The Trophy Child
A Novel
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4.7 • 11 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
A police detective becomes entangled with a controlling mother, a missing daughter, and a dangerous web of dysfunction in this "terrific page-turner" (The Guardian).
Karen Bloom is not the coddling type. This tiger mom is raising her ten-year-old daughter for success—at school, at music lessons, at dance classes, at everything. Meanwhile, in their idyllic suburb in England's Lake District, Karen's husband frequently heads for the pub; her teenage stepdaughter grows more and more troubled; and her son falls deeper into drugs.
When Karen's trophy child, Bronte, briefly disappears, Detective Sergeant Joanne Aspinall steps in, but soon discovers she has a shocking intimate connection to the family—whose perfect façade begins to crack as Karen's comments to the media infuriate the community. Then tight-lipped Bronte returns home—but another member of the household goes missing, in this chilling tale of mystery and suspense by the author of The Mistake I Made and Just What Kind of Mother Are You?
"Absorbing . . . unexpected plot twists and sly commentary . . . will keep readers turning the pages." —Publishers Weekly
"An outstanding new thriller writer." —Booklist (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Investigating the disappearance of 10-year-old Bront Bloom plunges Det. Sgt. Joanne Aspinall into the emotional whirlpool of one seriously dysfunctional family a family to which, she's shocked to discover, she has an intimate connection in Daly's absorbing domestic thriller, her fourth novel set in the Lake District (after 2015's The Mistake I Made). The detective encounters immediate pushback from Bront 's proudly self-proclaimed "tiger mom" Karen, who's quick to lambaste just about every member of her household, particularly her sensitive but troubled teen stepdaughter, Verity, and her henpecked physician husband, Noel, who left Verity's now-MS-stricken mother for her. Then a second Bloom goes missing, and Joanne has to face the possibility that her undisclosed relationship might have seriously compromised her professional judgment. Though a little Karen goes quite a long way, more sympathetic characters, such as Joanne and Verity, plus some unexpected plot twists and sly commentary on the bourgeois milieu, will keep readers turning the pages.)
