I would rate this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.

When requesting this ARC I did not realise that it was the 5th in a series. I took it upon myself to slowly borrow all 4 previous novels from my library to catch up prior to reading this 5th instalment in the series.

I am not a huge fan of the series overall. The way Linda inserts herself into investigations is frankly beyond ridiculous at times. Having said that, I do appreciate the look into someone who is in the Mormon church and them questioning their place in that church in a 21st century world.

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

I have enjoyed this series and its warts-and-all look of life as a Latter-day Saint. Her protagonist, Linda Wallheim, echoes Harrison’s own struggle with her faith in the LDS Church as she has documented on Twitter. This continues to be present in this fifth installment.

This story of a girl who is running away from expectations and from the aftermath of what happened to her is gritty and real. There are no neat and tidy endings. Linda sometimes makes things worse and sometimes makes things better.

I struggled with her relationship with her husband. It’s almost as if she’s looking for everything he does wrong. She does acknowledge when he is sensitive to her needs, but it seems like mostly she’s given up on her marriage.

Possible Objectionable Material:
A girl recounts being raped. Lots of people get off without the punishment they deserve. Patriarchal attitudes. A marriage in trouble. Crisis of faith.

Who Might Like This Book:
Mystery lovers. People who like moral ambivalence and ambiguity “shades of gray”, not just black and white.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Also reviewed at http://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2021/07/a-pair-of-may-releases.html

*Forgot to download and ended up buying the book.

Eventually I did not finish the book. The story didn't grab my attention and it felt a bit boring to me.

3.5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review

Leave it to me to pick the fifth book in a series that I have never experienced! However, I never felt lost as the author is very transparent in the main struggles of Mormon, Linda Wallheim. As the wife of the bishop, Linda has raised her children, believes in her God, but is struggling with what is taught and what is actually happening in her faith. When her son Joseph asks Linda to get involved in his missing teenage babysitter, she finds herself questioning her role in the church even further.

I felt this to be a heartbreaking story with an ending that did have me shed a few tears. I guess if I had a criticism is that there were times in the story where a shift to little parts of the Wallheim family wasn't as interesting.


Publication Date 25/05/21
Goodreads review 02/06/21

#TheProdigalDaughter #NetGalley
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3.5 ⭐️‘s
Linda is deep in the throes of questioning her Mormon faith, much to the dismay of her Bishop husband. She still believes in God, but the Mormon doctrine has her disillusioned. Empty nesters and in marriage counseling, Linda isn’t sure her marriage will survive. When her son calls and tells her his babysitter is missing, Linda quickly starts investigating the cause of her disappearance and begins to search for her. What she finds out only disillusions her more as she vows to help Sabrina through it, but sometimes even the best laid plans go awry and things don’t always turn out the way we hoped.

This series has strengthened over the course of its telling, with this wrenching addition being by far the darkest and most compelling yet. Linda is very much so in the throes of her faith transition, of major rifts in her marriage, and then is put into the middle of another case by one of her sons. The entire premise of this story is upsetting and horrifying, and the ending is heartbreaking. Linda Wallheim has been through a lot over this series, but one is a whole different plane.

The Prodigal Daughter is often a very painful book to read, wrapped as it is in the #MeToo movement and the author's own life. Has the #MeToo movement made it easier to speak out about sexual assault in religious communities? Personally, I doubt it because it's much too easy to blame outsiders for the problem. It simply couldn't happen here, not with our good little boys raised in the teachings of the church! (Notice how I did not single out the Mormon church?)

Mette Ivie Harrison's life has become shredded due to her Linda Wallheim mysteries and her unflinchingly honest portrayal of crime in Mormon communities. I'd love to say that I'm shocked by the Mormon reaction to her writing, but after having lived in Provo, Utah, for three years, I am not. Her writing is honest. She talks about the good things the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does. She talks about what she strongly believes in. But-- and here's the rub-- she also talks about where the Church often fails.

In The Prodigal Daughter, it's the plight of runaway and thrown-away children who either can't deal with their parents' insistence on being the perfect Mormon child or who have been thrown out because they don't live up to their parents' expectations. Harrison also paints a clear picture of Mormonism, #MeToo, and women as second-class citizens. It's not pretty, but as Linda Wallheim says, "If the truth destroys something, then it probably wasn't real to begin with."

As I said earlier, The Prodigal Daughter is often painful to read as Linda tries to find Sabrina and provide her with safety and acceptance. The truth can hurt. But it's as if all the things Harrison has been living through as she wrote this book squeezed some of the heart out of it. It feels rushed and doesn't quite measure up to previous books in this excellent series, but that does not make it a bad book. Not in the slightest. If you like mysteries that provide you with a strong, clear look into another world, mysteries steeped with a sense of place so palpable that you can touch it, I strongly urge you to read Mette Ivie Harrison's series in its entirety. Begin with The Bishop's Wife.

-This book is about a girl named Linda Wallheim who is disappointed with her religion. She has recently started marriage counseling with her husband Kurt. Kurt is a bishop in the Mormon church. When Linda isn't at counseling she spends her days doing happier things like visiting her sons and their families. She has 5 of them.

While visiting Joseph, Linda's oldest son tells her that his youngest daughter's babysitter a local teen named Sabrina has vanished. Linda is immediately interested and starts to ask questions. She learners that Sabrina is the victim of a terrible crime done by her own classmates including the high school’s golden boys and future church leaders.

Linda’s search for Sabrina will lead her to the darker streets of Utah and cause her to question whether the Mormon community’s most privileged and powerful will be called to task for past sins.

My review:
Omg, this book was so good, it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I just had to keep reading to find out more. It's so interesting and I was just in shock whit that ending. Linda is one stronger lady. Some parts of the book were a little harder to read. The story is so realistic and so many details you really can feel like you are in the story. The author really did a good job with this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Soho Press for giving me the chance of reading and reviewing this book.

This was a difficult book to read. Each of Harrison’s books in this series have been fast reads for me - I know this world, I know these kind of people, and her plots suck me in. I also am aware of the faith transition the author is undergoing, and I see that reflected in her writing. Nothing wrong with that at all, but it can be a little jarring. And the plot in this one in the era of #MeToo was hard to digest. It’s a thing that happens, has happened, and the way it played out is sadly too real.

It’s upsetting that the way this story played out for Sage is so realistic. I almost wish Harrison hadn’t ended the story the way she did and gone more into the aftermath, but I also see how it was necessary for the reader to let that ending sit with them and stew.

It’s a gut-punch of an addition to the Linda Wallheim series and as with all her books will cause thoughts and discussion in its wake.

I wonder what the author's bishop and ward think of this series, which continually points out problems and inconsistencies in the Latter Day faith. Here, we have male privilege and bullying taken to an extreme, relying on having the reputation of being a "good boy" and women/girl's being trained to accept male superiority. Of course Linda isn't having any of that, and gets involved not in a mystery but in protecting a young girl. The strains on her marriage and family because of this, and her increasing questions about the Church and its rules make for an interesting layer on the story.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

I haven't read other books in this series, so I found this novel curiously compelling. The wife of a Mormon bishop, who appears to be living a prosperous suburban American life, has grown deeply unhappy with the patriarchal interpretation of her faith that she finds oppressive. She and her husband are in marriage therapy but it isn't addressing her issues and she's angry. In fact, we hear a lot about her anger. She soon becomes aware of a child with cold, perfectionist parents who is slipping through the cracks and ends up on the cold mean streets of Salt Lake City. Yet the only way to the young woman involves lying to her husband and keeping her increasingly risky activities to herself.

One of the reasons I keep thinking about this book is that it seems to mirror the protagonist's dilemma in its unsettled style. It seems to be a semi-cozy story (cooking lots of candy, detailing suburban life, referring to her attempts to find out what's happening with a troubled child as "sticking her nose in" like a classic amateur sleuth) and something much darker. The author takes us to a grim place - where homeless adults and teens try to stay warm on a bitter night in the shadow of the Mormon temple - and refuses to end on a happy, upbeat note. That refusal make the story an unusual fusion of cozy and noir and that unsettled genre identification will probably be a challenge for readers - yet this really is a story of a woman who is on the verge of a breakup with her comfortable life and her identity as a traditional Mormon wife, with a dark mystery that peers behind the surface of benevolent religion to see something rotten, which is a backdrop for her personal struggle which in many ways is the driving force of the story.

It's hard to know where the author will take the protagonist from here, and stylistically it's a bumpy ride, but an interesting one. I'd give it a three for style but a four for making it an intriguing journey.

I have read all the books by Mette Ivie Harrison in the Linda Waldheim series starting with the introductory novel The Bishop's Wife. In The Prodigal Daughter, the fifth book in the series, the protagonist continues give us a look into LDS culture while delving into situations LDS members may neglect to address. Each of these books has dealt with difficult subject matters including the treatment of gays within the LDS church, suppression of women within the hierarchy of the church, death of a child and childhood sexual abuse. None of the subjects are easy to read about but I found The Prodigal Daughter particularly dark and the book difficult to read. I read the books to understand a bit more about Mormonism and the structure of the church of LDS and am interested in the struggle of Linda, the protagonist, to feel relevant in the church and her marriage to the church Bishop. Due to the subject matter, somewhat choppy writing and a very abrupt ending I did not care for this book as much as previous novels.

With growing disillusionment with the Mormon church, Linda Wallheim is finding it more and more difficult to be the wife of her husband, who is an important figure in the church. Although they are in marriage counseling, Linda and Kurt are at an impasse, since neither is willing to meet halfway when it comes to religion. Looking to fill her life with meaningful work, Linda agreed top search for a missing girl, Sage, who was a babysitter for her son and daughter-in-law. Her investigation reveals even more indecencies perpetrated by those within the church against this poor young woman. Can Linda find justice for Sage without completely ruining the future for her marriage? You will be surprised by the ending.