Review: Daughter of Mine

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda is an attempt to weave a tale of suspense and family drama against the background of a small town reeling from a long-standing drought. The premise is undeniably intriguing, and it sets a creepy atmosphere in the beginning. But the more I read on, the bigger the problems became, until I ended up frustrated and altogether disappointed.

The story starts with Hazel Sharp unexpectedly inheriting her childhood home following her father's death, who had been a long-time local detective in the small town of Mirror Lake.

I do understand that suspense stories usually benefit from a slower pace. However, the first half of this book was way too slow. There were a lot of chapters filled with repetitive scenes that really made me question whether I should continue reading or not.

On another negative note, I found Hazel's relationship with any of the characters to be somewhat shallow and confusing. The title of the book, especially, led me to believe that I would find something deeper about her relationship with her mother or father. I was disappointed to find so little information about them. I don't know how the author designs relationships in her other works, so I don't know whether this extreme distance is deliberate or not.

My disengagement from the story was heightened by a few situations. For example, a woman goes missing and nobody seems to care. Also, two strangers continue to intrude and act as if nothing is wrong, even after Hazel's repeated warnings that the area was private. To make things worse, the way Hazel interacted with these two characters from then on was implausible and made her seem childish.

Moving through the latter half of the book, I couldn't help but feel how disjointed the entire narrative felt. There were so many plot holes, I was left frustrated rather than hooked. If there is no clarity, then following a plot line becomes difficult, and the actions of a character cannot be understood.

Moreover, my initial (correct) suspicions about the antagonist dulled the sense of surprise I would have liked; it rather felt like I was waiting for an inevitable ending without any tension or excitement.

Not even the atmospheric writing and initial sense of creepiness could save this book from its slow pacing, thin character development, and convoluted plotting. I hate it when this happens — as I value every writer's work and effort so much — but I will not be able to recommend this book to readers seeking either a tightly wound mystery or an emotionally resonant family drama, as it fails on both counts.

Content Warnings

Graphic - Death of parent, Abandonment, Murder

Moderate - Gun violence, Drug use, Car accident

Minor - Suicide, Addiction, Drug abuse

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