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Rea Frey's NOT HER DAUGHTER blurs the line between good intentions and criminal activity.
Sarah did well after her mother left when she was eight, but she has been unable to cope after her break up with Ethan. Living with a void in her life, she goes about the same routine every day, managing and developing new products for her business, going home alone, and making meaningless calls to her father. Until, on a business trip, she sees five-year-old Emma Grace Townsend. Instantly, she feels a connection and, after seeing the lack of love in the family, knows she has to do something.
Amy, ever struggling with her marriage, with her work, and with her life, struggles the most. Her only daughter, Emma, doesn't listen, always wants attention, and cannot give Amy even an ounce of peace. One night it all goes too far and then, suddenly, Emma is gone. Her life now even more upside down than it already was, Amy has to figure out if Emma's disappearance is a blessing in disguise.
When the opportunity arises, Emma, lonely and without any companionship, goes with Sarah. Unaware that she's even a victim of kidnapping, Emma travels with her new companion across state lines evading the police, the media, and their past lives.
Written from the dual perspectives of Amy and Sarah, the reader begins to understand the motives of both women and their role in Emma's life. Amy is a perfect example of the character you love to hate. She has no love for her husband, hates the demands of her daily routine, and her relationship with Emma only gets worse. Nothing she does is enough. She is well-rounded, a mostly consistent character, and develops into someone you might not expect.
Sarah, while the main voice of the novel, is hard to understand in the beginning. However, the more you read, the more everything about Sarah makes sense. Her company is successful, with huge sales possibilities coming in daily. But what with the prospects, her failed love life, and her mother walking out, nothing in her life is permanent. Every experience, every relationship she's had, and every observation she makes is reflected in her decision to take Emma away.
Amy simply wants peace, and Sarah needs someone to devote herself to. But the novel constantly questions if their needs are enough to make their decisions right.
Many of Sarah and Emma's close calls come across as convenient than realistic, and Amy's reactions and emotions to the whole investigation seem to flip every chapter. Still, the novel is hard to put down, and each chapter leaves you wondering what will happen next. Even after the end, you are left to ponder the moral rightness of what has happened and wonder who the real victim is.
Thrilling and addictive, NOT HER DAUGHTER leaves the reader captive as well as captivated.
§Keshena Hanson recently earned a degree in English from University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, and was published in the University's Sheepshead Review. Her love for mystery started with Blue's Clues, and now she reads any mystery she can get her hands on.
Reviewed by Keshena Hanson, August 2018
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