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A review by gilmoreguide
The Trophy Child by Paula Daly
2.0
With a title like The Trophy Child I was all set to settle into what I thought would be a farce about one of today’s most easily identifiable tropes: the child who’s been elevated by their parents to a standard of achievement not seen since DaVinci. My bad for not reading the synopsis—it’s a mystery replete with troubled teens, kidnapping and the problems created by the illusion of perfection. All in a small English suburb. Which is fine—I’m loving mysteries these days.
Daly arranges her characters with a neat proficiency right from the beginning of The Trophy Child. Verity is a teenager who has been required to undergo counseling for trying to throttle her stepmother. Noel is her father—a doctor who’s also a womanizer and likes to drink. Karen is the ubiquitous tiger mother and the sweet, quiet Brontë is the average ten-year-old focus of her formidable energy. On the fringes of this family unit are Verity’s mother, who is in an assisted living home due to MS and Karen’s older son who lives above the garage and seems to have no interests outside of gaming and marijuana.
When Brontë disappears this family unravels more quickly than a Walmart sweater. A female detective is put on the case and happens to be a woman Noel recently had a one night stand with and lied to. Verity was supposed to be watching Brontë and Karen wants her interrogated. Karen wants everyone interrogated and alienates anyone trying to help. Soon enough, there’s nothing but a puddle of yarn left in The Trophy Child.
The rest of this review is at: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/03/its-not-you-its-me-mini-reviews-6/
Daly arranges her characters with a neat proficiency right from the beginning of The Trophy Child. Verity is a teenager who has been required to undergo counseling for trying to throttle her stepmother. Noel is her father—a doctor who’s also a womanizer and likes to drink. Karen is the ubiquitous tiger mother and the sweet, quiet Brontë is the average ten-year-old focus of her formidable energy. On the fringes of this family unit are Verity’s mother, who is in an assisted living home due to MS and Karen’s older son who lives above the garage and seems to have no interests outside of gaming and marijuana.
When Brontë disappears this family unravels more quickly than a Walmart sweater. A female detective is put on the case and happens to be a woman Noel recently had a one night stand with and lied to. Verity was supposed to be watching Brontë and Karen wants her interrogated. Karen wants everyone interrogated and alienates anyone trying to help. Soon enough, there’s nothing but a puddle of yarn left in The Trophy Child.
The rest of this review is at: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/03/its-not-you-its-me-mini-reviews-6/