Supposedly infamous society killer gets out of jail and hides...implausible.

Just ok.

Ultimately Dear Daughter suffered from an author who seemed to use a snarky and obnoxious protagonist and overwrought and pretentious descriptions/metaphors to distract from the fact that the plot was cliché and mediocre.

...the slow gurgle of blood from a wound. I looked at my left shoulder. “Shit,” I breathed. “Red is so not my color.” Loc4640

Jane seriously does not know when to quit it.

The plot, which is extremely slow moving and at times leaves you wondering what the hell the point is, involves criminal/mystery cliches such as: cutting/dying hair for a new “identity”, police station break-in to somehow quickly find the very files you are looking for, decades old diary that breaks the case wide open found and complete strangers in a small town yapping openly about the very person the protagonist is attempting to locate. There are far more clichés, but this is a good handful of them. There was also a very aggressive and irritating blogger that in this day and age also felt cliché, though for different reasons. Said blogger also was predictable and added nothing to the story, in my opinion.

The author was also very, very fond of using obscure references which only seemed to be in order to show-off her highly thought of interests as a reader, movie and unknown (to me) furniture consumer. Unfortunately such references were to be found on, at the very least, every other page. Such as:

An accent out of a Tennessee Williams play and a genetic inclination for a farmer’s tan. He grew up in some asshole of a town in Mississippi, shit poor and hungry for everything but daddy issues, but his optimism remained improbably intact. I bet he still goes home every year for Thanksgiving thinking that this time he’ll finally talk the family into getting over Brown v. Board of Education. Loc177

He redeemed me by mere association. The Tourvel to my Valmont. The Hillary to my Bill. The Cindy Lou Who to my Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Loc188

Kristof had been in L.A. for a year or so when I saw him for the first time, cutting a line of coke in a club on Melrose like he was Michelangelo with a cube of baby laxative–laced Carrara. Loc1351

They may as well have been carrying matching copies of Rubyfruit Jungle. Loc1694

Overall I found the writing style overwrought and subsequently too eye-roll worthy to enjoy. The author's talent is weighed down by her attempts to be clever and her plotting needs serious work. I am unlikely to read the author again.

(I got an ARC through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Dear Daughter was a compelling enough story, but I admit I thought I'd like it more. There were several moments in which the pace dragged down and the story didn't seem to progress much, and the characters didn't exactly "fill" those moments either.

Though Jane Jenkins isn't exactly a likeable protagonist, because of her demeaning attitude, I still liked her in general: she calls other people on their crap, sure, but she does the same when she's concerned, which is enough of a redeeming feature in my eyes. I can't say I smiled at all her quips (some were really not great); nevertheless, she was mildly amusing. Also, I tend to appreciate characters that aren't necessarily nice and kind. Jane had her manipulative streak, tempered by the fact she had been in prison for ten years, and sometimes this made her a little rusty, thus not perfect at her own game. Sometimes, she was clever. At other times, she realised she had made some huge blunder... and she considered it as her own, not pinning it down on someone else, even though her tone might make it appear so.

The Ardelle setting was interesting, too: derelict twin little towns, founded during the Gold Rush yet doomed to die with it, with five old families pretending that everything was nice and dandy, except every closet has its skeleton, of course. I could feel the desperate "I hate this place, but I still can't leave" atmosphere. No matter what, I wanted to read about them, be on the ride with Jane as she uncovered bit by bit who they were, their relationships, and how they may have factored in her mother's death.

The mixed media approach, with snippets from blogs, Wikipedia, etc.: I like this format, though I can't tell all of those excerpts always added a lot to the story.

On the dowside, at times the secondary characters just seemed too helpful for the sake of being helpful. Jane's identity as "Rebecca" may have fooled them, sure, but it wasn't so perfect, and I would have expected more ruthlessness, more distrust than what was shown, more tension, in a way. Even the cop's presence didn't make things that exciting (also, random vague love/sex interest that wasn't really interesting in my opinion).

I found the plot to be dragging far-fetched and flimsy in places. The clue to Ardelle/Adeline was a rather light one, and I would have found it more believable if Jane had had just a couple more hints about it, thus justifying more strongly her going there. I was given the impression that some huge secret loomed above the town, yet in the end, the aforementioned skeletons were rather... bland, and not so unexpected. This was a bit of a letdown for me. I think the most problematic part, though, was Jane's own lack of certainty regarding her mother's murderer: she never appeared as so stoned/drunk/whatever as to prove to me she may genuinely not remember. I don't know, but the mere adrenaline shot of murdering my mother would most certainly put me out of any drunken stupor I might be in. Either you know or you don't, and in this case, the mystery of "did she or didn't she?" seemed like an unfounded device.

The ending... I don't know about the ending. Somehow, it fits bith the narrative's tone, yet it made me fell "so, she did all of this for that?" Not very satisfying here.

This novel had its strong points, and my liking Jane's narative voice helped a lot in my enjoyment of it. Nevertheless, I'm putting it in the "OK-to-good" category, not more.

I received a copy of this book from the publishers via Net Galley and this is my honest review.

 

Jane Jenkins, Hollywood socialite, is released on a technicality after serving 10 years in prison for the murder of her mother. Immediately she goes into hiding. Running away from the world, and her lawyer, the only friend she has, she sets out to find out the truth about her mother’s murder, basing her search on a snatched conversation overheard the night her mother died. Even if it means finding out she did actually kill her mother, as everyone else believes…

 

Jane Jenkins, renamed by the media as Janie, had a spoiled and somewhat lavish upbringing, spending most of her youth in Switzerland before moving to the US. Her mother is a socialite and philanthropist also well known for her many marriages. One morning Janie wakes from a drug and drink fuelled binge to find her mother dead from gunshot wounds, with the name Jane written in blood at her side. Not knowing what really happened that night, and whether she did kill her mother, with whom she had a tumultuous relationship at best, Janie heads out to find out what happened.

 

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were times I couldn’t put it down, wanting to find out what happened next. Then there were times that I carried on reading just to get past a part I didn’t particularly like. Janie Jenkins is a particularly dislikeable character with few redeeming features. She is spoiled, vain, tempestuous and snide. Despite 10 years in prison, most spent in solitary, she still has a major chip on her shoulder. I understand that the author, Elizabeth Little, is keen to find out what people thought of Janie and she is certainly a character that will make an impression. Elizabeth Little is certainly talented at characterisation. A character that draws definite feelings is always better than one that draws indifference.

 

As the story develops some parts of Janie mature too but overall she still acts as the spoiled 17 year old who went to prison and not the 27 year old who has been released. She is however more aware of her short comings, she is well aware of her ‘rampant narcissism’. Through the story development and flashbacks it becomes apparent that perhaps a lot of Janie’s attitude is as result of her childhood but also some of it inherited from her mother, who is not all that she seems either.

 

The mystery itself was compelling enough; I had worked it out before the denoument but again this didn’t spoil the story for me. I don’t want to go into too much detail as it would spoil the story. After all the fun of reading a mystery novel is that it’s a mystery before you start :-)  All in all, whilst I didn’t love this story I did like it and am glad I read it.

I received this e-galley from Net Galley and Viking Adult Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you both for the opportunity!

This book took a little while for me to get into it. It was like a long, slow climb to get to the first hill of the roller coaster. However, when it finally took off, I was definitely glad I was on for the ride.

Janie Jenkins spent ten years in jail for the murder of her mother but was released due to negligence by LAPD. She has spent those ten years wondering if she was innocent or guilty. The night in question was a bit hazy for her, but she truly believes that she could not have killed her mother. They didn't get along, but could Janie really have done it?

Then Janie finds out that everything she knew about her mother and her start in life was a lie. A very well crafted story with plot twists you do, (Or do you?) see coming and several you don't. It's one you will not be able to put down.