It pains me to rate a Denzil book as a 1* because since I discovered her books in 2017, I've devoured them in one or two sittings but this one just didn't grab me.

This was no ‘The silent child’. I enjoyed it, I finished it, but it was a chore to keep going...I think I was a third of the way through before anything really started in the story.

Thank you to Bookoture, NetGalley and Sarah A. Denzil for the chance to read and review this book.

Wow! Ms. Denzil had me on the edge of my seat and reading well past bedtime as I found it impossible to put this book down. I’ve been a fan of her work since I first discovered her last year, but this is her best book yet and one of the best thrillers I’ve read so far this year.

Kat Cavanaugh lives in Ash Dale, Derbyshire, with her husband Charles and their seventeen-year-old daughter Grace. After Grace is found at the bottom of the quarry, also known as the Suicide Spot, Kat’s world falls apart. When the police rule the death a suicide she refuses to accept that her ebullient daughter would take her own life. But as she investigates and learns some of the secrets Grace had been hiding, Kat is forced to face the fact she hardly knew her daughter at all. Could one of these secrets have lead to her death?

Things take an ominous turn when Kat starts receiving threatening messages from an anonymous number. When they refer to Kat’s troubled past she her worries someone hurt Grace because of her. Both these things only increase her determination to uncover the truth and she begins to take drastic steps, alienating not only her friends but her husband too, as she becomes increasingly desperate for answers. But Kat could be in more danger than she imagines from an enemy she never suspects...

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the flawed characters. The protagonist is a rich woman who comes from a council estate, has a checkered history and has been diagnosed with a personality disorder. I thought the choice for Kat to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder was interesting and added an edge to both the character and the story. People with that diagnosis are considered sociopaths who can’t love and get through life by mimicking emotions, acting the part and a lack of remorse for their actions. But while Kat admits to the latter, she truly loves her daughter and will do anything for her, including quelling her true nature to be a better example. This endeared Kat to me and saved her from being a cold, unsympathetic character. Also, seeing someone who doesn't really have or process emotions like most of us do trying to work her way through grief and find out what happened to her child was unique. The author did a fantastic job of writing Kat in an honest way, conveying her inner turmoil not only at the loss of her daughter and need for answers, but about her lack of other feelings, her past and true nature.

Another character I thought was particularly well written was Kat’s mother. While I’m fortunate to have a wonderful mother myself, I sadly recognised others in this vile, hateful, disgusting, and poisonous woman. She made me so angry every time she was on the page. With a mother who treated her so badly it is no wonder Kat acted out in her teens and had a personality disorder. For me the malevolence of this character is perfectly expressed in this great line: "I can feel the dark tendrils of her poison worming through my veins". This evoked visions of Ursula the sea witch from The Little Mermaid, her black tentacles wrapping around Kat and perforating the skin to administer the poison.

The author teases you with crumbs of information early on that had me hooked and impatient to find out what they meant. What exactly did Kat do as a teenager that was so unforgivable? What had happened to Grace? For most of the book I felt sure Kat would be proven right about Grace begin killed but I did waver for a while at one point. I’m obviously not going to spoil the ending telling you which was right, but I did think the author did a great job of making it impossible to feel sure that you know how it ends.

Only Daughter is gripping tale of secrets, lies, grief, betrayal, and devastating revenge. I loved that the book was set locally to me as I felt connected to it immediately and more invested, as if these people could be ones I knew, especially Kat as we both started life on a council estate less than 30 minutes apart. The whole book was wonderfully written and the descriptive language put you in the protagonist’s mindset so vividly that you could be her at that moment. The story never lost momentum and was filled with maddening, moving and jarring twists. I didn’t see the big reveal coming and the heart-stopping, dramatic finale was a nail biting read. This is a thriller you don’t want to miss.

Kat has worked really hard- really hard- to reform herself. She's moved, changed her name, and undergone years of therapy. She's feeling better about herself and she's so proud of her 17 year old daughter Grace. And then Grace is found dead. The police claim she committed suicide but Kat thinks differently. She dusts off her old self and starting probing, only to discover that she did not know her daughter at all. Not a surprise really since teens are experts at deceiving their parents but Grace, well, she was really hiding a lot- not as much as Kat but close. No spoilers as to the twists and turns here but suffice it to say that this is a real page turner. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is plot driven with great characters and would be perfect for travel.

5 reasons to pick this book up:

1. This book will hook you from page one.
2. This is a real page turner. (This may not be for you if you don’t like staying up far too late because you just can’t put the book down.)
3. No matter how hard you try to figure out these character’s motives and guess the ending, you’re more than likely going to be wrong.
4. This book is a nail biter. (If your nails are neatly manicured.. save this for another day.)
5. This story made me want to hug my family a little tighter and tell them I love them more than I already do.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Dark and twisty! Grief is a horrendous thing. A mother's love knows no bounds. You never really know what is going on in someone's mind.
The book leaves you with a lot of things to ponder. I enjoyed the book, it was a fast and easy read.

When you've been told you are a sociopath who cannot feel love, empathy or remorse, what do you do with all of your overwhelming emotions when your daughter is dead? Or worse, when you are told she committed suicide?

Kat Cavanaugh is a woman with a past. She is a woman with many secrets. But she put all that behind her when her daughter Grace was born and she vowed to be a better person for her. And Kat found herself with an emotion she didn't think she was capable of - love.

Having grown up on a council estate, Katie Flack was no stranger to police as a teenager. She regularly got into "scraps" with others, always fighting, shoplifting and running with a bad crowd. Of course it didn't help that she had a mother who constantly belittled her and told her everything that happened to her was her own doing. Until one day, something happened to change Katie's life forever. She took a life. And from then on the events, and the people, surrounding that time in her past haunted her. So Katie ran. Rain from her past, from the estate and from her mother who to this day calls her a murderer. After all, the child psychologists diagnosed her with Antisocial Personality Disorder. She's a sociopath. How can a 13 year old child come back from that?

But then Katie meets Charles whilst waistressing for an event and she becomes Kat. He makes her feel special. But is she really? Can she really escape her past and move on to a better future? Or has what she's done, where she's come from, shaped who she is today?

Then there's Grace. Beautiful, sweet Grace. With honey blonde hair and infectious laugh. The light of Kat's life. Grace, who had it all. A wealthy family with a beautiful mansion, parents who love her unconditionally, a prestigious school where she is popular and an accomplished violinist in the school orchestra. So why would she want to kill herself?

Kat refuses to believe that her sweet Grace would do such a thing. Grace knew how much she was loved. She could come to her about anything. But she wouldn't do this!

So unable to accept the coroner's findings, nor that the police investigated thoroughly enough, Kat decides to draw on that inner Katie Flack from her past and take matters into her own hands. She would seek out the truth. She would show everyone that they were wrong. She would find who killed her daughter. But in doing so Kat soon discovers that Grace wasn't the perfect daughter or the perfect person she thought she was. Grace, it seems, was as adept at keeping secrets as her mother. And the more Kat delves into Grace's life, the more she begins to wonder - was Grace like her?

ONLY DAUGHTER is a compelling, dark and twisted journey through the eyes of a mother who has lost her child, refusing to believe that she took her own life. I wouldn't say it was fast paced, because at the beginning I did find it a little slow - going through the motions of grief, the funeral and the confusion that seemed to be Kat's mind. But when it start to pick up the reader begins a rollercoaster ride as Kat uncovers the secrets of Grace's life. And as we begin to gain a little insight into Kat's own secrets.

The Prologue really gets you in and has you hooked from the beginning, as throughout the entire journey you find yourself question who are "they"? It is obvious that this opening is through Grace's eyes. And it throws up all sorts of questions we find ourselves asking as we keep turning the pages long after she's dead.

There are a lot of twists throughout ONLY DAUGHTER and several shocks. I admit I had no idea what happened to Grace or why, and even when I thought I did, something else would happen to change my mind. I can't even begin to tell you how this book messes with your head as you take the dark journey with Kat and the darkness that is her mind. How can years of therapy be a success if this is how she is playing it?

As the author takes you an on emotional journey of a mother desperate to find out the truth about her daughter's death, I have to say I did not completely warm up to Kat. She came across cold and unfeeling at times, but then I remind myself she was diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder and would not be a person someone would naturally warm to. Throughout the book, Kat constantly reiterates her sociopathy. She even questions her therapist of her ability to love. And yet, she loved her daughter with every fibre of her being. But sociopaths cannot love, surely?

ONLY DAUGHTER is a book that will grab you by the throat and squeeze the life out of you as it takes your breath away. The big reveal towards the end brought it all into focus as everything began to make sense. And just when you thought it was over...it wasn't. The ending that changed places was appropriate, I thought. And it leaves you wondering - is Kat a sociopath at all?

I really do recommend this book. It may seem slow and a little depressing at first - especially if you can't warm to Kat - but it will surprise and shock you in the end. It is a very good read, despite its start and sometimes unlikeable lead. It takes you to some dark places you never thought you would go but the journey is worth it in the end.

I would like to thank #SarahADenzil, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #OnlyDaughter in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book I’ve read by Sarah Denzil and none of the books are bad. I thought this book could have been edited down a bit, as it does sort of drag on a bit. However, it’s a quick read that had a good premise.

Wow, I loved this book, it was so well written and you got a good feel for the characters. The story had me hooked with lots of unexpected twists along the way, I didn’t see any of them coming either which was even better. I would definitely recommend this book and will keep my eye out for this author in the future. Well done, a fantastic read.

Kat Cavanaugh receives the news every mother dread's hearing; her daughter is dead. Not only is her daughter dead, but it is apparently a suicide. Kat doesn't believe her perfect daughter would ever take her own life and she vows to find the true murderer. As Kat struggles with her personal demons, she discovers that everyone around her is some version of a liar. She fights to uncover the truth before it kills her.

This book was addicting! I finished it in less than 24 hours. Highly recommended!

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a fan of this author and her latest did not disappoint! It's hard to read this as a mother, especially as one of a teenage girl, as it is about a mother dealing with the loss of her 17 year old. The police say it's suicide, but her mother Kat will not let it go, as she believes it must have been murder. The pacing of the story is the only thing I had issue with, as it is pretty slow for much of the story and doesn't pick up until at least halfway through.

Much of the plot revolves around Kat no longer trusting her friends and family and seeing everyone she knows as a suspect until thoroughly proved otherwise. We're given hints that she has a dark past that has lead her to believe herself a sociopath and there is a large amount of inner dialogue regarding how she was able to love her daughter when she should not be capable of love. She thinks many of her actions are due to not having a conscience and that it gives her an edge getting tough on people to find out the truth.

I would have liked to see her past revealed a bit earlier, so the reader would better understand her actions throughout more of the story, rather than learning towards the end and then having to reflect back over everything. But it doesn't hurt the story and I was deeply engrossed until the last page. I'd definitely recommend this book and I can't wait until her next one comes out.

One of those "just one more page" books. I devoured this desperate to know what had happened to Grace and what role everyone else played in it. A sobering book for anyone with a teenage daughter, do you really know them at all? Some twists you will spot but most you won't, a great read.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. There were parts of this book that were really good and kept me on edge but other parts that were just okay.

Only Daughter is a totally gripping novel from Sarah Denzil. I haven’t read anything by Sarah before, but I’m definitely intrigued to read her previous work.

There’s a very dark tone which runs right throughout this novel, right from the beginning when we see, Grace, a young girl about to commit suicide, right through to the heart-stopping conclusion when we finally find out the reasons why she did what she did.

Grace’s mother, Kat refuses to accept that her daughter killed herself and begins to search for answers by speaking to Grace’s friends and by trying to gain access to her social media channels. Her husband Charles and the police are not supportive of Kat’s quest to get to the truth, to them it is an open and shut case, but Kat is determined not to give up. But as Kat delves into her daughter’s world, she discovers that she knew very little about what she was really getting up to.

When we were first introduced to Kat I didn’t find her particularly likeable, to begin with, but as the story developed I became more and more engaged in her quest to avenge her daughter, and I became more and more interested in her as a character. Kat isn’t a person who has had it easy; she grew up on a council estate but has since married a wealthy man and lives with him in their seven-bedroom mansion. Kat is often labelled a gold digger by her social peers, and even her own mother disapproves of her for marrying Charles; this made me feel very sorry for her as she didn’t appear to have many people who she could turn to.

There were so many intriguing twists and turns that made me want to get to the bottom of who Grace really was and why she did what she did. What could have prompted a young girl to kill herself?

I was shocked by the final conclusions which Sarah Denzil brought together in a rapid and cleverly thought out way. It really wrapped everything up well, although some parts did put me in mind of a book I read a couple of years ago, I still found it really enjoyable and heartbreaking as well.

This is a really well written and an engrossing read that will have you desperate to find out what happens, not to be missed by psychological thriller fans.

Thank you to Bookouture for providing me with an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks NetGalley and Sarah Denzil for the advance reader’s copy.

I was hooked on this book from the Prologue. This is the story of a seventeen year old Grace who dies after fallen in a quarry. Kat, the mother, cannot accept the police statement that it was a suicide and she starts her own investigation. It’s hard giving a review without spoilers!! You will not know what really happens until the very end. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to my friends.

3,5 stars

I am not sure how to rate this book. I had problems to get into the story at the beginning and I actually disliked the ending, but I couldn't put it down and read almost in one sitting.

The beginning was very depressed: it seemed to be a grieving drama about a mother whose seventeen year old daughter committed suicide. But did she really? At least it was what police felt confident about. But not her mother. Why a happy teen with excellent conditions for the future would have killed herself leaving a bland and impersonal suicide note? Because police had no evidence that could prove the opposite, the case was closed. But not for her mother, who decided to investigate on her own.

It was a point when the story started to be VERY interesting. Yes, because Kat Cavanaugh, a grieving mother, was not a person it appeared to be. She had a HISTORY and she had SECRETS. Actually Grace was also not a person her mother believed Grace to be. While investigation on her own she learned a different side of her daughter. Well, it is not everything: there were other characters that turned out to be not who they seemed to be.

The ending I found to be all over the place, over-dramatic and overdone. I believe that you can HATE someone that much, but I don't believe that someone would go THAT far(view spoiler)

If you enjoy psychological thrillers with unexpected turns and an exaggerated outcome you shouldn't miss it.

This is a very good thriller that kept me engaged throughout with the various twists and turns. The plot is original and stands out due the various intriguing characters in the book. I’ll definitely read more from this author in future.

An absolutely chilling story with a crazy twist which had me cackling out loudly at the wicked mind of the author Sarah A. Denzil, a mind which could think of using the darkness residing in the depths of a human mind as the means of a wicked manipulation.

With thrillers abounding the literary scene, it takes a brilliant story to make me go Whoa, and this one filled me with a dark joy at the number of twists. A daughter's suicide and a mother's pain both form the arc of the plot, and as per the norm, the mother does not believe and investigates.

But what changed everything for me was the rushing cold fury and determination that filled the mother Kat's veins, someone who had been termed antisocial and unemotional by the therapist. It almost felt like a wounded lioness who was ready to take on the world to get to the truth!! I love such characters. The only niggle I had was there was a clear clue, and the main character acknowledged it, yet didn't investigate it.

Surprisingly, the darker the lanes of the book, the more I am filled with joy. And this book had different shades of darkness to make me dance in its shadows!!

When 17 year old Grace is found at the bottom of the quarry the day after she disappears the police immediately call it suicide. Kat aka Katie does not believe that her daughter committed suicide. She believes her daughter was murdered. As she starts to investigate her daughter's life she starts learning a lot of secrets about her family and friends. Did she really know her daughter? Does she know her husband? Does she know herself? Was it suicide or was it murder?

I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading more from Sarah A. Denzel.

A tightly woven plot that exults mystery and honest plight. From the very first page until that resounding last line of script, Sarah Denzil, will keep you utterly captivated and on the edge of an emotional breakdown. This is not the typical “missing child” narrative. Denzil throws so many shrewd curveballs into this novel that you will be scrambling for purchase. The characters are brilliant, chaotic, and real. This book is a shining beacon in an overcrowded genre. 5 stars. Fantastic.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #bookouture for this ARC of #OnlyDaughter