The Bad Daughter

November 13, 2017
Los Angeles therapist Robin Davis, the star of this suspenseful if workmanlike thriller from bestseller Fielding (She’s Not There), hasn’t been in touch with most of her family for years—until someone shoots her father, autocratic property developer Greg Davis; Greg’s much-younger second wife, Tara, who’s also Robin’s former best friend and her brother Alec’s onetime fiancée; and Tara’s 12-year-old daughter, Cassidy, in an apparently botched robbery at their house in Red Bluff, Calif. All are in critical condition at the local hospital, and upon returning home, Robin finds the situation worse than she could have imagined. Perpetually angry big sister Melanie, mother of an 18-year-old autistic son, has turned even more caustic; the townspeople regard the tragedy as the most riveting spectator sport outside of the annual rodeo; and Alec, the only relative to whom Robin remains attached, seems to be the sheriff’s prime suspect. Though few of the characters transcend soap opera quality, Fielding throws in enough twists to keep the reader turning the pages until the bombshell final shocker. Agent: Tracy Fisher, WME Entertainment.

December 15, 2017
In the aftermath of a horrific crime, an LA psychologist confronts her own family dysfunction.Robin, a newly minted therapist, suffers from panic attacks and a serious patient deficit. After a frantic call from her estranged sister, Melanie, informing her that their father's much younger second wife, Tara, has been shot and killed, Robin returns to her remote hometown, Red Bluff, California. Their father, Greg, a wealthy developer, and Tara's 12-year-old daughter, Cassidy, were also shot and are hospitalized. Greg's highly conditional love has scarred both Melanie and Robin, and his many affairs, they feel, hastened their mother's death. If that wasn't bad enough, Greg stole Tara, Robin's best friend, from his son Alec, to whom she was engaged, and showered on Cassidy the affection denied his daughters. Melanie still resents Robin because she got away, whereas Melanie was trapped in Red Bluff by her low paying job, lack of education, and, not least, her autistic son, Landon. The sisters are hounded by Sheriff Prescott, who's grasping for suspects. The only eyewitnesses are Greg, who is comatose and moribund, and Cassidy, who has been mute for several days. Suddenly, though, Cassidy talks, revealing that two muscular men wearing ski masks had entered Greg and Tara's newly completed mansion and attacked the family. Melanie's sardonic sniping and rueful quips (as entertaining to the reader as they are annoying to all around her) aren't helping, nor is Landon's slacker friend, Kenny, who keeps dropping by to inquire about Cassidy. Greg's condition poses another quandary: who will take custody of Cassidy? Robin's attorney boyfriend, Blake, arrives to allay Robin's suspicions about his infidelities and to lend his legal skills to the investigation, as Prescott targets Alec and even Landon as persons of interest. So expert is Fielding at seeding clues that readers will never see the final plot twist coming. The acutely portrayed family dynamics lend pathos and a certain schadenfreudian frisson to the proceedings.An author who knows her way around suburban angst.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2017
L.A. therapist Robin Davis had been happy to leave her dysfunctional family years earlier after her mother died. Her father, millionaire developer Greg Davis, was a habitual philanderer who subsequently married Robin's former best friend, Tara, who had been engaged to Robin's younger brother, Alec. Then tragedy strikes: Greg, Tara, and Cassidy, Tara's 12-year-old daughter, are badly wounded in what is assumed to have been a house invasion. Tara dies, Greg remains unconscious after being shot in the head, and Cassidy miraculously recovers and blames the attack on two (or maybe three) muscular men wearing ski masks. Robin leaves her practice and fiance, lawyer Blake Upton, to join her older sister, Melanie, at their family home to deal with the aftermath of the attack. Robin uses her training and shows backbone as answers become clear. Fielding, a sure hand at psychological suspense, amps up tension nicely here as the narrative reaches a high-energy conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)