The Murderer's Daughter

A Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

From the number-one New York Times best-selling creator of the acclaimed Alex Delaware series comes a tour-de-force novel that introduces an unforgettable new heroine and illustrates perfectly why "Jonathan Kellerman has justly earned his reputation as a master of the psychological thriller" (People).

Brilliant, beautiful, and stunningly effective, psychologist Dr. Grace Blades has a special gift for treating troubled souls and healing tormented psyches - perhaps because she bears her own invisible scars. Only five years old when she witnessed her parents die in a bloody murder-suicide, Grace took refuge in her towering intellect and found comfort in the loving couple who adopted her. But as an adult, Grace's accomplished professional life vies with a covert, high-risk dark side, played out harrowingly. And when Grace's two worlds shockingly converge, her past returns with a vengeance.

The crisis begins when the busy therapist encounters a new patient whose own bleak past seems to eerily echo her own grim childhood. But there's a complication: She's met Andrew Toner before, under bizarre circumstances, and must refuse to treat him. Thinking that this is the last she'll hear of the young man, Grace is stunned to learn he was murdered soon after leaving her office, a vicious crime that leads a homicide investigation to her doorstep.

Shaken by the killing and fearing exposure of her double life, Grace sets out to probe the crime herself. But when she stumbles on the dead man's true identity, a horrifying chapter from her childhood is violently reawakened, forcing her to confront a decades-old act of evil that cries out for retribution. Suddenly stalked by vicious predators, Grace must draw upon the fierce will to survive that has powered her entire life while facing down her darkest personal demons.

©2015 Jonathan Kellerman (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Mazur captures Blades's intelligence, intensity, and emotional highs and lows, varying her delivery with every passage. When needed, Mazur speaks in a tone of resigned understatement and then, seemingly without pause, turns it to raging intensity." ( AudioFile)

Not what I was expecting, but I loved it!

Where does The Murderer's Daughter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've listened to hundreds, including all of Jonathan Kellerman's, and this is one of my very favorites

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Murderer's Daughter?

When the Grace and Andrew have their scheduled appointment and realize it was not the first time they've met.

Have you listened to any of Kathe Mazur’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think so, but I thought she did a wonderful job. I plan to look for other books performed by her.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes it was. Wish I'd taken longer, but was so intrigued I finished it in two days.

Any additional comments?

Not at all like the recent Jonathan Kellerman novels. I've enjoying them all, but found this one particularly intriguing, and enjoyed the narration too.

Strangely Compelling

Kellerman introduces a new character; Clinical Psychologist Grace Blades, basically a female Alex Delaware with a little more of an edge. The book uses flashbacks to relate the character's history and background as a woman's hardscrabble past returns with a vengeance in the form of a psychopath killer and one of his victims. I had a difficult time slogging through the interminable first couple of hours of this one and had it been a different author I would have given it up and slated this one for return; don't. It begins to slowly pick up the pace in hour number three and much of the mid-portion of this book is five star worthy. It loses some momentum on the back end and the ending would have been better left unwritten but I still recommend this one heartily.

A definite departure from the expected...

I can understand why some Kellerman fans would not like this book; it is much more cerebral than what we are used to, with a complex protagonist who we get to know intimately and a rather complicated plot full of interesting segues and twists. In some ways, I found the storyline a bit contrived, but in others, I was pleasantly surprised by an interesting and unexpected element. I was mostly intrigued by the development of Grace's character; she is very complicated and multi-faceted, and I am as thoroughly invested in her, now, as I am Alex and Milo, maybe more so, because I feel like I know her better than I know them. I definitely recommend, but be prepared for the fact that you may have mixed feelings about the characters and the plot, because it's not what you're used to.

This wasn't bad...

...until the ending and then it just stopped. Guess Kellerman was on deadline and needed a wrap-up on the quick.

Missed Alex Delaware

I missed Alex Delaware and his police buddy. The story was not ss exciting as some of the past ones and it was a little hard to follow with people halving several names.

Ehhhhh

something about this story just didn't capture me. by the end of the novel I felt the plot escaped me. I was basically shocked when I realized I was at the end. ..just didn't get it.

the performance was also mediocre. I was disappointed.

Good story weak ending

Very rich character development. Interesting backstory. Climax was predictable but satisfying. The ending leaves you hanging.

Great Book

What did you love best about The Murderer's Daughter?

Everything was great. I had kind of tired of Kellerman's other, Alex Deleware, character. Almost did not buy this book. So glad I did.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Murderer's Daughter?

So many.

Which character – as performed by Kathe Mazur – was your favorite?

Who else but Grace.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Her kindness to damaged individuals.

Any additional comments?

His best book in a long time.

Better than okay, but...

In reflecting on what I enjoyed -- and didn't enjoy -- about this book, I think a lot of the issues I had with it comes down to the narrator. The story stars a child survivor who is eventually taken in -- and later still adopted -- by a couple of professors, so a considerable part of the novel deals with this man and wife couple, who serve as her mentors until their tragic death late in the book.

The problem comes about because the narrator has the man speaking in a kind of lilting, sing-song cadence, the sort of thing that be appropriate for a baby. But Grace Blades is an extremely -- really, really, super intelligent -- girl, then woman. That fact is laid on with a trowel. But the speech pattern -- which other adults also affect to some degree from time to time -- has the effect of making everything this supposedly highly esteemed Harvard professor say sound as though he's toying with her, teasing about everything. Not taking her seriously. And in the story line, clearly that's not it at all. Anyway, the voice affectation the narrator chose is supremely annoying. To listen to the audio book is one thing -- but if Grace had to listen to that for years on end, no wonder she's weird.

And she is weird. In the sense of a personal triumph -- an abused abandoned child who goes on to conquer the academic/psychological world -- it's inspiring. It could happen, one supposes. Such a child could, I suppose, eventually become fabulously wealthy. But then to turn this creation loose on those who victimize, and have her turn into a cross between Jack Reacher and a female Rambo is more than even the usually-great writing of Jonathan Kellerman can handle. Or maybe it's just that Kellerman's Alex-and-Milo stories are so excellent that something as messy as this tale is bound to frustrate his Constant Readers -- or at least me, and I'm a huge fan of the basic series.

There's a schism in the story line, too -- this could better have been two books. The story of Grace growing up, facing all the endless difficulties the "system" and the world present is one thing. The female Rambo thing is quite another. It doesn't flow -- or maybe it's that the character is not congruent, as perhaps Alex Delaware might suggest. Or is it supposed to be that way? That Grace Blades (the suggestive name is overkill, too) is just an an unpredictable mess, and that's the point of the whole thing? Could be.

I have the feeling this is intended as the first in a new series -- and I'm not looking forward to that. I might try another one as a "paper" book, minus the flawed narration, but I won't hustle out to buy it.

I wish Jonathan Kellerman would stick to what he does best. I wish he would stop trying to write books with various family members, books which end up being worse than dreadful. I wish he'd just focus on the Alex-and-Milo books -- although I sense he's coming to a Conan Doyle moment, when he's so tired of his own creation that he's ready to kill him off, just to get rid of him. I hope that doesn't happen -- but then again, I'd rather see the series end gracefully than to see Kellerman drifting off into these new unworthy waters. Kellerman is better than this book. Much better.

Dark and Introspective

Better than average psych thriller... The mood is pretty intense, but the pace is easy... A slow paced thoughtful, rather than action packed, thriller... The internal dialogues, and the obviously skewed inner mental workings of Grace bring a lot to chew on while offsetting a somewhat weak plot... This book is more about the protagonist and her survival/defense mechanisms... The flashbacks are weaved in seamlessly... The narration is just right for the voice of the novel... Essentially a story of a survivor and the lengths she will go to in pursuit of further survival on her terms...