From the USA Today and International Bestselling author of The Widow Next Door comes a demented page-turner and winner of the Readers’ Favorite Bronze Medal for Psychological Thriller If you knew your father’s darkest secret, would you turn him in?What if his secret was connected to you? Ruby Marlowe’s always been a daddy’s girl. Her mother died when she was two, and her single father has … was two, and her single father has ensured she has everything she needs. However, everyone has dark secrets, and Ruby’s father is no exception…
When she’s young, she doesn’t understand the weight of her father’s killing game. However, as she ages, she realizes her obsessive tendencies aren’t the only elements that separate her from her peers. After she begins to investigate her mother’s life and death, Ruby starts to believe there are some secrets even she doesn’t know about the serial killer she calls Daddy.
As her father’s killing grows rampant, the secrets get harder and harder to hide—and she fears it will all come crashing down. Will Ruby seek a different life for herself and betray the only person who has ever loved her, or will she get wrapped up in his sinister path?
A twisted page-turner that shines an eerie light on the father-daughter bond from the USA Today and International Bestseller L.A. Detwiler.
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This book drew me in and held me delightfully-captive from beginning to end. The plot keeps you guessing, the characters are realistic, likable and identifiable and the scenery is described in such a way as to make you feel that you are an actual bystander in every scene. Once I started reading this story, the desperate need for sleep is the only thing that made me put my Kindle down.
Ruby Marlowe is a daddy’s girl. Her mother died when she was only two and has no real memory of her. But that’s okay, because daddy is always there for her.
As a young child of 5, she discovers that her daddy has secrets … secrets that run deep and dark. She calls it the killing game.
As she ages into a teenager, she knows why she’s always been a little different from everyone else .. her daddy’s blood runs through her veins.
(BOOK BLURB) As her father’s killing grows rampant, the secrets get harder and harder to hide—and she fears it will all come crashing down. Will Ruby seek a different life for herself and betray the only person who has ever loved her, or will she get wrapped up in his sinister path?
Ruby’s story is told through the pages of her diary .. her thoughts, her actions. She becomes obsessed with the color red … especially the way it takes shape on the garage floor. It’s a fascinating look at a child raised by a serial killer.
Many thanks to the author / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Reads like your reading someone’s diary which honestly kinds feels wrong to me especially cause one of the sentences at the beginning of this book is what I say to my kids.
The main character is Ruby Marlowe and her father is a serial killer. He gave her a diary to keep her thoughts in at a young age, as her mother died when she was only two, and she has lots of troubling issues and emotions that a diary is good to help her vent. The doctor they both see, said it would be good for her, rather than keeping everything bottled up. The book starts with her diary entries as seven year old, when she saw her dad doing something strange in the garage. It’s a place her dad has told her to never go, saying it is dangerous! She has been raised by just her father and he is a man who never looks happy, but the events in the garage had him looking happy! At school, Ruby finds it lonely, as the teachers whisper about how difficult she is and other kids think she is weird. She thinks her father is lonely as well, as he only has his mother left and her. She thinks at first that what happened in the garage is a secret game of her dad’s, and wants to get the chance to join in it with home. Like her diary is for her secrets and privacy. Everybody needs privacy he told her.
She lives by a rigid set of rules her father has given her, but also seems to be well on the way to being on the autistic spectrum as she doesn’t like to be touched, hates loud or lots of noise, picky with foods, hates water in the bath tub or even talking with people. She also gets quite obsessive about things. She finds it fascinating to follow her dad out to the garage and peek through a hole in the wall, to watch him playing his game and loving the pools of blood she sees going all over the floor. She wanted to see how he cleaned up afterwards and also where he went with his wheelbarrow. He has periods of time when he doesn’t seem to play his ‘game’, but then other times when his hands start to get rather shaky and his looks angry most of the time. Then he seems to play his game even more. It could be that she has more homework or is sleeping heavier, but she doesn’t think so. She even comments in her diary when he isn’t doing it quite right, when he plays his game in the garage, but still hasn’t mentioned it to him. She has to follow the rules and so she can’t tell him she has seen what he is doing in the garage, although she hasn’t quite broken his rule, or not going into the garage itself, he might get upset, as that is part of his schedule and something he enjoys doing.
When she is ten she finally realises that her dad is actually killing the women that he brings to the garage, having learnt in history classes about killing and that it was bad. By the time she is fifteen she starts to wonder more about her mother, not helped by the bullying of a particular girl at school. She starts to enjoy her English class because of one teacher and even stays to talk to him after class occasionally. This teacher leaves suddenly and not for a good reason as she finds out later. This makes school hell again and the bullying gets worse, including a horrible incident with bubble gum! At sixteen, she notices her father ramping up on his ‘games’, suddenly starting to bring a woman back nearly every week. Not helped by the fact a new boy at school comes to the door to ask her out! Around the same time she finds out something more about her mother, that leaves her wondering if it was suicide as she had always been told, or was her mother really murdered?
One thing she is adamant about, is that only her daddy can keep her safe. She can’t let anyone know what he really does during his games, but he is getting sloppy and she worries about him getting caught! Her problems at school are mounting and thoughts of having to keep so many secrets gets harder and harder. Will she turn out like her father or will she leave and carve her own path? Is it a case of nature or nuture? The ending of the book rounds matters up brilliantly and you get to find out what happens to all involved. Definitely a different kind of read, with some dark practices being described and observed by a young child who, it is made clear early on, has a problem showing any empathy to normal matters. Fascinating read and part of her actions can be put down to the incessant bullying she had to endure. One I would recommend to others, but take care if you don’t like the sight of red, or some gory sounding descriptions! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
Holy shit this was a very dark twisted book, my mind is like in the clouds of what the hell did I just read
So disturbing and kept me on edge. I really loved the diary entries format, Ruby writes down her thoughts, feelings, and the events of her upbringing.
I feel really bad for Ruby, she lived a macabre life because of her dad and for being who she is. Her love for her dad runs so deep she’s willing to go to the extreme to protect her dad, hence why she’s known an a Daddy’s girl.
At first I didn’t know how to wrap my head around this because its my second book I read that’s thriller and horror-like but nonetheless I wanted to keep reading and it was overall an amazing book.
My only complaint about this book was that it was repeated so many times how much she wanted to protect her dad like I get it…It was said so many times for different events…nothing against the author! Just Ruby was getting on my nerves abit.
Thank you Netgalley and L.A Detwiler for this digital arc for an honest review!
This is my first time reading something by this author. The summary of the book definitely caught my attention and I was intrigued. This is a wonderfully written twisted and eerie tale that kept me on the edge of my seat pretty much throughout the whole book – a definite page-turner for sure! There were many great plot twists throughout that I was anxiously turning the pages to see what would happen next. Great characters, well-developed, that really pull you in to the story. This was a really great read and I will definitely try something from this author again.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book is messed up, and I LOVED IT. I couldn’t put it down. I never knew what was going to happen next. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves true crime. I will be rereading this again.
Gripping and intense thriller that keeps you hooked until the last page! Interesting characters and concept for this story. Hard to put down! Good read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I was hooked when I first started reading this story, then the repetitiveness made the story drag and I put the book down for a couple of weeks. I have to say wasn’t really a fan of the narrative style and we only got Ruby’s POV.
This is a very twisted tale told by young Ruby when she discovers her dad’s murderous hobby. Kids are at times more fascinated with how the colors smear on the paper than what they actually painted that’s how the descriptors felt from Ruby as she described her father’s “masterpieces” and her desire to see her father continue his work.
Ruby started this diary when she was about 7-8 y/o but the writing comes across more adult than a child of those years could manage realistically.
Ruby knew what was happening was wrong but her need to keep the only parent she had safe, played an even greater role her than the need to help any stranger that could possible tear them apart.
There were times when I was drawn into the macabre and twisted world of this damaged father and daughter duo and the almost normalcy of the depraved behavior that her father started and Ruby wanted to emulate but there was a barrier that kept me mostly on the periphery of the action.
You knew it was only a matter of when they would be discovered and how things would play out at the end of so much tragedy.
A disturbing tragic read where the life of a child is irrevocably changed by the murderous actions of her only living parent.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This dark story is a wonderful introduction to this author and one I’m not likely to forget. If this book is anything to go by, I think I’m going to really enjoy this author and read more of her books in the future. The plot is mesmerizing, it’s filled with action and wonderfully written characters who have great depth to them. A must read for anyone who loves domestic thrillers.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Just never got off the ground
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed this book. This is the first time I’ve read anything by this author, but it won’t be the last.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A very different take on a serial killer, but I loved this book. Parts of it were gruesome, but how a young child was able to keep her Daddy’s secret was amazing. It is action-packed and moves fast, areal page turner. I have never read this author before, but I will read her again. The character of Ruby was wonderfully brought out, so much that you felt like you knew her.
The Diary of A Serial Killer’s Daughter by L.A. Detwiler
This was written from the daughters point of view in her diaries entries from the time she was young till about 16. Very interesting and disturbing, a little slow paced for me but it did hold my interest and I wanted to know what was going to happen with Ruby and her father. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this and leave my opinion.
I wanted to like this book, but I quit about halfway through because it was just repetitive and boring. I was so disappointed.
I wasn’t sure if I would like this book when I first began it, but it pulled me in quick. I would expect one thing but get another. I was on the edge of my seat to see if what I thought would happen really would occur…sometimes yes, mostly no. Plus, no sugar coated ending.
Well written. A very believable story. Makes you wonder if is was based on an actual person
Loved it… very original! Read it in two days.
Interesting approach but needs better editing
Loved I. Read it ever chance I had free time.