A great psychological thriller doesn't do it enough justice. I was caught up in this book from start to finish. It was unbelievably good with a dark undertone and some scenes that are not as they seem, but the author did an incredible job of bringing it together. My only drawback was at the end not being sure what was real or not. Sometimes this is a great extension of the story to create in your own mind.

Delta Dawn, her 70's name derived from Tanya Tucker's song, created her own version of living when her life did not status quo the way she intended.... not as a child or even as an adult. Her creation is through her photography job capturing the elite's lifestyles and celebrations. When she captures little Natalie Straub's party, she becomes obsessed with her parents Ian & Amelia, as well as their affluently established professions and home.

Her obsession leads her to insert herself into their lives by manipulating their emotions in her favor. She becomes skillfully preoccupied with the intrusion and able to control or influence their minds. She even created some crafty photos to evade her own mind.

It's one of two things... this family has their head in the sand and could not see the manipulation or too desperate in building their career that it became too convenient for their daughter a sitter or potential house guest that it was not in the discourse of topic. ......they just left the light on for her and gave her a key.
Overall, I think it is worth your read, if you are looking for a psychology thriller that delivers while you ponder her thoughts and ways on the edge of your seat.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Mary Dixie Carter for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Good job for an obsessive thriller, Mary Dixie Carter.

I had such high hopes for The Photographer. It starts off with Delta Dawn (yes, the reference to the Tanya Tucker hit is mentioned in the book), a photographer who has built a reputation for photographing children, at a birthday party held by the Straub's for their daughter Natalie. As the novel continues, Delta starts to ingratiate herself into the Straub's life slowly, but surely. She babysits Natalie and builds a friendship with her, she picks up the dry cleaning, and housesits when the family goes out of town. Throughout the novel, there are wonderfully placed hints that something is just not right with Delta. Her life isn't at all what she projects and she has the rather disturbing hobby of photoshopping her pictures to create experiences that she wants to have and the life she most eagerly wants to live. I was completely pulled in and was anxious to discover how the book would end, and that's where I found the book lacking. The ending felt forced and far to predictable especially in comparison to the rest of the novel..

I did not enjoy this book. The first half was promising, but at the middle point, it went way downhill. The story was all over the place. There was so much unnecessary dialogue that didn't connect with anything else. I disliked all of the characters, even the children. It was all over the place, and at one point I asked myself if this book was written by artificial intelligence. It just felt so disjointed and odd.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52422207-the-photographer

The Photographer is a creepy tale of a woman named Delta who is a professional photographer. When she is hired by the Straub family, she falls in love with them and soon does what ever she can to become a part of their world.
Honestly, I am not sure how I feel about the book. The story is well written and I was easily hooked. However, it was also predictable and really didn’t have any twist or turns in it. All and all in all, I think I would recommend it.
Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5✨

THE PHOTOGRAPHER is about a woman named Delta who is a professional photographer who usually shoots children’s birthday parties for affluent families. She shoots for the Straub family and can’t shake the feeling that she wishes she were closer to the whole family instead of an outsider. So Delta decides to find her way into the family’s life, soon realizing that photos aren’t all she can manipulate. 😱

I’m so torn on the rating on this one. Between a 4 and a 5.

Why a 5? The story had me hooked the whole time. I started reading it originally on my lunch hour at work because I’d forgotten my current read at home and I was surprisingly hooked from the first page. The protagonist’s stalking thoughts and the way she justified them was so intriguing to me. I mean, I want to believe anyone will see dark bits of themselves in Delta’s character. When you’ve met someone who you instantly admire and want to be around. Who hasn’t had a pull to someone else that you can’t explain? Only Delta takes her obsession with Amelia, Natalie and Fritz to a whole other level.

Why a 4? For me, there was a lack of immediate tension and danger that I kept hoping would come. There was no twist and the climax fell flat since there were no surprises in the resolution. I wished I was a bit more creeped out than I was. And the ending felt rushed. All of this was super disappointing because with a good twist this story would’ve been an easy 5 stars!

Despite an interesting premise, I struggled with this one from the very first pages. The creepy factor is high, yet the writing is heavily descriptive and the pace rather slow and I found myself lost in descriptions of status and things, wanting more to happen more quickly... Ultimately there just wasn't enough suspense here to keep me engaged. I'm definitely in the minority here but this one just wasnt for me.

A solid 4.5 for me. It has a slow start, there was so much description of architecture, that it almost lost me. I was intrigued by her ability to manipulate photographs as that became a metaphor for the story to follow. I ended up caring about the characters, though most of them were unlikeable and watched the inevitable crash as we knew it had to fall apart in one way or another. worth the read and would be interested in reading others by her down the road

I'm a huge fan of first person stalker narratives. The Photographer is creepy, building, psychological goodness. It was definitely predictable, but still well executed. I would definitely recommend it and would read more from the author.

The Photographer sucks you into the lives of Delta and the Straub family. I very much enjoyed Mary Carter Dixon’s descriptive writing and character development. The cover choice -a photo manipulation- provides an insight into Delta’s skill set. Deceit runs rampant in the The Photographer and although lying and deceit drive me crazy, on a personal level, this psychological thriller held me until the end.
Thank You to Mary Carter Dixon, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter was a day-long, compulsive, escape read! It is about a woman who cons her way into a dream life in elite New York City, as “Delta Dawn,” using her beauty and socially autodidactic “superior mind” as her tools, along with her medium, the camera - and all that it produces alone and through her.
Delta Dawn is an obsessive social-climber who uses personal photoshopping of her photography jobs to placate herself while she schemes her way into wealthy NYC families’ lives - the Straub family being the latest and most permanent in her oeuvre.
I have a particular interest in emotional-con stories involving class and so this hit the spot for me. I absolutely devoured each chapter, relishing the details that Delta Dawn provided to *me* as the reader, so that I too could have a peek at the inside of a perfect, high-class family as she saw it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mary Dixie Carter for the advanced “peek” read!

Delta Dawn is a photographer. She is excellent at her job. Staying in the shadows of a party, blending in with the guests she takes photos of your life. A life she desires, envy's, wants. Nothing will stop her. She will become part of your family, ready or not.
A phenomenal story of a woman living a fantasy from pictures she takes of your family.
Scary, suck!
Great story!

Delta sees New York City’s elite when she photographs children and families. What the families don’t know is that Delta Dawn views herself as more of a part of their family than she actually is. When she is hired to photograph Natalies birthday, Delta slowly starts to find a way to push herself into Amelia and Fitz’s family. Will they find out just how many lies Delta is willing to tell?

This book was so weird, Delta was certi-freaking-fiable. Seriously my face made so many disgusted expressions while I read about some of the shit Delta was doing! She was just so obsessed with Amelia and her family, it was so crazy. Having studied photography, they made some of her photoshopping seem a little bit easier than it would actually be, but it was still insane to imagine! I wish we saw a little bit more into Delta’s background and how she ended up with such an obsessive and pathological liar personality. I think it would have been fascinating to discover more of her psyche. This was not a super twisty thriller, but I really enjoyed it!

3 Stars!

Unpopular opinion time! Womp Womp. I picked this book up and was ready to start spilling tea! I love living behind the scenes with the rich and elite. I also love domestic suspense novels. This one here has all of the trappings! The first half, I was glued to my kindle.....but, then it became repetitive and redundant for me and the ending felt like it was rushed and flat.

I would love to check out more of Mary Dixie Carter's work.

A special thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Mary Dixie Carter for providing me with an ARC.

Have you ever read a book that both fascinated you but also gave you the creeps? This book did just that. I was torn between really liking Delta and being disgusted by her. I felt bad for her and her decisions but I also so hyper aware of her inappropriate intrusion into the lives of others. I thought the author did a fabulous job of balancing everything and kept me reading until late at night just to finish it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

I really wanted to give this a 4 or 5 star review but the big twist/ending was predictable for anyone who reads books like these. I loved the cover and the characterization of Delta Dawn (yes, that is the main character's name). There were some very suspenseful and twisty moments in this book, but the predictability factor was too high in this book and it was irritating in this book. Still recommended but this falls somewhere in the middle for me, not the worst book but not a favorite.

Thanks to Netgalley, Mary Dixie Carter and St Martin's Press Minotaur Books division for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 5/25/21

The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter deep dives into just how far obsessions can push us to try turn them into our reality- even if it means by any means necessary.

The story follows Delta Dawn who works as family photographer living in New York City. Delta specializes working with kids and is known for her ability to capture that once in a lifetime moment of birthdays and other special occasions and so is often referred to new clients by her existing ones.

When Delta is hired to photograph at the Straub home for their daughter birthday, she beings to put her plan into motion. If she can capture the perfect family, in their perfect home and living their perfect lives, why can’t she photoshop her way into it as well?

ThePhotographer was an addictive read and gave an insightful and suspenseful look at obsession, and how far it can push us. Although Delta made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, I found myself rooting for her- even if she was unreliable and unstable. ThePhotographer will leave questioning what’s real and what’s fiction until the very end.

The Photographer will be available for retail May 2021!

A special thanks to everyone at NetGalley , macmillanusa and minotaur_books for this arc.

Wow! This one really packs a punch. I haven’t read an unreliable narrator this crazy since The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton (and that’s saying a lot).

Delta is a photographer, but more than that, she lives in the make-believe world of her photos. A master at Photoshop, she is able to truly see herself in all the family’s lives that she photographs. And it gets psycho!

I loved the way it was written because we were able to see how Delta thinks and feels about every little thing that happens along the way.

I probably could have read this all in one sitting - it’s that addictive!

But... I have questions. 😭😭

This is a wildly mesmerizing novel as we meet Delta, a talented photographer who becomes enamored with Amelia, Fritz, and daughter Natalie. As she insinuates herself in their lives, we realize her obsession with them borders on sociopathic as she photoshops pictures she takes of them, inserting herself instead. As her fascination grows, it becomes darker as her narration points to the very creepy plan she has in mind, all in the vein of "helping them." But of course, it's all to help herself but she's sly, conniving, and very adept at what she does. This is one of those thrillers that keeps you on your toes until the shocking conclusion. I adored it!

The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter

This was a whirlwind of a book! I really enjoyed the perspective of Delta, a photographer who gets hired for photographing children for New York City’s elite. When Delta is hired by the Straub family, she immediately becomes engrossed in their life. I think it was very interesting to see how her life revolved around this family and how she was thinking about them all the time. I found it was a slow burn psychological thriller and very well written. I was obsessed with Delta’s obsession! I think it will be a hit when released, also this would be an amazing Netflix one season type of show!

Thank you for the opportunity to read in advance!

@sarahsbookcase

A very creepy book, with a very unreliable narrator. Delta Dawn is a children's photographer making a living taking family photos for wealthy New Yorkers. She envies their lives and sometimes photoshops herself into the pictures she takes. Things get weirder when she meets the Straubs. She infiltrates their lives quickly, and things come to a head in a particularly unpleasant way. You may never hire a photographer again, but a riveting read.