Think Your Childhood Was Messed Up? (The Marsh King's Daughter)

TITLE: The Marsh King's Daughter
AUTHOR: Karen Dionne
PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons
PUBLISHING DATE: June 13, 2017

FROM GOODREADS:  I was born two years into my mother's captivity. She was three weeks shy of seventeen. If I had known then what I do now, things would have been a lot different. I wouldn't have adored my father.'

When notorious child abductor - known as the Marsh King - escapes from a maximum security prison, Helena immediately suspects that she and her two young daughters are in danger.

No one, not even her husband, knows the truth about Helena's past: they don't know that she was born into captivity, that she had no contact with the outside world before the age of twelve - or that her father raised her to be a killer.

And they don't know that the Marsh King can survive and hunt in the wilderness better than anyone... except, perhaps his own daughter.

Packed with gripping suspense and powerful storytelling, The Marsh King's Daughter is a one-more-page, read-in-one-sitting thriller that you'll remember for ever.

MY THOUGHTS: 
I don't always have the best luck with thrillers, especially the past year or so, but it seems my luck might be changing with "The Marsh King's Daughter." Helena, her husband and their two daughters live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where they live a rather simple life. Early on the reader learns something dramatic happened in Helena's life which has had a dramatic effect on everything she has done since. While picking her daughter's up from school one day, she learns a dangerous man who once kidnapped a young teen and held her captive for years has escaped from prison two hours away. That man just happens to be Helena's father and it might just be up to her to track him down and end her ongoing nightmare once and for all.

This books has so much tension and action throughout that at times, it was very hard to put down. I immediately felt a connection with Helena and wanted to learn more about her twisted childhood. It was interesting to see the dynamics of her both loving her father, yet learning what kind of man he really is inside. The book flashes back from past to present as the reader witnesses Helena's hunt for The Marsh King and her childhood. She spent so much of her childhood in captivity and didn't really know it at the time.

Overall, I'm thrilled with Dionne's novel. She weaves her tales with snippets from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the same name which gives a whimsical element to an extremely dark and twisted story. I am tempted to give "The Marsh King's Daughter" 5/5 stars, but there happens to be a small part which features two dogs both named Rambo which sort of upset me as I don't for animal cruelty in my books. However, it really is only a small element and I don't feel it was thrown in for shock value so I can cut the author a small break.

If you love thrillers, this is a wonderful book to pick up. I haven't seen it compared to "Gone Girl" which seems the norm nowadays, and I'm glad or else perhaps I might not have even given this book a second glance. I predict this will be one the smash books this summer and next year, people just might be comparing books to "The Marsh King's Daughter."

I received this book from Penguin First to Read in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 4 PAWS

 

Also, I think this would be an awesome movie and if it's ever made, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE cast Tatiana Maslany as Helena (and not just because I started watching Season 5 of "Orphan Black" yesterday!