Thank you Berkley Pub, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Hunter’s Daughter in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Berkley
Published: May 14, 2024
Summary:
A hypnotic, sinister debut mystery about a seemingly good cop who is secretly the daughter of a notorious serial killer.
Anna Koray escaped her father’s darkness long ago. When she was a girl, her childhood memories were sealed away from her conscious mind by a controversial hypnosis treatment. She’s now a decorated sheriff’s lieutenant serving a rural county, conducting an ordinary life far from her father’s shadow.
When Anna kills a man in the line of duty, her suppressed memories return. She dreams of her beloved father, his hands red with blood, surrounded by flower-decked corpses he had sacrificed to the god of the forest.
To Anna’s horror, a serial killer emerges who is copying her father – and who knows who she really is. Is her father still alive, or is this the work of another? Will the killer expose her, destroying everything she has built for herself? Does she want him to?
But as she haunts the forest, using her father’s tricks to the hunt the killer, will she find what she needs most…or lose herself in the gathering darkness?
My thoughts:
This had been sitting in my Netgalley queue since last year and it was only when I was asked to take part in the blog tour for the 2nd book in the series that I realized I really needed to pick this one up…and now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long! This debut is exactly what I love in a thriller book…and has me quite eager for book 2, The Sister’s Curse — due out October 25th.
I love books about serial killers and this one really had me fully engaged from the get-go. There is a slight paranormal aspect that sometimes works for me and sometimes doesn’t, but here I actually found to be super interesting. I love that memory comes into play here — it really is one of my favorite tropes and it plays such an integral role here.
This book has so many elements that work together to keep the book moving — there’s the police procedural part, the psychological trauma, the paranormal element and so much more. I also loved Anna as a character, even if I didn’t always trust her. I loved that while she wanted to know her past, she also didn’t…the complexity of her character was so well developed.
This book totally surprised me and I’m so excited to start the next one…watch for my review in late October!
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