Hey!

I just finished reading The Perfect Daughter by Cole Baxter.

And it follows a woman questioning her own sanity.

Someone making the main character doubt what's real is one of the staples in domestic thrillers, and I've enjoyed quite a few that explore it.

Here are my favorites.

Is It All In My Head Thrillers

The Dead Room by Catriona McPherson

Lindsay is a young widow who retreats to her Scottish hometown after the death of her husband. But something feels off. She starts recognizing people she's never met and forgetting the faces of people she's known her whole life.

In The Dead Room by Catriona McPherson, we follow Lindsay as she tries to figure out whether she's losing her mind or whether everyone around her knows something she doesn't.

Magpie by Elizabeth Day

Marisa and Jake take in a lodger named Kate to help with the bills. Kate is charming and helpful, but Marisa starts to suspect something is very wrong.

In Magpie by Elizabeth Day, we follow Marisa as she tries to prove that Kate isn't who she seems, while everyone around her sees only a perfect houseguest.

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Theo joins her fiancé's family at their secluded mountain retreat, only to be hit by a strange sense that she has been there before. Then she finds a photograph of herself as a child, taken at the very same house.

In A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall, we follow Theo as buried memories start flooding back and she's left trying to figure out what's real and what she's imagining.

And the newest addition to the list:

The Perfect Daughter by Cole Baxter

Christa has been on medication for her depression for years. She’s been trying to make her marriage work. She’s married to Ben, and they have a beautiful daughter. Things take an unexpected turn when her husband Ben is contacted by Jewel, a young woman claiming to be his daughter from a previous marriage. Wanting to make things work and have a big, happy family, Christa agrees to let her stay with them. But things start going wrong. Money goes missing, keepsakes vanish, and Ben's behavior turns increasingly hostile. Christa is left wondering if she's losing her mind all over again.

The Perfect Daughter by Cole Baxter is a domestic thriller set in a family home.

The writing is introspective, and when it works, it puts you right inside Christa's head as she tries to make sense of what's happening around her. That said, I found it overly descriptive and repetitive at times, with sections that wander away from the main story. If you enjoy sitting with a character's thoughts, this will work well for you.

The story is told from a single POV in a single timeline, following Christa throughout. It's a slow burn. The psychological tension builds as the strange events in Christa's home pile up, but I wish there had been more thrills and twists. The setup had me curious, and the psychological aspect was good, but I kept waiting for the story to kick into a higher gear.

Christa is a proactive character, pushing back and moving the plot forward as she tries to figure out what's happening in her own home. She learns through the story, which I appreciated. At its core, the story asks whether having someone in your life is better than having no one, even when that someone is making things worse.

There is no romance, though there are sex scenes. There is a lot of swearing and vulgar language. But there is no graphic violence.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers, obviously)

The ending was OK. I did get a short denouement, which was appreciated.

The Perfect Daughter by Cole Baxter is a slow-burn domestic thriller that's more about what's happening inside Christa's head than what's happening around her. If you enjoy introspective thrillers where the tension is psychological, this one delivers on that front. It wasn't quite for me, but I can see who it's written for.

Latest Updates

• I Will Find You dropped on Netflix on June 18, and it's already the most-watched show in 57 countries. Sam Worthington plays a father wrongfully imprisoned for his son's murder who breaks out after learning the boy may still be alive.

That’s all for this week. See you next time.

— D.E. Dunne

P.S. Let me know how I did today by replying to this email.

P.P.S. I would love to hear your recommendations for thrillers you loved. Reply to this email, and I’ll add them to my TBR list. Thanks!

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