2.5 stars. First of all, this was not a “pulse pounding novel of psychological suspense!” It was slow and just dragged. It picked up a bit about half way through which, at least, got me to finish reading it. The characters were unlikeable and ran around with strange interactions. The ending was rather trite. I guess it is a readable story . . . obviously, many people really liked it per the 4 and 5 star reviews . . . but it was definitely not my cup of tea.

A young girl is kidnapped and her mother asks her ex-husband for help in finding her. The whole story takes place over 12 hours with the story unfolding from different characters' point of view. I read this book in a little over a day, and I am a slow reader. I could not put it down. I guessed from almost the beginning of the story what happened, but I still enjoyed some of the revelations along the way.

Somebody's Daughter begins with Michael and Angela Frazier enjoying a relaxing dinner in their home, when their peace is interrupted by the door bell. When Michael answers the door, it's the last person he expects to see...his ex wife Erica. As if that wasn't shocking enough, she drops a bombshell on him. They have a 9 year old child together, and that child is missing.

The idea behind this book was intriguing. The execution though, I felt like the characters actions were totally unbelievable. Erica was completely unlikable. She doesn't tell her ex husband they have a daughter for 9 years, until she needs help. As the plot unfolds, and secrets are revealed, the actions become even more unbelievable. Everybody knows something more than what they are letting onto until the very end. The ending was almost anti-climactic.

I was immediately hooked from the start! This book was going to be a thrill ride of reading! Not so much so. After about a quarter way through the book, it turned pretty much predictable & i kept waiting for the twists & turns to come. That's why I kept reading, I was anxious to come upon the unexpected. The mini twist & bigger twist finally came approximately somewhere around the last 5 chapters. I've read most all of Mr Bell's books & I know his books are filled with the twists & turns & unpredictable parts i look forward to & enjoy. He's a very fine author, especially for twists & turns in his books. My nails are usually nibs by the end of his books. This book, not really of the same caliber. I was disappointed , but maybe it was me? Perhaps I pre-hyped myself for what I'm used to when reading his books? I refuse to "give up" on this author, I was just disappointed in what I was expecting a rollercoaster ride, but got a playground slide
I received a digital copy from Net Galley & Berkley Publishers. Many thanks & appreciation for allowing me this advanced copy & in return I've written an honest review

Imagine your ex-wife of 10 years ago showing up at your house one evening and telling you her daughter is missing. You didn’t even know she had a daughter. Then she tells you it is your daughter. This is what happens to Michael Frazier. He is now happily married to Angela, and they have been trying to have children with no success. When his ex-wife Erica shows up and drops this bombshell he doesn’t know what to do. He decides to go with Erica to try to help her find her/possibly their missing daughter. What follows is a night of mystery, revelations, and ultimately, answers. I really enjoyed the way David Bell wrote this book. The main characters are Michael, his wife Angela, and a Detective Griffin. Every chapter ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger and then goes to the other person’s viewpoint. This style of writing made for a very quick read and impossible to put down. I definitely would recommend this book to fans of fast-paced mysteries. The whole book takes place in one night. I have read almost all of David Bell’s previous books and this ranks as one of my favorites.

Wow. David Bell certainly kept me guessing. This was a great book that had twists and turns galore! I love when I think I have it figured out, and I’m wrong. To me, that keeps the story strong. Well done, I will definitely recommend this book. I was lucky enough to be able to read it early to release, due to NetGalley.

Excellent psychological thriller that keeps you guessing to the very last page. We'll developed characters and a believable plot line combined with a page turning urgency. Highly recommended.

I could not put this book down and finished it in one sitting. This was the second book by David Bell that I read, and I absolutely loved it.

Michael’s ex-wife, Erica who he has not seen in ten years shows up to his doorstep one evening. He tells her that her daughter Felicity has disappeared- and that he is her father. Meanwhile Michael has happily remarried to Angela and the two of them have been trying really hard to have a child but were having difficulties. There were many twists and turns throughout the book during the search for Felicity that kept me guessing about the outcome. I enjoyed how several chapters ended with a cliffhanger with one or two of the characters and you had to wait a chapter or two to find out what was going on.

I thought the writing was great and loved the character development. The only character that I did not really enjoy, which I hate to say was Erica. I understand she was devastated since her daughter was missing but I found her to be a bit cold towards Michael and didn’t have a good explanation why she had never shared this possibility of him being the father before. She seemed a bit egocentric. I did, however love Angela’s character and found her to be a lot more understanding of the situation than I probably would have been.

I will definitely recommend this book to others and will patiently wait for David Bell’s next book. 😊

Thank you to David Bell, Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for an ARC copy of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a review copy. This book was ok for me. I liked the premise and thought it had real potential but something was lost in the execution. I felt that there were the right number of characters to be able to keep track of but also not so many that you couldn't remember who was who. But I felt the characters were just aimlessly running from one person's house to another without any real purpose and I thought the book was unnecessarily long. I had a hard time getting into it but once I got to about 50%, I moved through it much more quickly because I felt like we were going to start getting Earth shattering reveals. Those didn't really materialize. I loved Somebody I Used to Know by this author and will probably read another one of his hoping he gets back to that form.

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. I so enjoyed the storyline and all the twists in this book and it is so nice to be able to read a book without all of the cursing.

David Bell's trademark is describing the dilemmas, frustration, and desperation of ordinary people in extraordinary situations. I really enjoyed several of his recent novel, e.g. Since She Went Away and Bring Her Home, and this book is also a very well-written and gripping novel. Bell throws in a number of credible twists, turns and false leads, which keeps the reader guessing - and turning the pages. I can't really put a finger on why I am not totally excited about this book, but I didn't find the plot or characters as believable as in some of Bell's other books. Furthermore, I wasn't quite as surprised by some of the twists and other developments as I presume was the intention.
Well, the four stars awarded to this book are huge and well-deserved, and fans of David Bell will also enjoy this book immensely - as will lovers of books about ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

Yet another, blood rushing, edge of your seat thriller from the talented, David Bell!

A child, Felicity, goes missing, an ex wife, Erica, shows up literally at Michael and Angela's doorstep with news. The news is what is equivalent to a bomb- explosive enough to blow up a marriage. Michael divorced from Erica, is now happily remarried to Angela (which side bar- they have been painstakingly trying to have a baby with no luck). When Erica shows up and detonates her bomb, Michael is left stunned with the news that he may possibly already be a father and cue the music - dun dun dun -his daughter is missing.

Somebody's Daughter, takes you on a crazy trip (the only kind you can take with an ex, right?) in search of the missing, Felicity. Will they find her in time or will they uncover buried secrets from the past that will haunt all whom is involved? A must read- to which I give a 5 star rating!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!❤️

This book had many different characters, each with their own story to tell, which did it make it a little hard to follow. I am a fan of David Bell's writing, but I didn't enjoy this one as much. I had a hard time sympathizing with Erica. I did not like her character at all. Even after reading the book and reading her explanation for not telling her ex-husband that he had a child, I still couldn't wrap my brain around that fact. I didn't understand why she would wait 10 years to tell him that he has a child, and this is only after said child is missing. If Felicity had not gone missing, would she have ever told him about her? Erica came off as erratic and self-centered, and I just could not get myself to empathize with her.

Michael's ex-wife, Erica, shows up at his porch claiming his nine year old daughter is missing. A daughter Michael never knew existed. So begins the crazy night of trying to find Felicity. The book took so many twists and turns I kept changing my mind on who was involved with the kidnapping of Felicity. At times I wondered if there even was a little girl or if it was all a ruse. Each chapter seemed to end with a little cliffhanger and I couldn't stop reading because I needed to know what was happening.

Of all of David Bell's books, this is one of my favorites. It was fast paced and kept me in suspense right until the end. I couldn't put it down. I loved the story line, characters and writing style. Yes, I did hate Erica. I know I should have felt bad for her with her daughter missing, but I just couldn't. I didn't believe anything that came out of her mouth.

I definitely recommend the book, especially if you are a fan of David Bell.

Thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group and the author, David Bell, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview Somebody's Daughter by David Bell. David Bell's novel is full of twists and turns - he takes the reader on a journey to find a young child who is missing.
Felicity is 9 years old, she lives with her mother, she doesn't have a father, and she is missing. Erica, her mom, was married to Michael - Michael is now married to Angela, and Felicity, Erica claims is Michael's child.
Felicity has been gone for a few hours, and Erica goes to Michael's house after 10 years and tells him that Felicity is his child and he needs to help her find Felicity because the police are not doing their job.
Michael goes with Erica - and the journey to find Felicity begins.
Bell introduces alot of characters, but the reader stays right with the plot. This is a hard book to put down - questions and family dysfuction reign in this comtemporary novel.
RECOMMEND>

What a great suspense filled book. Had to stop a few times to remember who was who and what....twisty.. loved it!


Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early release copy

David Bell is usually a pretty reliable choice when it comes to suspense thrillers. This one, though, reads like it’s been phoned in or whatever the literary equivalent of that would be. Actually, it reads like it was written purely for the paycheck and was paid for by the page. That’s seems like a pretty severe estimation, but I’ve read every book Bell’s written so far, I know how well he can write and have a wide pool for comparison, so…yeah. This is thriller lite version, primarily a family drama with some misunderstanding based intrigue. Ready made for Lifetime movie of the week. The plot involves a 9 year old girl who disappears, the kid’s paternity is questionable, hence the title. So one evening a man receives a visit from his ex wife, whom he’d not seen in 10 years, claiming that the child is his and is nowhere to be found and we’re off…everyone gets involved and sure enough in one evening/night/early morning the mystery, such as it were, is solved. The fact that it took over 400 pages to cover that short of a span of time gives you an idea of just how exhaustively detailed everyone’s perspectives were drawn out to be. Every chapter ends in some form of gasp inducing event and yet the sum total is so very underwhelming. Not even a murder, barely a proper mystery to solve, some suspense, sure, but for a thriller it’s just so…tame. Very frustrating, actually, to patiently wait for the book to get interesting while it steadfastly refuses to do so, opting instead for a somewhat tedious theatricality. And this is from a man who started with some pretty intense scary stories before he realized which genre is where the money’s at. Maybe it’s one of those things where a person just really mellows out with age. The thing is Bell can write, he’s got the basics down, even if it’s by numbers, it’s much more often than not oodles of fun, and his books read very easily and quickly and entertain plenty. In that respect this one is no exception, stylistically it’s Bell, thematically it’s Bell PG. So basically perfectly readable, just so disappointing and difficult to care about. Too bland, too mild, too lackluster, too long and too fairy taleish of an ending. Don’t judge the author by this book if you’re just discovering him, everyone’s got bills to pay. Thanks Netgalley.

While Somebody I Used to Know remains my favorite David Bell novel, he did a great job with Somebody's Daughter. He creates a tangle of interconnected characters and weaves them all together marvelously. So when Michael Frazier's ex-wife Erica shows up saying her daughter, who he possibly fathered before their split, is missing, they leave together to search for her. While his current wife is left behind, she puts together different pieces of this crazy puzzle with police who come to check her home for the missing 9-year-old. Each character adds to the story, whether that story helps elaborate on a detective, mother-in-law, co-worker, or babysitter's narrative. I was ultimately surprised by the ending, which I didn't love. Some issues brought up throughout the story weren't addressed at the end, leaving the readers to put together their own interpretation. As a crime drama addict, I was surprised that Bell ended the book as abruptly as he did, but did ultimately enjoy it!

When a little girl goes missing, the question of who is her father comes into play. Decades old family secrets are revealed and intrigue is on every page. A great book for book clubs. I could not put this book down.

I really enjoyed this book! I had never read the author before, but I'm going to have to look into reading his other books. The chapters were short and the plot moved along at a great pace. I was a little worried, because there were three different storylines happening at the same time, but it wasn't hard to keep everything straight. The ending was unexpected (at least for me) and everything wrapped up very well.