This book is amazing - nothing is what it seems. I really enjoyed the depth of characters and my heart went out to poor Bronte.

Just about every school that my children have attended have had one mother a little like Karen Bloom; one of the main characters in this novel. Perhaps not quite as obsessive, but nevertheless a proud and unrepentant ‘Tiger Mother,’ who is obsessed with their child’s potential to excel. In this novel we meet Noel and Karen Bloom and their various offspring. Noel Bloom is a doctor, who hides from his obsessive, overbearing second wife by staying late at work, hiding in a bottle and opting out from parental responsibility. He lives with Karen, their ten year old daughter, Bronte, his daughter from his first marriage, Verity, and Ewan, Karen’s son from a previous relationship.

From the outside, their marriage looks stable, affluent and successful. However, both Noel and Karen have long since fallen out of love and all of Karen’s ambitions are now poured into Bronte. Dig a little deeper and the issues seem even more complicated. Ewan is hiding out in a separate room over the garage; spending his days lazing around, taking drugs with the friend his mother does not approve of, and not exactly making Karen proud. Meanwhile, Verity also has issues and, when we first meet her, she has to visit a psychotherapist in order for her exclusive school, to allow her to stay on. Verity, who is naturally bright, has falling grades, while Bronte, who is a sweet and academically average child, is being pushed beyond endurance – to piano lessons, harp lessons, tutors, dance class and more. Actually, this was probably the only part of this novel which did not ring true to me – Bronte is ten and most of the children who have tiger mothers do seem to achieve well, at an early age, at least. That said, there is obviously a lot of unhappiness in the Bloom household and an awful lot of tension between the members of the family.

It is hard to review this book, as there are several plot twists. In a way, you think the first main event of this novel is the entire storyline, but then it swerves and goes off in a completely different track. I really found this an excellent crime novel. I loved the characters, including Detective Sergeant Joanne Aspinall and her new partner, DS Oliver Black. Karen Bloom is obviously the character you will love to hate, but I felt some sympathy for her when introduced to her equally odious father. Without doubt, though, her behaviour, and personality, bring an excellent amount of tension to the novel and I am sure she is a character that many readers will recognise all too well. I have never read anything by this author before, but I am certainly going to look out for Paula Daly’s novels in the future. If you love crime novels with a domestic setting, and characters you can feel strongly about, this is perfect for you. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

I have always looked forward to a new book coming out by Paula Daly ever since I was blown off my feet by her first book “Just What Kind of Mother Are You?”. I absolutely loved that book and thoroughly enjoyed the following 2 books as well. This is the fourth book now set in her trademark Lake District and again featuring DS Joanne Aspinall. Now I mentioned in my review of “The Mistake I Made” that I would love to get to know more about Joanne and I’m pleased to say that here we get much more of an insight into her personal life as she becomes involved in her latest case.

Paula Daly has once again given us a dark family orientated drama. But whereas before she took an ordinary family and a mother having to dig deep to save that family, here we meet a different type of mother. Karen is that very current phenomenon “the tiger mother”. She’s a pushy parent to the daughter Bronte that she has with her husband, GP Noel, and also mum to her own son Ewan and stepmum to Verity. Bronte lives a life stuffed full of activity to “encourage” her musical talents while her “helicopter mother” lives out her ambitions through her daughter. But is it all too much for ten year old Bronte?

I absolutely detested Karen from the moment she appeared. She was just so far from the ambitious but warm and caring parent that I had been expecting. She was rude, quite vicious in the way she spoke to everyone and totally unapologetic with it! I just kept waiting for that sliver of softness to peek through the curtain of poisonous backbiting, a buried deep reason for such behaviour, an eventual breakdown and visible vulnerability that would explain why! I thought Noel was a weak and downtrodden individual looking for an easy life, which obviously wasn’t a happy one, and I felt such an empathy with all the children because, as much as you want your child to succeed in life, at the end of the day a happy well adjusted adult is the aim of the game…..isn’t it?

There are twists and turns galore here, red herrings in shoals full and one rather jaw dropping moment for me that I totally did NOT see coming. In fact, I really thought I had the plot all worked out-how stupid do I feel now! I was miles off the mark with this one!

In my opinion, this is actually her best book since “Just What Kind of Mother Are You”. I loved the plotline and how I was made to feel about the characters. And I loved that a place as beautiful and peaceful as the Lake District is used as a foil to the dark goings on behind closed doors. Definitely recommend by me!

Its all about the illusion of perfection in this haunting novel.

I received an ARC of Paula Daly's The Trophy Child in exchange for an honest review. This book was different than the other two books that I have read by Daly, but equally as good.

We start by meeting Verity Bloom, who is the daughter of Noel and step daughter to Karen. She seems to have a lot of spunk. She hasn't been doing well in school and not long ago hit her step mom Karen. Karen doesn't seem to care for Verity. Noel, Verity father, is a doctor and works overwhelming hours, but still finds time for women and alcohol.

Karen believes in pushing her children to the max so they can succeed in life, but often pushes to hard. Bronte (daughter of Karen and Noel) a young girl, is enrolled in everything because of Karen. If there is lesson or vocation someone her age can do Karen has her enrolled.

Joanne's investigation starts when Bronte goes missing overnight. She goes missing from a park and doesn't show up until the next afternoon. She won't tell anyone where she has been but is adamant that she "fell asleep" in a shed. Several days later, Karen goes missing. The police find her vehicle near the lake and several days later they find her body.

This story goes into the investigation of what happened to Karen. Also contains some romance and some great twists. I'm an avid reader for books similar to this one and totally didn't see the ending coming till I read it. Can't wait for more books by Paula Daly!!

Really good read and easy to follow story line. Always enjoy reading paula dalys books . Look forward to reading more from this author.

The story concerns Noel Bloom a gp working in the Lake District and his family. He is married to Karen a tiger mother of the worst kind to their daughter Bronte. He has a daughter, Verity from his first marriage to Jennifer and Karen has a son from a mysterious liaison she had before we meet her in the story. When ten year old, naive, Bronte disappears from the local park whilst Verity is supposed to be looking after her the family is obviously distraught and Karen goes into meltdown. The police get involved in the shape of DS Joanne Aspinall who has already met Noel under different circumstances. She is involved in a case of drug peddling by a local small time crook but she is unable to track him down. She is soon involved in trying to trace Bronte but the Bloom family all seem to have something to hide.
This was a satisfying read which kept me guessing right to the end when all ends are tidied up and we learn what happened to Bronte and the family. A lesson to all pushy parents who fill their childrens' days with activities and study and who don't let them have a free minute to play with friends or just kick back.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.
Karen is a stereotypical pushy mother and her attention on her youngest daughter is to the detriment of her son and stepdaughter, and even her husband. She is not a likeable character. Noel, her husband married her when she fell pregnant. His ex -wife is in a home with MS and their daughter lives with her father and stepmother.
When a murder happens all the individual stories unfold, with each interlinking. A well written nicely paced thriller. One of the major strengths of the book was the depth of the characters.