The Good Daughter: A gripping, suspenseful, page-turning thriller

This is a slow-burning crime novel, written very differently to Burt's first title, Little Girl lost. I enjoyed this a lot more, but it's a very hefty tome (500+ pages).The writing is lyrical, the prose beautiful, the description is lengthy and the theme immersive, authentic, and very well written. This is a story of light and dark, where shadows hide beneath the warmth, and terror behind a smile.

A mishmash of characters. Impossible to see the significance of any of them. Too much jumping about from one to the other..A very dark book. Nothing pleasant about it.

Did not enjoy at all. Too much back and forth. Did not connect to any of the characters and just seemed to drag on

This is a heartbreaking and beautifully written story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I didn't even bother to finish it.

Top quality arrived quick

a very good read with many twists and turns,can*t wait to turn the page

Very good read

Well written. A captivating story that held me to the end. Interesting characters and a great plot with any twists. I really enjoyed this book..

...the storyline doesn't hold together at all and the characters are bland and superficial. The average reader will figure out the Quinn storyline quickly and even then--it makes no sense. SPOILERS-- Girl grows up in Beaumont, Tx...and is too stupid to know that Galveston is 2 hours away., but I digress...Her hs boyfriend returns to Mexico when she is 16ish-- she thinks but since he leaves no info and no one will talk about it, she has no idea really. Several years later, she marries and moves to Aurora, in North Texas, then travels (so to speak) for a decade. When she returns....her hs boyfriend is a chief of Police in Aurora (not Beaumont) and she's been in touch to tell him she is coming? How is this even possible? Also --Dahlia (and like others, the constant odd names bothered me..Tain? Tee? What?) Anyway....Dahlia worries about a vet bill but not multiple ER visits, doctor's visits and an MRI---what? Financially crippling plus she has no ID. Again....HOW ? The book dragged, no one was likable, the plot was all over the place and bleh...wont read another

The Good Daughter is written by an excellent storyteller, Alexander Burt. It is rich and filled with stories that are woven together to form a beautiful rich tapestry - this book! I spent the whole day reading it and felt completely fulfilled by every word written. This is a book for anyone who loves the brilliance of a story well told and seeks transformation through reading a book, that transcends time. It is so well written and bold, that all else fades away. It was completely satisfying in a magical way that captivated my heart.

I thoroughly enjoyed Alex Burt's latest novel. The haunted paths of her modern Texan setting are perfectly suited for her writing style: a tension filled vision of rural life, where mystery, tragedy, and madness lie just around the corner. These are fully drawn characters in a dark and twisted setting, and there are few authors I would rather have in the driver's seat on such a winding Texas road.

Alexandra Burt's first novel is an entertaining, not to be put down the story that will have you staying up nights to find out what happens next. Twisty. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next (The Good Daughter, look for it.)

Strangest damn book that I’ve read in a long time. Would probably be worth reading if u lived in Colorado and could stay high the whole time your reading this book.

Bought this cuz I'm familiar with many of the places in which novel is set. But I don't like the main character that much. Don't care much for the author's writing style, either.Gave up about 1/4 way into book,May try again later,or may just pass along to someone else.

This book is long and sad and often confusing. The story is interesting but heavy with almost morose characters, yet you want to know more about them and why the things that are happening to them take place. It’s not an easy or happy read, but you want to finish because you want to see how things are resolved.

The Good Daughter captivated me from beginning to end. The author's writing style is amazingly good and very adeptly kept me from losing track between the flashbacks and the "present day" narrative. I highly recommend this novel.

It was very good .It kept my interest the whole way thru. I suspected that Memphis was really Quinn and that Dahlia was the little girl that Tain gave birth too .Alexandra did a good job weaving in and out between the past and current time. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

What if you were the worst crime your mother ever committed? Dahlia Waller’s childhood memories consist of stuffy cars, seedy motels, and a rootless existence traveling the country with her eccentric mother. Now grown, she desperately wants to distance herself from that life. Yet one thing is stopping her from moving forward: she has questions. In order to understand her past, Dahlia must go back. Back to her mother in the stifling town of Aurora, Texas. Back into the past of a woman on the brink of madness. But after she discovers three grave-like mounds on a neighboring farm, she’ll learn that in her mother’s world of secrets, not all questions are meant to be answered…My Thoughts: We begin The Good Daughter with a mother and child, endlessly driving from one place to another, crossing state lines, from Texas, to New Mexico, and to California, occasionally stopping for a while. As the child grows, she begins to realize that her life is not like the lives of other people. Her mother is secretive, fearful, and has strange habits, like collecting crickets in jars. Her mother calls her “Pet,” but then at some point tells her she is named Dahlia, and that she is Memphis Waller.They settle again in Aurora, Texas. But always there is a major hurdle to a normal life: what Dahlia calls “paperwork issues.” There are no birth certificates or social security numbers, so all jobs are worked off the books.After high school, Dahlia leaves Texas and is gone for fifteen years. Upon her return, she connects with an old friend, Bobby, who is now a cop. She continues to work off the books, used to it by now, while still feeling some resentment at how she and her mother have lived their lives.Shortly after returning “home,” Dahlia is out jogging and stumbles upon a girl, badly beaten and unconscious. The mystery of who she is and what happened to her will hover over the story until the end.Alternating narratives from the past show moments in the lives of Quinn, Tain, and an old woman named Aella. Their stories somehow mesh with the lives of Memphis and Dahlia, but we will not connect the dots until finally, near the end, Memphis starts sharing the tale in bits and pieces.I kept reading because I wanted the answers, and I was definitely curious about what was behind all the secrets Memphis was keeping. So much of what had happened to her was horrific, so I could empathize. But I was also very glad for the story to end. It was repetitive in parts, as each character told bits of her story. I felt closure at the end, so in that sense, it was satisfactory. But for me, it earned 3.5 stars. The Good Daughter

Excellent with a twist and a turn here and there. Book club choice

Great book, highly recommended, but maybe not for the faint of heart. Disturbing subject matter but handled with care. Looking forward to the author's other work.

The Good Daughter by Alexandra Burt, 398 pages, Berkley, February 7th 2017, ISBN: 0451488113, Format: Paperback, Genre:Contemporary Women/Suspense. Warning: May Contain Spoilers. Review by Leigh Holland.     Our mothers nurture us, feed us, clothe us, shelter us. These amazing women love us, teach us, and would do anything to protect us. Sure, we can all look back at certain instances where mother may not have done right, where she could’ve done better by us, or in some situations she may even have been wrong. But we forgive our mothers their faux pas. Somebody had to raise us and who’s to say anyone else would’ve done any better? Knowing our own flaws and inner teenage turmoil, could anyone else have done better? Even if deep down we think maybe someone else could’ve, nobody else did. We love her in return. We forgive her. We’re good daughters.This is the story of a good daughter named Dahlia. All her life, she and her mother, Memphis, have lived off the grid, taking jobs for cash, homeschooling, and staying in motels or the car. Finally, when she was a bit older, her mother rented a house in Aurora and they settled down. Memphis took odd jobs for cash, like tending the elderly or cleaning homes of the affluent. Dahlia often wondered why she didn’t go to school until they settled in Aurora. Memphis told her it was because of ‘paperwork’. Once Dahlia grew up and wanted to go to college, she couldn’t apply for financial aid because Memphis refused to complete the paperwork. Memphis offered to pay cash for classes at the local community college instead. Dahlia left and lived the same sort of life her mom had- living and working off the grid, paying cash for everything and never acquiring credit. Finally, Dahlia decided she’d had enough and she wanted some answers. Why didn’t she have a social security number? Why had they moved around so much? Where’s her birth certificate? The deeper Dahlia digs, the darker the dirt she dredges up.What makes someone a good mother? Can the protective urge be taken too far? Do mothers use ‘the good of the child’ as an excuse to act selfishly? What makes someone a good daughter? To whom does a good daughter owe her loyalty in the end? Are there things a mother can do that a daughter can’t forgive? These are some of the questions The Good Daughter brings to the fore. My favorite character was Dahlia. At one point, Memphis asks her “Have you ever been in the eye of a storm?” It’s sad that Memphis doesn’t see that Dahlia has always been at the eye of the storm and Memphis is the person who placed her there.I enjoyed reading this novel. It had a series of suspenseful moments that kept me turning its pages. I felt there were easier ways for the character Quinn to get what she wanted most and I didn’t understand why she never considered those options. In the end, I would’ve made the same decision as Dahlia about her mother. I would’ve shared her ambivalent feelings. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy complex relationships between female characters and a suspenseful sequence of events.

This story revolves around violence against women. Poetically written and satisfying. But not the kind of book I would recommend.