings me to The Narcissist’s Daughter, a gripping tale of adultery and revenge from author Craig Holden.

Read the rest of Guy Savage's review on MF:
http://mostlyfiction.com/mystery/hold...

[Keith Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire Holden for all the different things he has tried in his books, even if this one didn't grab me quite as much as a couple of others (I haven't seen anything in the last few years ... is he still at it?). Here's a little thing I wrote on this one for the local monthly:

https://annarborobserver.com/articles...

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING: 4.25
GENRE: Psychological thriller

Syd Redding is a 23-year old pre-med student whose ambition in life is to "be somebody". Accepted as an assistant in the hospital lab run by the brilliant pathologist, Ted Kessler, it looks like Syd may be on the road to meeting his goal. But then he becomes involved in a torrid affair with Kessler's wife, Joyce, which threatens to jeopardize everything. When Syd discovers he's being used by the Kesslers, he becomes obsessed with avenging himself. And the best avenue he can find to hurt Ted and Joyce Kessler is to become involved with their 17-year old daughter, Jessi. He embarks on a cruel quest to have Jessi fall in love with him while leading her parents to believe that she is engaging in sexual acts with him that have not been actually occurred.

What a twisted, devious mind Syd Redding has! It's really quite awful to read about the lengths to which he will go to achieve vengeance. Jessi is really a loving and sweet girl who is in over her head in the relationship with Syd. Despite the fact that her daughter is enamored of Syd, Joyce Kessler continues to try to use her sexual wiles to lure Syd to her bed. After all the psychological tricks that have been used by Syd, Joyce and Ted, it's quite surprising to see how the Syd and Jessi relationship resolves itself.

In direct contrast to his interactions with the spoiled and narcisstic Kesslers, Syd interacts in a completely different way with his own family. His stepfather, Brigman Reed, is an alcoholic; he's done what he can to raise Syd and his sister, Chloe, and not always succeeded. There's a camaraderie between Syd and Brigman that has a warmth lacking in the Kessler family. Chloe had a huge purplish birthmark on her face which put people off. Syd wanted her to have something decent and normal, a real job, a healthy family. How she achieves that has something to do with Syd but also a lot to do with herself.

THE NARCISSIST'S DAUGHTER is a psychological thriller, with perverse characters using weapons of sex and deception. There is a murder committed, but that felt almost minor in the scheme of things. It isn't until the last pages that the true crime is unveiled. Holden does a masterful job of depicting a terrible game between flawed characters. There were a few places where the narrative sagged, but the beautiful writing more than compensated for those lacks. The entire conclusion of the book is wonderfully done. THE NARCISSIST'S DAUGHTER is the ultimate tale of deceit and revenge.

[Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why the NYT gave a good review of this I'll never know. The 'surprise' ending wasn't one at all and to top it off the actual ending was way to neatly wrapped up in a little package - very Disneyesque. Had some funny bits all in all I would stay away from this one. Basic plot - think of the movie the Graduate but Mr. Robinson knows about both relationships and approves of one and not the other

[Karen Hagman · Rating 5 out of 5]

halfway through this book in a few hours...I have recently discovered Craig Holden and have been impressed with each novel. A masterful psychotic tale told from the view of a mentally disturbed stalker. A roller coaster ride ... this novel is. disturbing...dangerous...seedy and all the more fun!!

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pew. I don't see any evidence that anyone was actually a narcissist in this book. I thought the writer did a really good job of writing a pointless book.

[Tryon Hilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dudes & 'Luudes. Well; that was dark, even for me. I picked it up at the library based on the title, and it was a very quick read. 5 stars to the author for his thorough research (70s and cars and ER/phlebotomy), 1 star for the gross grown adolescent porny male fantasies. Spoiler alert: The protagonist gets it on with his boss's wife, then when he finds out she is secretly filming him to watch with her husband, he exacts revenge by dating her daughter. He can't give up the wife, though. She's too hot with her sexy S&M, plus despite a history of picking up young studs willy nilly and having a very wealthy husband who is crazy with obsession for her, she falls wildly in love with this metalhead schlub (?). Meanwhile, his younger sister is (or maybe isn't, but I had a strong feeling of "is") being raped by the car fanatic across the street (since she was 12) and everyone seems to grumpily just accept this- including the sister, who grows up to marry her molester. Ick aside, the writing compelled me to make it to the end. It looks like his other books are different from this one- I'll give one a shot. If it is more of the same violent fantasies toward women and girls, I'm done. Pace, voice, and skill certainly have potential, though!

[Gay Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this book sitting on a shelf for several years and only when I was going on a cruise where I wasn’t sure there would be reliable wi-fi did I decide to take it with me. Usually I just read from my iPad, saves carting heavy books in my suitcase. I didn’t have high expectations, so I don’t know whether that had anything to do with how much I enjoyed this book, but I did, thoroughly.
I must say the graphic passages on sex and sexual kinks were a bit confronting but past all that, the story kept the pages turning right up to the end.

[Ruth Nemzoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Narcissist Daughter is a good beach read. The author, Mindy Pollack-Fusi, raises interesting questions about the ability of mothers and daughters to understand each other's needs. Like Woody Allen, author Mindy Pollack-Fusi exaggerates Jewish stereotypes at the dinner table and beyond. You will smile or frown depending on where you sit and wonder how can a mom’s good intentions go so awry.

[C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this one sitting on the shelf for years (I don't even remember where it came from) and was doing a bit of spring cleaning and decided to give this one a go since it seemed like a slim volume before tossing it out. Pleasantly surprised by it—really wasn't expecting much—and while the main character wasn't truly very compelling, the others were, Ted, Jessi, Chloe etc, which made up for it. Plot wasn't too unpredictable, but some surprises did come up here and there.

[Samantha Quade · Rating 5 out of 5]

For being an older book I absolutely loved it! I originally had rated this as 4 stars but upped it to 5. The beginning is a smidge sloppy but after a few chapters it levels off and then the thrills, twists and turns start!

[Ella Darling · Rating 1 out of 5]

rgh I was so excited to read this but oh my god I hated it so much. While it looks like a mysterious thriller with a marvellous blurb it fails to live up. The story line was okay but took almost half the book to actually get into it! I have a thing where I read to page 100 and if I don't like it I drop it. At 96 it got good. I give it a 3 - finished book, but more a chore than pleasure.

The plot centred around revenge over something so stupid. Sure you may be angry, but not 'ruin your bosses life & your own future career' angry. Unrealistic. The other characters like Chloe and Donny were pointless? Why were they even there. Stupiddddd.

Why didn't I like it? Not only was it slow, but the sentences were like concrete. For example....
"It was the largest backyard swimming pool I had ever seen (I would later learn that it was actually one of the largest private pools in the entire country at the time), the size of a basketball court it seemed to me, with two black lane lines painted on the bottom one one side of it and separated on the surface by a string of orange floats."

So that's one sentence. When you read these over and over it gets incredibly draining and I just couldn't. The last three or so chapters I said 'f it' and gave up. The characters are annoying, bland, and just overall blah. Good twists, but horrendous writing. Won't touch this author again D;

[Kayla Hannebohm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is meant for myself, so it may or may not be helpful to you.

I thought this book was pretty okay. There was a lot of information that I thought was completely unnecessary, but in the end it seemed to fit all together. I honestly lost a bit of interest in the middle, but I was instantly with all the twists thrown in there. If I needed a quick read to occupy my time with, I would probably read this again.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the library based on the title alone, knowing nothing about the book itself. Then I proceeded to freak out when I recognized my hometown as the setting of the story.

It's not a bad read, but it probably wouldn't be totally memorable to someone unless they had a connection to the location.

[Jane]

My fabulous BIL, Matt, gave this 4 stars, and the inside cover talks about "a drama about the collision between two families, both riddled with desires but from opposite sides of the tracks."
But then, the back cover talks about "Hitchcockian" and I don't like to be scared, so I didn't read it. Well, I read the first line.

[Bookish Enchantment (Katherine Quirke) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a brilliant book. I found it very readable and a little annoying. The writing tone was rather flat to me. The writer really did not create any suspense but was clever enough to create a book that made you at least finish it.

I would read another Craig Holden book just to see if the writing style is the same or if the style used was to imitate the boring prime character of this book.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a page turner. Just when you think you know what's going on, you don't have a clue. This is quite a sorted tale, certainly not the norm. I enjoyed the quick read and I found it quite exhilarating and saucy. Just what the doctor ordered.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crime at its best.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out good but got very strange at some parts. But I got it for a dollar and it was worth it.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice sex filled Midwest decaying city noir. Enjoyed, but doubt if i will read anything else by him.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was just ok for me. Wasn't crazy intriguing and didn't suck me in BUT liked the twist at the end. I didn't get that happy ending I was hoping for:)

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting read. one of those books where you dislike most of the characters...

[Jackie Simons]

Read 5/05

[Andrew Carter · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book. Read about 2/3 and skimmed the remainder. This writing is not my cup of tea.

[Charlie Crummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written page turner. Great twist.