The Serial Killer's Daughter by Lesley Welsh

Title: The Serial Killer's Daughter
Author: Lesley Welsh
Published by: Bookouture
Publication date: 14 June 2017 
Read: June 5 - June 10 2017
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 343
ISBN:  9781786811929
Mareli's rating: 4 stars
Recommend to: PSYCHO (Some new killing tips and how to lie about it here)
Description: Suzanne’s life changes forever the day she receives a visit from Rose Anderson, the woman who has been living with her estranged father, Don. Don is dead, but Rose wants Suzanne to have his possessions – including a series of intimate diaries and a mysterious collection of photographs of women. To Suzanne’s shock, one of the photos is of her friend Sophie, whose death ten years before in an unexplained and devastating fire broke Suzanne’s heart. But Don only met Sophie once, on an unsettling visit he paid Suzanne just days before Sophie’s death… So why did he have a picture of her? Unable to let Sophie’s memory alone, Suzanne begins to dig into her father’s life. What horrors is she about to unearth in his journals? And who is it that’s out there, watching her every move? Lesley Welsh.com

After Lesley Welsh's editor at Bookouture read The Serial Killer's Daughter for the first time, she turned to the author and said, "I do sometimes worry that Don Tyler came out of your head".



As a reader and lover of psychological thrillers, I've often wondered about that. And not only for Lesley Welsh, but for numerous other well acclaimed authors as well. What is going on in your head for you to make up characters like these? And what is wrong with me for liking these books and characters so much? 

Now just imagine that you are related to such a character. Directly. The force of genes might be strong in you.... 

 

Suzanne was raised by her mother and only have a few recollecting memories of her father. She remembers his on and off visits as a little girl and the lavish gifts and spoils accompanied by these visits. After her mother got remarried, the visits and gifts stopped. Until one final visit 10 years ago that left her with a new kind of "gift". The gift of loss and despair. But her father didn't really have anything to do with it. Did he?

When she was contacted by a strange, rather neurotic lady claiming her father's death, Suzanne wasn't much bothered. Until she had a look at the possessions he apparently wanted her to have. A few diaries and a couple of photos stacked in locked chest. Pandora herself couldn't have placed more evil in there. 

You get serial killers who have a certain modus operandi. They think, they plan, they search, they wait. They slay. And then you get Don. Up to the very last page, there is not much method in his madness. Unless you count the twists and turns his own mind creates as method. 

The Serial Killer's Daughter was an intriguing read with some great characters. I enjoyed the connection between the different characters and it rounded the story in a compelling way. It really is a tragedy that Lesley Welsh passed away earlier this year. I'm sure we could have expected a few more great thrillers from her pen.

A big thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advance copy of this novel.

Mareli