The Madman's Daughter
932431
The Madmans Daughter offered me something I don't quite see often in YA lit and thats a gothic style. Having never read The Island of Dr. Moreau, though now I definitely want to, I eagerly jumped into this one hoping to find something new.

I really enjoyed Megan Shepards writing style. Its dark, gritty, and moody; you can tell this is a gothic style novel within the first page and really loved the over dark and dank nature of the tale. I also loved the details and descriptions which Shepard beautiful carves with each word. It does have a bit of slow start and build up towards the beginning but once on the island it becomes really addictive. Ive heard several people say that its not that different from the original and perhaps they are right, if so Im glad I got to this one first. There were times when the cloudy creepy nature of this book amped up that I almost didn't want to know the answers.

Juliet is an interesting MC because while there is plenty of opportunity for her to be a typical Mary-Sue caught in the middle of something terrible she isnt. She reacts to it, she fights back, she enjoys it and she hates it. Gothic novels tend to play with the fringes of sanity and this is no different, causing most of the characters to question if theyve stepped over the blurry line. There is a sort of love trianglewhich to be more specific its a love isosceles. Two sides of this triangle are very much the same but there is that one off feeling option that never quite settles right. I don't know if the romances were quite successful but they were necessary in terms of plot.

No character is perfect in this, as event the best of the island dwellers keeps terrible secrets. Juliets father was incredibly horrible. He could barely manage to act the part of a father and the things he was guilty of when he was away from her are just horrific.

Id definitely say that The Madmans Daughter is a promising start for a gothic series. Despite the slow beginning and the kind of frustrating final page, Im really looking forward to continuing this series.
3164189
All is not well with the Hurst family.

No indeed tell me about it! All is certainly NOT well with the Hurst family. But what, I wonder, could be at the heart of that disease? Well thats what Koren Zailckas looks at here - a family dynamic - and something at its core that is eating away at the whole.

Told from two points of view - that of the two younger children, Violet and Will, their elder sister Rose having escaped by running away a year or so before, a picture begins to emerge of a rather strange and terrible household. As Violet finds herself on a psychiatric ward after an incident at home and Will is left behind with their mother, the two very differing points of view on what went on and why make fascinating reading.

Dad Douglas is fighting his own demons and is noticeably pathetic, Mum Josephine is unpredictable and scary, Violet is beginning to rebel and Will is endlessly annoying - I kept forgetting he is only 12, his character is BRILLIANTLY written to the point I very much wanted to slap him. But then its not his fault - we are all a victim of our upbringing in one way or another. Another theme that is explored well here.

Mother Mother sits at the heart of this tale of course - no surprise there - I'm fairly sure if I had a mother like her I'd WELCOME the psychiatric ward...but I love the way that the author keeps the whole thing slightly off kilter and by allowing us to see things through two separate pairs of eyes she manipulates her readers into first one train of thought and then another..so you are compelled to read ever onwards to find out what exactly will happen to this desperate lot.

All in all a well written, intriguing and fast flowing tale of a dysfunctional yet fascinating family and one I would recommend to fans of psychological thrillers.

For this reader, it was terrific fun at the same time as being strangely cathartic - I mean my family has its moments but compared to the Hursts we are the Waltons.

Goodnight John Boy!

Happy Reading Folks.

***Hardback Purchased Via Amazon UK***
297624
32 year old Delia Hopkins was raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father Andrew, she now has a 3 year old daughter called Sophie and a gorgeous fianc who happens to be a recovering alcoholic. Delia's job is to find missing people and she is great at it but now that she is planning her wedding to fianc Eric she is haunted by memories of a life she can't remember.
Suddenly she tells her great friend Fitz of these memories and his intentions of helping Delia end up having Andrew Hopkins taken to jail for kidnapping his daughter Bethany Mathews when she was 4 years old.
Delia's entire world falls apart and as her father is tried as a mean madman she meets her mother and her second husband. What Delia doesn't know is that her mother Elise is a raging alcoholic and that her stepfather abused her.
Can we blame Andrew of taking his child and reinventing a life for them both? Can we really trust anyone with the rearing of our children?
Once again a smashing success, a story very well built and characters who are flawed and weak and strongly presented.
3030004
This is a well-documented account of a mentally ill woman who ruthlessly exploited her children that were born with the aid of fertility drugs for the sole purpose of creating wealth. She beat and abused them  from the time they were infants. A true horror story. The woman belongs behind bars.
4485133
A well written, shocking account of a young girl's terrifying tale of growing up in a cult. I listened to the audio book (the narrator was fantastic) and was glued to every word.
4786072
Sophies Dad disappeared several years ago under mysterious circumstances. Sophie has not seen nor heard from him since. No one knows where he went or what happened to him. A few years later Sophies Mom remarried to a guy named Ted. Sophie tries her best to stay out of Teds hair as he is insane. He tends to talk to people that are not there or at least no one that she can see.

Sophie misses her Dad so much that one night as she is about to fall asleep she sees her Dad and she talks to him. He tells her he is trapped and the place where is, is a very bad place. She doesnt get much from him as he keeps breaking up. She is more than ever determined to find him now.

She soon learns that her Dad traveled to an alternate universe and is trapped there and needs her help to get back. How she is to help him she has no clue. All she knows is that she has to follow him to this other world so she can talk to him and maybe he can help her to figure it all out.

When she gets there she finds out that more is at stake than she ever thought possible. She learns that her world and this other world are both in very bad danger of being destroyed unless she can find a way to stop it. She also has to find a way back home to her world. She also learns that her father just may not be the person she thought he was or is he?

Membrane has been a very interesting read one that has opened up a whole new world to me and has left me doing some very heavy thinking. I have enjoyed the world that the author has created in Membrane and would love to read more about Sophie, Eli and the other worlds plus a whole lot more too. Membrane is a very fast read. It will grab you from the very first page and will not let go until the very last word has been read and even then it doesnt let go.
1418857
This book had me on the edge of my seats.  I enjoy reading true stories on serial killers so this was a first for me to read a fictional version.  I am glad though because this is one very sick and twisted character.
4024811
I really enjoyed this book, Pyper can handle a lot.  She's accused of killing two women and on top of that she's being attacked by an evil witch. This book is pretty crazy but in a good way though
89220
Truly twisted. Mackay has managed to out do himself with these sick and horrific tales in this second volume. Charlie is still in a drug coma and we are getting another first hand view in to his destroyed and drug manipulated mind. Each nightmare is more perverse than the last.  This book is disturbing to the 10th power. Andrew Mackay is an amazingly gifted story teller.  Read at your own risk! I read this book for an arc and my honest review.
4037712
A delicious and fiendish romp through the broken mind and twisted logic of a child serial killer!  At 200ish pages, a quick read and I couldn't put it down.
4160720
I was kept in suspense the entire time. I can't believe a mother would treat their child in that way. I want to learn more about the young girl. I hope there will be another book.
3845757
In this deeply disturbing psychological thriller, we meet Louisa Williams who is trying to build a new life for herself after the car accident that ripped her world apart. Dealing with the death of Sam, the loss of her children, and scarred for life, Louisa has left her past behind her and moved to the city, in the hopes of creating a different future than the one she always thought she would have. Leaving her married name behind, she becomes Lou Turner again. With a new apartment, a new job, and a new caring, younger man, Louisa starts to feel confident again and that everything is a little brighter. But when her husband's lover, Sophie, tracks her down and starts demanding money, Louisa's past is soon firmly mixed with her present. Sophie wants the money that she feels her daughter, Sam's daughter, is entitled to, but more than that she wants to clear Sam's name and she will stop at nothing to expose Louisa for the liar she believes her to be. With plenty of twists, turns, and unbelievable shocks (trust me you will be shouting OMG about twenty times!) HER HUSBAND'S LOVER by Julia Crouch is a pure masterpiece of crime fiction. Fast-paced, with gripping characters, and exquisite detail, HER HUSBAND'S LOVER by Julia Crouch is a must-read for 2017!!

*I voluntarily reviewed this book from Netgalley.com
2747063
Where does one begin to describe the context of this book, which is so twisted that it goes way outside the norms of family; of acceptable sexual behavior; of infantcide, revenge mass murder, and killing your siblings and/or parents Then one must also take in account psychological manifestations due to inbreeding, incestuous behavior of father/son upon daughter/sister in an orgy type arena.  I think that just about covers it?  But wait, there is the doll!

The doll. A personality of it's own. Maybe not? Could it be a second (2nd) personality within the same person. Or just the the true feelings that a girl has repressed her whole life? (You must've  read the first book to take all this in.)  Now add in a younger sister who is aware and has been an unwilling  participant in so much. can she handle it? Could you?

So much happens in this book. Twist become more twisted and sick.

As for the writing: I find that the author has built  marvelous, if despicable, characters.  Each having their on personality (maybe two). The setting are vividly described but the reader is not overwhelmed Itty bits.  The interplay between characters is clear, clean, and straightforward.  And the story is well plotted even though it is bizarre.

I recommend you read Book 1,  then jump into this book: It is, as the title states: deranged!
1843996
Julie is an amazing child psychiatrist having a bad week. One of her young patients showed up at bible study with a gun and proceeded to kill 2 fellow students and herself. Someone needs to be blamed, so Julie is pinpointed. The judge dismiss her from any fault, but she is haunted and without other patients. Her sister is the police chief in the small town they grew up in. She is also very self centered. When she coerces Julie to come home to help her with a "wild" child found in a tree in town, she doesn't realize what spotlight will be put on her sister, again. As Julie and the small girl work together, they make up a mishmash family unit and the girl is progressing until her father shows up and wants her back. Together they must work for what is best for the small child and to do that, they have to figure out what happened to her over the past 5 years
1611795
Spoiler alert

Amy is the biggest twitch I have come across in a book in a very long time.
She uses, abuses and is a true psychopath being the poster child of dysfunctional in any DSMIV in the world.
The time she takes, the trouble she goes to, the extent of her hate.  I loved it all.

The reason I loved it is due to the fact that this is NOT a perfect woman.  She takes on role's - The Daughter.
The Wife.  The Friend etc but she is none of these.  She is a selfish self absorbed twit.  One I really hoped would bite the dust.
The ending was both brilliant as well as deeply disturbing.

A brilliant book indeed and one I am very glad a friend pushed me to read.

WaAr
3204514
I say the Protestant church should buy this movie to prove Damien exists. Show this to the Church please. Delia is satan's daughter.
96881
A young woman murders her parents and lets her autistic brother get blamed, which would land him in an institution for the criminally insane for the rest  of this life. When a psychiatrist discovers the truth, she tries to murder him too in a horrifying manner. Her excuse? you go it: her father supposedly abused her sexually. Of course. She is a "victim", so it's a slap on the wrist for this murderess.