Only Daughter
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Now shortlisted for Best First Fiction for the Australian Crime Writers' Association Ned Kelly Awards
“In Anna Snoekstra's dark and edgy debut, a young woman slips easily into the life of a girl missing eleven years, only to discover the grisly truth behind the disappearance. Will she be the next victim? Truly distinctive and tautly told, ONLY DAUGHTER welcomes a thrilling new voice in crime fiction.” – Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl.
'ONLY DAUGHTER by Anna Snoekstra is a dark meditation on the secrets we keep about our families and about ourselves. Twisty, slippery, and full of surprises, this web of lies will ensnare you and keep you riveted until you've turned the final page.'
– Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Ink and Bone.
In 2003, sixteen–year–old Rebecca Winter disappeared.
She'd been enjoying her teenage summer break: working at a fast–food restaurant, crushing on an older boy and shoplifting with her best friend. Mysteriously ominous things began to happen–blood in the bed, periods of blackouts, a feeling of being watched–though Bec remained oblivious of what was to come.
Eleven years later she is replaced.
A young woman, desperate after being arrested, claims to be the decade–missing Bec.
Soon the imposter is living Bec's life. Sleeping in her bed. Hugging her mother and father. Learning her best friends' names. Playing with her twin brothers.
But Bec's welcoming family and enthusiastic friends are not quite as they seem. As the imposter dodges the detective investigating her case, she begins to delve into the life of the real Bec Winter–and soon realizes that whoever took Bec is still at large, and that she is in imminent danger.
As the pretender walks in Rebecca's shoes, she realises that whoever is responsible for Bec's disappearance is still in her life.
In this chilling psychological thriller, one woman's dark past becomes another's deadly future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 2003, 16-year-old Rebecca Winter disappeared from a Canberra suburb. In 2014, a disheveled young woman nabbed for stealing food in a Sydney supermarket stuns police by claiming to be Bec, setting in motion Australian author Snoekstra's suspenseful if flawed debut. The mystery protagonist, who's on the run, isn't really Bec, but simply exploiting their uncanny resemblance. The author ratchets up the tension as the split narrative unreels along dual lines: the final week before Bec vanishes and the days after her doppelganger's appearance. If continuing to stymie police investigation on the one hand and avoiding slips with Bec's loved ones on the other weren't tough enough, the imposter increasingly begins to suspect an even higher-stakes risk falling victim to the same fate as the girl she's impersonating. Though Snoekstra fleshes out her present-day protagonist far less than the phantom Bec, her smooth navigation through the twisty plot propels the reader along until she finally hits the wall with a preposterous denouement.