Your Next Read: WHO KILLED MY DAUGHTER?
Family. Murder. Messages from beyond. An unsatisfying police investigation. Psychics. Intrigued?…
Read on.
At last month’s meeting, my true crime book club agreed that our next read would be Lois Duncan’s Who Killed My Daughter? I had come across it on Amazon on sale one day and passed the information along to my group. I thought it would be just another true crime read. I was wrong.
Who Killed My Daughter? is not just about a crime and its investigation, but instead we see the family’s reaction and coping to the loss of Kaitlyn and Duncan’s own search for information when the police just weren’t doing enough. There is grief, anger, paranormal, and, maddeningly, not enough answers.
I did not expect the novel to have as many interactions with psychics as it did. The fact that not just the mother, but the siblings, could still feel Kaitlyn around and were receiving messages from her in dreams was what kept me turning the pages. The book went by much too quickly and I was glad to see that there is a sequel (it was advertised at the end of the book), but am incredibly frustrated that I cannot find an affordable copy of it. So if anyone comes across One to the Wolves please let me know where I can find it! But I digress.
Our book club, We Know Who Dunnit, met virtually on a Friday night to discuss the book and the reactions were much more varied than they had been for our previous read.
Let me preface our meeting by saying that while I have known the other two members for over ten years, they are still new to each other. However, these ladies are respectful enough that we were able to have differing opinions, share our experiences, and no one ever felt judged or was insulted.
Cat was, to use her words, “not completely a fan” of this read. It felt unpolished, unfinished, and “a product of her grief.” It bothered Cat, as an editor and reader, that Duncan’s editor’s did not give her more insight on how to polish this one up more. Gemma and I pointed out the passage where Lois decided to write this and mentioned that it wasn’t done and thought that maybe the book being published would be a way to get some more tips and clues.
Cat didn’t care for the psychics, either, feeling as though they were taking advantage of Duncan. However, Gemma and I thought that since no one actually charged her that this was not the case. This led to a discussion on our own beliefs and experiences with psychics and the paranormal, but I won’t go into details about that.
One thing we did all agree on was the maddening lack of closure. “Who Killed My Daughter?,” someone joked, “We still don’t know!” But as frustrating as it was for the readers, we could not imagine what that would feel like for the family. We promised that we would not do any further research and wait until we were all able to get copies of the sequel to see if there are answers there.
So, seriously, if anyone reading this has the ability to give me or tell me where to find three (affordable) copies of One to the Wolves: A Desperate Mother on the Trail of a Killer, it would be much appreciated.
And for those reading along, our next read is The Burger Chef Murders in Indiana by Julie Young.
Writer, bookworm, geek in too many fandoms to name, Indianapolis Colts and Chicago White Sox fan.