BOOK TOUR STOP x @InstaBookTours - My Perfect Daughter by Sarah A Denzil

I love her. She scares me.

Eleven years ago, Zoe found a lost little girl on the side of the road. Her name was Maddie, and she wasn't lost at all. Her Dad had left her there on purpose to lure unwitting victims to him to sate his serial killer habits. But with luck and bit of help, her and Maddie manage to escape his cruel clutches and survive - and soon they have a bond that only people who'd been in that house of death could know. They become a family, and Zoe adopts Maddie in a heartbeat when she realises nobody else is coming for her.

Now, years later, on the surface things look shiny and new - Zoe is married, Maddie has a new baby brother, they have a beautiful home and they're safe. But underneath, neither of them every got over what happened. Zoe loves Maddie, even if she's still traumatised by what her Father did and has been diagnosed with severe emotional disorders. She's Zoe's daughter … but she's also her Fathers daughter.

So when Maddie's school bully goes turns up dead, followed by a string of other local girls, eyes turn to Maddie. And Zoe wishes she wasn't suspicious, but she starts to wonder if she knows her Daughter at all.

My Perfect Daughter is a hauntingly thrilling tale of death and devotion - with all the disquiet eeriness of a classic horror mixed with explosive thrills and heart-racing twists. Told through Zoe's perspective, in two timelines, we build a picture of a life trying to recover, and see Maddie through the lens of a loving Mother, but still manage to portray the complex, somewhat twisted personality she displays and the intensely complicated relationship between them.

The chapters were short, snappy, and easily had me flying through the pages, always giving me just enough to know I had to keep reading. Every red herring or reveal had me hooked, and we watched on in suspense as Zoe tries to figure out who or what is happening.

Violent, visceral and bloody, this isn't the story to read if you're fainthearted - but underneath all the gory goodness is a layered story, full of blurry lines between good and bad, intricate plots and the depth that a Mothers love can really go to.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to InstaBookTours and Sarah A Denzil for inviting me to take part in this tour. I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.

CW: Gore, Death, Kidnapping, Mental Illness, Violence

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