The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde

(285 pages)



'The problem was Megan had just taken the second half of her ecstasy when her father called with the news'. Nineteen-year-old university student Megan Thompson is beautiful, cool, clever and sexy - the kind of girl boys fall in love with. She's mostly steered clear of family life since the death of her younger brother. That is until the day she hears her mother, Diana, has been found floating face down in their swimming pool. Diana, as Director of the Center for Reproductive Choice, was a national figure who inspired passions and made enemies. Detective Huck Berlin is brought in to investigate the case when it becomes clear that Diana was murdered. Several people have quarrelled with Diana on that fateful day, not least Frank, her husband of twenty years, and her wayward child. Now, father and daughter are thrown together in an unexpected twist of family life. Set in a small town in Colorado, The Abortionist's Daughter is an utterly compelling novel of family secrets, dark passion and, ultimately, catharsis for those whose lives have become so strangely entwined.

I thought that this was a really well written book, and whilst it could simply have gone down the road of a bog-standard 'whodunnit' it took an entirely different direction. The identity of the murderer was not the central issue in the story, instead there were fabulous character developments with lots of family history and relationships being explored. The only thing that irritated me is that there were plenty of mentions of and a couple of arguments about Ben, but he simply wasn't explored enough. For 285 pages it was amazing how compact the story was without losing anything too serious. Great!!!
Overall I really did enjoy this and am so glad that I finally got around to reading it :) Recommended to all those who like Jodi Picoult style books, especially if you are after a faster read!!