Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra

• Release Date: September 20th 2016

• Pages: 288

• Genre: Psychological Thriller/Grip-lit

• Publisher: Mira (Harlequin)

After going missing for 12 years the Winters’ family only daughter, Rebecca, is back. Rebecca doesn’t remember where she’s been and her memories are fleeting mostly because the girl who returned isn’t Rebecca Winters. She’s an impostor simply looking to hide out. But somebody from the shadows is on to the deception and before this impostor is found out she will discover that Rebecca’s perfect suburban life was lie.

This  Aussie thriller moves between time, following the exploits of the impostor in 2014 and the uneasy life of the real teenage Rebecca Winters a decade previous. Snoekstra sets the scene of an idyllic life with a disturbing underbelly and while the novel doesn’t have the same eerie pathos of a Gillian Flynn novel, you will find yourself flipping the pages to find out how this ends.

Because we spend so much time exploring the life of a teenage Rebecca coming of age in the ’00s, this thriller has major crossover appeal for teen readers who can relate to her best friend drama and secret crushes.

While some  reviewers found the way coincidences that popped up to keep up the facade  to be too much,  I gave it the benefit of the doubt because when I read this I’d just watched the A&E documentary, The Impostor, on Netflix. This is the true story of a European man who pretends to be a missing American boy. So. Truth in fiction ?

I’ve been reading a lot of Australian authors like Liane Moriarty,  Max Barry and Anna Snoekstra and I’ve watched The Australian show The Slap and they all have multiple POVs and time shifts. . .  is this like an Australian thing ? Inquiring minds.

Also I thought this was a very good length for a book at just under 300 pages.