The Bad Daughter: A Novel - Softcover

National Bestseller

"We can always count on Joy Fielding to turn out a well-dressed, well-developed psychological suspense novel, but her recent work featuring therapist Robin Davis is one of her best. Davis returns in The Bad Daughter, a zippy page-turner with a family secret to be unearthed. This is the kind of tale where Fielding excels and Davis is her best lead yet." --The Globe and Mail

"Fielding throws in enough twists to keep the reader turning the pages until the bombshell final shocker." --Publishers Weekly

"Fielding, a sure hand at psychological suspense, amps up tension nicely here as the narrative reaches a high-energy conclusion." --Booklist

"So expert is Fielding at seeding clues that readers will never see the final plot twist coming. The acutely portrayed family dynamics lend pathos and a certain schadenfreudian frisson to the proceedings. An author who knows her way around suburban angst." --Kirkus Reviews

"Fielding's latest is riveting enough to keep readers turning the pages. With an intricate plot shrouded in mystery and laden with psychological suspense, Fielding will hook readers in. . . . Add the gritty, authentic characters and the gripping tensions between them and readers will be enthralled. . . . With a high-stakes, satisfying and surprising conclusion, Fielding caps off another mind-bending, spellbinding thriller." --RT Book Reviews

What first appears to be a random home invasion and brutal attack reveals a family's dark secrets in this domestic ticking-clock suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of See Jane Run.

A voice mail from her estranged sister, Melanie, sends Robin's heart racing and her mind spiraling in a full-blown panic attack. Melanie's message is dire: Their father, his second wife, and his twelve-year-old stepdaughter have been shot--likely in a home invasion--and lie in the hospital in critical condition.

It's been more than five years since Robin turned her back on her father when he married her best friend. Five years since she said goodbye to her hometown of Red Bluff, California, and became a therapist. More than two years since Robin and Melanie have spoken. Yet even with all that distance and time and acrimony, the past is always with Robin.
Now she must return to the family she left behind. As she attempts to mend fences while her father clings to life, Robin begins to wonder if there is more to the tragedy than a botched burglary attempt. It seems that everyone--Robin's mercurial sister, her less-than-communicative nephew, her absent brother, and even Tara, her father's wife--has something to hide. And someone may have put them all in grave danger.

New York Times bestselling author Joy Fielding has written a gripping edge-of-your-seat thriller of family intrigue and dark secrets. The Bad Daughter explores the deadly differences between the lies we want to believe and the truths we wish not to know.