The Other Daughter: An addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist

· Bookouture
4.3
52 reviews
Ebook
350
Pages

About this ebook

‘I read this book in a day! I enjoyed it so much I wanted to cancel plans just to read it!… Loved it loved it loved it!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


Nine years ago her daughter was taken. And now she’s back.


Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare.


Holly is taken by a stranger and never found.


Nine years later, Rachel is doing her best, living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to forget the traumatic day when she lost her daughter, hide her broken heart and put everything into her new family and loving partner, who know none of the secrets in her painful past.


Until one afternoon when Rachel meets a new school parent and her beautiful teenage daughter. Rachel’s world is instantly turned upside down. She’d recognise that face anywhere – it’s her missing child.


Rachel is overwhelmed with joy – and fear. Has the woman who abducted Holly followed her? How will her partner react when he learns about the trauma she has hidden for so many years? And given how much time has passed, what if no one believes her?


But Rachel knows it’s Holly. And she will stop at nothing to get her back…


From the million-copy-bestselling author of The Secret Mother and The Perfect Family, this utterly gripping psychological thriller will have you up all night reading. If you loved Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and The Sister this book is for you.


Why readers are completely gripped by The Other Daughter:


‘Wow WOW wow... can't say enough good things about this book!!... unputdownable... read it in one sitting. This author never seems to disappoint!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘Oh my goodness, wow wow wow. I have just finished this 5-star whopper of a book and my brain is still digesting it as I type. I absolutely loved this book… The twists and turns were fantastic and I absolutely did not see any of it coming. Brilliant.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘OMG this book was one of the best I have ever read… amazing… Ten stars once again!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘Just blew me away. From the first chapter I couldn't put it down… her best novel yet. I wish I could give it 6 stars.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘Ohh my god this was simply AMAZING!! That ending just completely blew my mind!... a masterpiece… absolutely captivating read!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘BOOM BOOM BOOM the twist happens… didn’t see it coming and actually gasped out loud around 4am this morning as I had to get up early to finish… Loved it, loved it, loved it.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘Wow, wow, wow…If you haven’t read her books yet you are definitely missing out in life… I will shout to the moon and back on how great this book was.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘Superb!... read this book in one day… A MUST READ!!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘Whoa. I stayed up till 6am trying to finish this because it was so good!!! From the first page you will be pulled in!... I was practically yelling at the book in shock and disbelief at the didn’t-see-that-coming ending’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘A throat punch right to the jugular!... I was completely blindsided… Bottom line – this read was CRAZY good!... 5+ stars.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


‘Brilliant… I won’t spoil anything but OMG!!! How clever – wow! Wow, wow wow! 5** and 10 if I could’ Nicki’s Book Blog, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ratings and reviews

4.3
52 reviews
Marnie Harrison
November 5, 2019
Shalini you have done it again! Everything you touch just turns to gold! The Other Daughter is such a brilliant read and one that is going to stay with me for a long time to come! In true Shalini Boland fashion, it is intense, suspenseful, gripping, engrossing, compelling, emotional, thrilling and with twists and turns aplenty. Phew!!! This book is fast paced and takes you on one hell of a ride. I couldn’t read this fast enough! Shalini has spun a tightly woven plot that is every parents worst nightmare. Told in alternating chapters from Catriona (Holly’s abductor) in the past to Rachel (Holly’s mother) in the present, the book opens with a chilling first chapter that sets the scene of Holly’s abduction. It is terrifying and definitely gets the heart racing! From there the story moves to nine years later and this is when the story really gets going when Rachel, while on a school pick up meets Kate and her teenage daughter Bella who is the spitting image of her missing daughter Holly. What follows is Rachel’s desperate need to prove that Bella is her daughter and she will stop at nothing to get her back. As always Shalini does a great job with her characters and each one has been bought beautifully to life through amazing writing. They are believable, well developed and complex and I throughly enjoyed them all. The standouts were definitely Catriona and Rachel. When we learn of the events that lead to Catriona taking Holly, I couldn’t breathe and my heart broke for her. It is just unimaginable. Rachel also broke my heart in her struggle to try move on but she never lets go of believing that Bella is Holly. When she meets Bella, you feel her desperation and how she becomes manic in trying to prove that Bella is Holly. Shalini has a real gift of capturing your attention right from the get go and keeping ahold of you till the finish. Along with this, she also is able to make you feel part of the story and go through the emotions that each of the characters go through and her writing is second to none. Shalini excels in being able to cast a spell over the reader through her prose that lasts long after the book is finished. What also makes Shalini a fantastic author is she does a twist like no other. I had hardly gotten over the twist in The Marriage Betrayal and now I have this one. I wasn’t even thinking about anything when reading this book, just letting Shalini take me on the journey, but when I got there, I did NOT see that coming! I have only just picked my jaw back up off the ground…Well played Shalini, well played! The Other Daughter is one ripper of a read and one to definitely add to your reading list. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review The Other Daughter which I can not recommend highly enough. Thank-you Shalini for another gem and I look forward to reading what you come up with next. Thank-you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Shalini Boland for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Other Daughter which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
1 person found this review helpful
Misty's Corner Reviews
November 5, 2019
Let me start off by saying, wow, just wow! 5/5 stars rating for sure! I'd have rated it even higher if I could! As the tagline states, this was truly, "an addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist"! Every parent's worst nightmare, child abduction- that's where our story starts. Initially, I was intrigued by the story's synopsis: an almost-three-year-old, Holly, taken from a mall play place as her mother sat nearby with her baby sister in tow, drinking coffee and catching up with a friend. Honestly, it was hard not to relate to the assumed excitement that the mother, Rachel, must have been feeling to finally get out of the house and talk to another adult, to actually be able to enjoy hot coffee knowing that her little one was right nearby and within eyeshot, happily entertaining herself. Who would've thought that what should have been a happy little outing would end up becoming the defining moment forever changing their lives? Curiously, instead of reading an account of these terrible events as told from the mother, the first chapter introduces us to a version of events written from the abductor's point of view, told in chapters labeled "then". This choice of narrative ups the creep factor, the fear even more - at just how easily this kidnapper, Catriona, lures little Holly away from her mother and into a whole new life. At this point, I became even more absorbed by figuring out how everything would come together in the end. As the story progressess the reader is taken on a journey, from "Then" to "Now", as told years later amidst the possibility that Holly has returned when a new family moves into town with a daughter strikingly similar to her own lost eldest child. The "Now" anecdote goes to show just how far this mother would go to prove her daughter has returned, and of course, get her back. Just when I came to terms with the way the story was unfolding and thought that I could guess the ending, boom! That's the exact moment when the author so cleverly decided to redirect us through our next turn of events, a new development leaving us guessing all over again. Through all of the twists and turns though, I never once suspected "The Other Daughter" would've ended as it did! I enjoyed the suspense and the psychological aspect, the story's "Then" and "Now" perspectives, the character development and pretty much everything about this story. Usually, when I read a story there will be positive points and negative ones, perhaps more of one than the other depending on the content. However, when it came to "The Other Child" I honestly couldn't find anything negative to report. Now that's saying something! In the end, I succumbed to the overwhelming need to hug my children tight and be happy that this was just a story - similarly to waking up from a nightmare and reassuring yourself that it was only a dream... Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and the author Shalini Boland for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
8 people found this review helpful
Lee Husemann
November 5, 2019
I always look forward to reading Shalini Boland's books because I know I am in for twists, turns and a real surprise ending. This book certainly did not disappoint. Catriona abducts a little girl from the shopping mall play area. Rachel, the mother of the abducted girl Holly, never gives up hoping she finds her alive. Rachel meets a new mum at school, Kate, who has two children the same age as Rachel's children, Amy and Kieran. Kate also has an older daughter Bella. When Rachel meets Bella, she is sure it is the daughter who was abducted years ago. The story is told in a new and now format with then being narrated by Catriona and now by Rachel. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of another great Shalini Boland book in exchange for an honest review.

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