The Murderer's Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman

I heard about The Murder's Daughter from Colline's Teaser Tuesday and it intrigued me so much that I immediately borrowed a copy.

The Murderer's Daughter follows Grace, whose mom killed her (Grace's) father and then herself when Grace was nine years old. A prodigy, Grace managed to have a good childhood and now works as a pyschologists for those related to victims of terrible crimes. As a way to unwind, she likes to sleep with random guys. One day, a new client comes to her office - and he's the guy she picked up the night before. When he's found dead, Grace starts to feel a sense of danger and decides to investigate his murder.

To be honest, the first eight chapters did not grab my attention. But I remembered that I wanted to read it and pushed through and was, luckily, rewarded. Once Grace starts hunting down the murderer and why, things start to get interesting. Coupled with the flashbacks to her childhood (there's this past/present narrative) structure, I was sufficiently engrossed till the end. The ending, on the other hand, was a let down because we never got the confirmation for Grace's theories. They are convincing theories, but it would be nice to get proof, if you know what I mean.

I thought about why the first eight chapers felt slow, and I think it's because the style was rather "literary" when it came out. There was a lot of describing and telling me things which I frankly was not interested in. But as the action increased, the style sort of disappeared and I started to enjoy the book.

Surprisingly, this book's strongest point is the middle section. The starting and ending, however, were let downs for me. As a character, Grace is alright, though I can't say I was brought into her head, probably because of the narrative style.