Somebody’s Daughter is a perfect example of outstanding writing. As the story unfolds you will be drawn to the characters and cringe at times in anticipation of the upcoming events. Most of the time you will be wrong, as the story unfolds in unanticipated ways to always leave you in suspense as to what will happen next. It is mystery at its finest. You won’t want to put the book down, always wanting and needing to know what is going to happen next.

Imagine having your former spouse appear in your new life to tell you that her daughter has disappeared and she needs your help to find her. Why? What can you possibly do that the police can’t? No matter, she needs you for support and you can’t refuse, can you? Thus begins a seemingly fruitless search that is being conducted by you and her, several people who love this child, and a relentless detective who all want to find her before the unthinkable happens.

Spin this all together with an apprehensive wife, guilt over a young sister who died years ago, a family who has deceived you for years, and the reality that the father of the child may be you or another man, and you have an engrossing mystery that you are anxious to read but you don’t ever want to end. But end it did, a bit too quickly for me. I feel more time could have been spent winding down the story and accounting for the effect on more of the principal characters of the story.

There is no sex, no gore, and no language to dissuade you from the enjoyment of Somebody’s Daughter.

This wasn't a bad book, just not as "thrilling" as I like my thrillers to be. The plot moved along as expected and there weren't any surprising twists. I would describe it as "couple gets an unexpected visitor, then works throughout the night methodically going through all options until the issue is resolved."

The book starts out with a woman showing up on the doorstep of her ex-boyfriend. The two called it quits long ago but she needs his help. Her daughter is missing. Michael would usually not worry to much about it because why is that his concern. However when Erica tells him that the young girl is his daughter as well the whole situation changes.At first Michael and his wife are skeptical but the young girl does look just like Michael's late sister. So with the hint that a man at that girls school might be responsible as well as the hint that this girl might be his daughter he does what he things is best and steps back into Erica's world to try to help her find their daughter. Michael's wife (Angela) isn't quite as thrilled as the couple having been trying to conceive for a while now with no luck then to have his former flame come back puts a lot of pressure on her. I really enjoyed the mystery behind this novel. And the author mad the characters so likable and relate able I didn't want anything bad to happen to any of them so I had to race through this book to find out what was going to happen. This was the first book I've read by David Bell however with how great it was it definitely won't be my last one. Very glad I got the chance to read it. Great book with lots of twist and turns to keep the reader interested and guessing. As a reader I was constantly tying to piece together the new information to see if I could figure it out like the detective. Nice work. While there we lots of characters each one gave a different viewpoint and more information on what could have happened to Erica's daughter. Great story, great execution overall well done. This one must be added to your to read list you won't be disappointed.

Another book which begins with a man being told he has a child he knows nothing about. In this case Michael and his wife Angela are pulled into the search for the missing child, Felicity.

This book is full of characters, houses, red herrings and too much happening in a short period of time. It seemed like there are too many people on the hunt for the child and potentially too many fathers. All these relationships were manipulated by Michael’s ex-wife, Erika.

I found this uneven and not especially satisfying, too many predictable outcomes, too little closure.

This was a masterfully written story. The characters and their back stories are so intertwined and realistic. I absolutely loved the pacing and layout of the story. So many times I became so caught up in the current plot and characters only for it to change storylines in the next chapter which definitely heightened and drew out the experience. This book really makes you think and analyze the information you're presented with, and still I was unable to figure out how it would end. I loved how nearly everything was wrapped up in the end. My only regret is that more wasn't revealed and resolved in regards to the Flowers family.

I'm on a roll without sleep, here is proof that "time heals all wounds" IS NOT TRUE! Keep in mind it is fiction but the twists and turns may cause you some real life trust issues. The switchbacks and false leads keep you turning the pages and what you think is in the past comes barreling into the present. This author has a knack for where the mystery is at.. READ IT!

This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a review. Don't want to give a thing away. Read this book. Now!! SO great! You won't be able to put it down!

Having read a previous book by David Bell, I was anxious to read his newest book and it did not disappoint! Michael Frazier’s ex-wife appears at his door, claiming that her ten year-old daughter has been kidnapped and he is the father. Since the fate of a little girl is in jeopardy, Michael takes off with his ex-wife to find the girl. This story has many twists and turns that makes the ending hard to predict. Complex and well developed characters make this book a real page turner. I highly recommend this book.

Michael and Angela Frazier are enjoying a quiet evening at home when the doorbell rings. Answering the door, Michael is surprised to his ex-wife, Erica.
She has some convoluted story about how her daughter has been kidnapped and she needs help finding her. Michael suggests she go to the police. Then she drops the bombshell, the child may be his.
The story then takes you through numerous characters all claiming to be fathers and mothers of this child.it gets kind of confusing at times. There is a sub-story of the police officer trying to prove her worth. All in all it was a good book. It did hold my interest. The characters could have had more of a back story. In the end all the loose ends are tied up.
4 Stars

I received an ARC copy from BerkleyPub in #BookSweepstakes.

This is one of my favorite reads of the year! I was immediately pulled in by the excerpt of how an ex-wife suddenly shows up dropping a bombshell on her ex-husband. A secret that she held onto for ten years out of spite.

Michael and Erica Frazier got married for the wrong reasons right out of college. They were not good for one another, with a troubled marriage. Michael ended the marriage and soon after met his current wife, Angela.

Michael's family suffered a tragedy when he was young that devastated his parents and sister. Erica, who knew of the tragedy, shows up on Michael's doorstep to inform him that he is a father of a nine-year-old girl that is missing. Erica uses the family tragedy to hook Michael into going with her to seek out a person, whom she wishes to confront.

Michael agrees to go with Erica in what should amount to a few hours being gone, but turns into a nightmare for all involved. Everyone is hiding a secret. Michael and Angela's marriage will be tested. A lot of truths will have to be shifted through with time running out to find a missing child that just vanished, that may or may not be Michael's daughter.

This was a compelling, fast paced read! I, highly recommend this book!

This was a book that I could not put down. The characters were easy to get to know. It was surprising what a hunger it gave me to move thru the book…I wanted to read faster and faster. A 9-year old girl, missing, I wanted it to be solved quickly. I cried some. I don’t want to give any spoilers…but I had a pretty good idea, at about midpoint in the book, who the kidnapper was, and there were quite a few possibilities. It was easy to read. No errors that I could find to distract me from the story line. This is my second David Bell book, the first being Bring Her Home, and I love his style of writing so I am definitely going to search him out and see what else he already has published.

I was hooked from the start of this book. Starting with the disappearance of a nine year old girl and a cast of characters with many hidden secrets, I kept turning the pages. Even when not reading I found myself thinking of the story and where it was going with all the twist and turns. I’ve always enjoyed David Bell, although not one of his best books, it does not disappoint. Thank you for the opportunity to review.

This is a story with many twists and turns. A child is missing and even the Mother is not sure who the father is. The suspense builds as a detective goes off the rails and the major suspect kills himself. Then a mother who lost her child 10 yrs ago thinks the missing child is hers. my only complaint is the story moves too slow- too much repetitive narrative.

A child disappears. Her mother comes to her former husband’s home and tells him Felicity, the missing child, is his daughter. She is now 9 years old and this is the fist he has learned of her. He goes with his former wife to help find the child, leaving his present wife home alone. The story is about the search, the people involved with the search, his ex-wife’s ten year separation from him, his current wife’s reaction to all and his own feelings about the situation. It is a procedural as far as the Police investigation is concerned, but much more a psychological thriller from everyone else’s viewpoint. The plot is complex almost to the point of being convoluted, but masterfully never reaches that point. The author did an excellent job of taking an extremely complicated and frightening situation and turning it into a well written, well plotted novel. Thanks to Net Galley and Berkeley for an ARC for an honest review.

Psychological thrillers range between well written, twisted, flights of mystery or they can be cliche ridden, poorly plotted morass that indicates a lack of common understanding of how people in relationships function. Unfortunately, Somebody's Daughter falls more towards the latter than the former. The biggest issue I have with this title is that at no point has the main couple made any effort at true communication. The husband is hiding things from the wife, his mother is acting in an absurd manner in colluding with his ex-wife, there are a number of 2 dimensional characters who suddenly appear and apparently have pertinent information to share in an almost deus ex machina format, and the wife seems to alternate between trusting her spouse and not trusting him with no additional information causing her change of opinion. The constant "cliff hanger" chapter terminations and switching between points of view made this book a slog to get through.

Somebody's Daughter by David Bell is a thriller of a story that's told over the course of one long night. Michael Frazier is shocked to open his door and find his former wife standing there telling him that not only does he have a 9 year old daughter but also that she's gone missing. From thereon out the story is rapidly told via short cliffhanging chapters using various points of views. This is a fast read that leaves you guessing right up to the end. Read and enjoy!

I recieved the book "Somebody's Daughter" written by David Bell in exchange for an honest review. This book takes place over a few days. A 9 year old girl goes missing, an ex-wife shows up on your doorstep looking for help, she claims this child is yours...but this is the first time you are ever hearing about her. Michael is concerned this may be his child and she is in danger, so he joins his ex-wife, Erica, on a mission to try to find her before it's too late. The problem, his new wife Andrea is stuck home waiting and wondering what is going on. As secrets from the past start to emerge, the entire family is sent in a tailspin, and everyone knows the most important thing at the moment is finding the missing the girl.

This is the second book I have read by David Bell. The first was "Bring Her Home". While I enjoyed the previous book, I was disappointed by it's predictability. Mr. Bell has certainly redeemed himself with this new book. There are many twists and turns, and you really don't have any idea who has the child and if she will really be safe. Even with all these new motives introduced, the author does a nice job of tying each one up without leaving the reader to wonder what happened in each scenario.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very quick read, once I got the halfway point, I honestly needed to keep going to find out the answers to all the secrets and lies discovered. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

David Bell books are hard to put down. He writes in an extremely accessible way about relatable people in suspenseful circumstances. This trend continues with his latest book, Somebody’s Daughter. This story is unique from some of Bell's earlier works in that the perspective switches around between several different characters throughout the course of the story. It did get a little choppy at points because of this, but overall it remained easy enough to follow. Introducing the perspective of a female police officer was a particularly interesting aspect of this. Bell has done it again....written a book that you intend to read for an hour and then realize you've just sat there with your nose buried in the story for 3 hours, instead of 1....

When I read David Bell's books in the past, I was enamored by how incredible of a writer he is. So, when I saw his new book Somebody's Daughter up for request on Netgalley, I knew I had to snatch it up. Unfortunately, this wasn't his best work, and I was really disappointed in this book. I know David can do better, I've seen it in his previous books, such as Bring Her Home.

Michael's ex-wife, Erica, shows up on his doorstep one evening, claiming that her daughter has gone missing. The daughter that Michael didn't know she had, and the daughter that Erica claims is also Michael's. He finds this hard to fathom, since he and his current wife, Angela, are having an incredibly hard time having a child. Despite his wary feelings, he decides to go with Erica to track down the man she believes is responsible for their daughters disappearance. 

While waiting for Michael to return, Angela takes it upon herself to try and crack the case, and when she gets another knock on the door, this time from someone that apparently knows Erica, she's in for a rude awakening. 

As long as Michael is with Erica, Angela fears he is not safe, and the daughter that Erica claims has disappeared may have been hurt, by Erica's own hands. This book spans the course of one night, and even though it's high energy, it's very predictable and the thrills just aren't there.

From the first chapter, I knew what was going to happen, and I hate when I can read into books right off the bat. It makes the book seem more like a chore than a time to relax and sink into someone else's world. This book just didn't do it for me, but I don't plan on giving up on David Bell just yet. I give this book 2 out of 5 stars, the writing was good, but the plot was disastrous.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an advanced read in exchanged for this review.

This book had so much potential! The opening chapter hooked me right into the story. Michael and his wife are having dinner when the door rings. It's his ex-wife who says that her daughter is missing. Also, the daughter is his. SURPRISE!

Then it's all downhill from there. First of all, all the characters (and there are many!) decide to their own sleuthing in the middle of the night, some without phones or even telling others what they are up to. This sounds like a GREAT idea!

Back to the many characters. There's too many. It's hard to keep track. Also, there are unnecessary plot lines thrown in. The story becomes quite complicated. It's a train derailing, basically. One plot line was extremely unnecessary and then it was left unresolved at the end. I figured the author had so much going on, that he probably forgot. With all of this, it's hard to like a single character. You're just hoping someone comes and cleans up the mess.

Less is more. I think if the author would have cut out some of the characters and plot lines, he could have spent time crafting a great novel with complex characters and a perfected story line. Maybe next time.