Thrillers & Suspense
![Lisa Gardner - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B000APTQPU.jpg)
The Other Daughter: A Novel
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before She Disappeared comes a propulsive thriller exploring "the dark side of family life, where the ties that bind also gag, choke, and strangle" (Publishers Weekly).
"Lisa Gardner always delivers heart-stopping suspense."-Harlan Coben
The family you love the most may be the people you should trust the least. . . .
Twenty years ago, Melanie Stokes was abandoned in a Boston hospital, then adopted by a wealthy young couple. Gifted with loving parents, a doting brother, and an indulgent uncle, Melanie has always considered herself lucky. Until tonight.
Tonight, a has-been reporter turns up, investigating her past. Tonight, the first note arrives, saying, "You Get What You Deserve." And tonight, Melanie has her first, horrifying vision of the past.
Melanie has no memory of her life before the adoption. Now someone wants to give it back, even if it includes the darkest nightmare the Stokes family ever faced: the murder of their first daughter in Texas. As Melanie pursues every lead, chases every shadow in search of her real identity, two seemingly unrelated events from her past will come together in a dangerous explosion of truth.
Winner of the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Suspense
"Lisa Gardner always delivers heart-stopping suspense."-Harlan Coben
The family you love the most may be the people you should trust the least. . . .
Twenty years ago, Melanie Stokes was abandoned in a Boston hospital, then adopted by a wealthy young couple. Gifted with loving parents, a doting brother, and an indulgent uncle, Melanie has always considered herself lucky. Until tonight.
Tonight, a has-been reporter turns up, investigating her past. Tonight, the first note arrives, saying, "You Get What You Deserve." And tonight, Melanie has her first, horrifying vision of the past.
Melanie has no memory of her life before the adoption. Now someone wants to give it back, even if it includes the darkest nightmare the Stokes family ever faced: the murder of their first daughter in Texas. As Melanie pursues every lead, chases every shadow in search of her real identity, two seemingly unrelated events from her past will come together in a dangerous explosion of truth.
Winner of the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Suspense
Editorial Reviews
Praise for Lisa Gardner and The Other Daughter
"To read Lisa Gardner is to put yourself in the hands of a master storyteller."-Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Home Before Dark
"Lisa Garner is the master of the psychological thriller."-Associated Press
"Just when you thought Lisa Gardner couldn't get any better . . . she does."-Lee Child
"A dark, powerful tale of nerve-shattering suspense."-Tami Hoag
"Readers get loads of angst, great procedural stuff, some hair-raising action scenes, and a villain to keep you awake at night. What more can any thriller reader want?"-Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
"Scary, gritty, terrifying. Lock the door, leave on a light."-Oakland Press
"A page-turner."-Rocky Mountain News
"[A] suspenseful, engrossing page-turner . . . Totally absorbing, it's one of those books that keeps you up late, enslaved by the ‘just one more chapter' syndrome."-Mystery News
"Sheer terror . . . a great read."-Iris Johansen
"To read Lisa Gardner is to put yourself in the hands of a master storyteller."-Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Home Before Dark
"Lisa Garner is the master of the psychological thriller."-Associated Press
"Just when you thought Lisa Gardner couldn't get any better . . . she does."-Lee Child
"A dark, powerful tale of nerve-shattering suspense."-Tami Hoag
"Readers get loads of angst, great procedural stuff, some hair-raising action scenes, and a villain to keep you awake at night. What more can any thriller reader want?"-Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
"Scary, gritty, terrifying. Lock the door, leave on a light."-Oakland Press
"A page-turner."-Rocky Mountain News
"[A] suspenseful, engrossing page-turner . . . Totally absorbing, it's one of those books that keeps you up late, enslaved by the ‘just one more chapter' syndrome."-Mystery News
"Sheer terror . . . a great read."-Iris Johansen
Readers Top Reviews
Bonnie KkathyJ. L
Lisa Gardner hit it out of the park with this one. I loved it. It began a little darkly, but once I was into it (by just a few pages) I could not put it down. There are deeply developed characters, all of whom kept me guessing. I became protective of Melanie Stokes ("the other daughter") almost immediately. There were multiple plots, or mysteries, and it was difficult for me to determine which to focus on first. In her distinctive way, Ms. Gardner helped keep my focus on everything (!). Without giving anything away, I couldn't figure out who the bad guys were and who were not. I personally have attended an execution in Huntsville, TX and appreciate the author's research and resultant accuracy. Lisa Gardner has always impressed me in that regard. This is a stand-alone novel. However, if you haven't read her 6-book FBI Series, this would be a great read before FBI Book 1, The Perfect Husband. If you figure out what's happening before the last 7/8ths of the book, you're a better sleuth than I. Definitely an enjoyable, intense read.
BIZZY M.Bonnie Kk
I used to sit down and read a book a day but now I'm handicapped and I can't sit I have to lay down most of the time and it's hard to lay and hold an e-reader up because I fall asleep and keep dropping it on my head so I don't get very much red at one time so it makes it hard to keep the continuity going of the book but I think if I was able to you know read the book faster at a normal rate I would give it five stars.
MBIZZY M.Bonnie K
Warning! I stayed up half the night reading this book! Melanie appears to have the perfect life! The daughter of a cardiac surgeon & his wife, she has led a life of privilege since her adoption 20 years ago. Abandoned at the hospital at age 9, she has regained no memory of her birth parents or even her own name. Her adoptive parents and older brother have provided a loving home. But is she simply a replacement for their 4 year old daughter who was kidnapped so many years ago? The one whose portrait occupies a prominent location above the fireplace but no one wants to talk about? Plot twists that I did not see coming & just when I thought I had everything figured out, another "gotcha"! Ms Gardner is a master storyteller who draws me in from the first chapter. Kudos! This novel had so many plot twists that it was difficult to put down!
Jana L.PerskieMBI
A vicious, pedophile serial killer is executed in Texas' "Old Sparky." He goes to his death defiantly, never revealing the identities of his wife and only child to the reporter who hounds him for the story of a lifetime. Across the country in Boston, on the same night of the execution, an abandoned nine year-old girl is found drugged and unconscious in a room at City General Hospital. When she recovers she has no memory of her identity or her past. She is adopted by the hospital's most successful heart surgeon and his family - the same family whose only daughter, Meagan, was murdered by the Texas serial killer five years before. Fast forward twenty years - the adopted girl, named Melanie by her new parents, is now a successful event organizer for Boston's rich and famous. A graduate of Wellesley, she has what appears to be a wonderful life with a perfect family. Then she is contacted by a sleazy reporter from Texas who has been investigating her past. Recurring nightmares that she has not had for years begin again. She discovers a macabre shrine set-up in her bedroom along with a note, "You Get What You Deserve." Melanie's life begins to unravel as she discovers things about her parents, her brother and her godfather that turn the truths of her past twenty years into terrible lies. She begins a desperate search for her real identity with the help of love interest, FBI agent David Riggs, and slowly begins to discover that the family members she loves and trusts may be the people she should fear the most. Lisa Gardner has written another gripping mystery that will keep you turning pages long into the night. This is a dark, scary thriller - so be prepared! JANA
MANOMETJana L.Per
What a great story and even better plot twist ! Would highly recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery !
Short Excerpt Teaser
She was late, she was late, oh, God, she was so late!
Melanie Stokes came bounding up the stairs, then made the hard left turn down the hall, her long blond hair whipping around her face. Twenty minutes and counting. She hadn't even thought about what she was going to wear. Damn.
She tore into her room with her sweatshirt half pulled over her head. A strategic kick sent the heavy mahogany door slamming shut behind her as she shed the first layer of clothes. She toed off her tennis shoes and sent them sailing beneath the pine bureau that swallowed nearly a quarter of her bedroom. A lot of things came to rest beneath the battered dresser. One of these days she meant to clean it out. But not tonight.
Melanie hastily shimmied out of her ripped-up jeans, tossed her T-shirt onto the sleigh bed, and hurried to the closet. The wide plank floorboards felt cool against her toes, making her do a little cha-cha-cha along the way.
"Come on," she muttered, ripping back the silk curtain. "Ten years of compulsive shopping crammed into one five-by-five space. How hard can it be to locate a cocktail dress?"
To judge by the mess, pretty hard. Melanie grimaced, then waded in fatalistically. Somewhere in there were a few decent dresses.
At the age of twenty-nine, Melanie Stokes was petite, capable, and a born diplomat. She'd been abandoned as a child at City General Hospital with no memory of where she came from, but that had been a long time ago and she didn't think of those days much. She had an adoptive father whom she respected, an adoptive mother whom she loved, an older brother whom she worshiped, and an indulgent godfather whom she adored. Until recently she had considered her family to be very close. They were not just another rich family, they were a tight-knit family. She kept telling herself they would be like that again soon.
Melanie had graduated from Wellesley six years earlier with her family serving as an enthusiastic cheering section. She'd returned home right afterward to help her mother through one of her "spells," and somehow it had seemed easiest for everyone if she stayed. Now she was a professional event organizer. Mostly she did charity functions. Huge black-tie affairs that made the social elite feel social and elite while simultaneously milking them for significant sums of money. Lots of details, lots of planning, lots of work. Melanie always pulled them off. Seamless, social columnists liked to rave about the events, relaxed yet elegant. Not to mention profitable.
Then there were the nights like tonight. Tonight was the seventh annual Donate-A-Classic for Literacy reception, held right there in her parents' house, and, apparently, cursed.
The caterer hadn't been able to get enough ice. The parking valets had called in sick, the Boston Globe had printed the wrong time, and Senator Kennedy was home with a stomach virus, taking with him half the press corps. Thirty minutes ago Melanie had gotten so frustrated, tears had stung her eyes. Completely unlike her.
But then, she was agitated tonight for reasons that had nothing to do with the reception. She was agitated, and being Melanie, she was dealing with it by keeping busy.
Melanie was very good at keeping busy. Almost as good as her father.
Fifteen minutes and counting. Damn. Melanie found her favorite gold-fringed flapper's dress. Encouraged, she began digging for gold pumps.
During the first few months of Melanie's adoption, the Stokeses had been so excited about their new daughter, they'd lavished her with every gift they could imagine. The second floor master bedroom suite, complete with rose silk wall hangings and a gold-trimmed bathroom, where she needed a stool just to catch her reflection in the genuine Louis IV mirror, was hers. The closet was the size of a small apartment, and it had been filled with every dress, hat, and, yes, gloves ever made by Laura Ashley. All that in addition to two parents, one brother, and one godfather who were shadowing every move she made, handing her food before she could think to hunger, bringing her games before she could think to be bored, and offering her blankets before she could think to shiver.
It had been a little weird.
Melanie had gone along at first. She'd been eager to please, wanting to be happy as badly as they wanted to make her happy. It seemed to her that if people as golden and beautiful and rich as the Stokeses were willing to give her a home and have her as a daughter, she could darn well learn to be their daughter. So she'd dressed each morning in flounces of lace and patiently let her new mom cajole her straight hair into sausage curls. She'd listened gravely to her new father's dramatic stories of snatching cardiac p...
Melanie Stokes came bounding up the stairs, then made the hard left turn down the hall, her long blond hair whipping around her face. Twenty minutes and counting. She hadn't even thought about what she was going to wear. Damn.
She tore into her room with her sweatshirt half pulled over her head. A strategic kick sent the heavy mahogany door slamming shut behind her as she shed the first layer of clothes. She toed off her tennis shoes and sent them sailing beneath the pine bureau that swallowed nearly a quarter of her bedroom. A lot of things came to rest beneath the battered dresser. One of these days she meant to clean it out. But not tonight.
Melanie hastily shimmied out of her ripped-up jeans, tossed her T-shirt onto the sleigh bed, and hurried to the closet. The wide plank floorboards felt cool against her toes, making her do a little cha-cha-cha along the way.
"Come on," she muttered, ripping back the silk curtain. "Ten years of compulsive shopping crammed into one five-by-five space. How hard can it be to locate a cocktail dress?"
To judge by the mess, pretty hard. Melanie grimaced, then waded in fatalistically. Somewhere in there were a few decent dresses.
At the age of twenty-nine, Melanie Stokes was petite, capable, and a born diplomat. She'd been abandoned as a child at City General Hospital with no memory of where she came from, but that had been a long time ago and she didn't think of those days much. She had an adoptive father whom she respected, an adoptive mother whom she loved, an older brother whom she worshiped, and an indulgent godfather whom she adored. Until recently she had considered her family to be very close. They were not just another rich family, they were a tight-knit family. She kept telling herself they would be like that again soon.
Melanie had graduated from Wellesley six years earlier with her family serving as an enthusiastic cheering section. She'd returned home right afterward to help her mother through one of her "spells," and somehow it had seemed easiest for everyone if she stayed. Now she was a professional event organizer. Mostly she did charity functions. Huge black-tie affairs that made the social elite feel social and elite while simultaneously milking them for significant sums of money. Lots of details, lots of planning, lots of work. Melanie always pulled them off. Seamless, social columnists liked to rave about the events, relaxed yet elegant. Not to mention profitable.
Then there were the nights like tonight. Tonight was the seventh annual Donate-A-Classic for Literacy reception, held right there in her parents' house, and, apparently, cursed.
The caterer hadn't been able to get enough ice. The parking valets had called in sick, the Boston Globe had printed the wrong time, and Senator Kennedy was home with a stomach virus, taking with him half the press corps. Thirty minutes ago Melanie had gotten so frustrated, tears had stung her eyes. Completely unlike her.
But then, she was agitated tonight for reasons that had nothing to do with the reception. She was agitated, and being Melanie, she was dealing with it by keeping busy.
Melanie was very good at keeping busy. Almost as good as her father.
Fifteen minutes and counting. Damn. Melanie found her favorite gold-fringed flapper's dress. Encouraged, she began digging for gold pumps.
During the first few months of Melanie's adoption, the Stokeses had been so excited about their new daughter, they'd lavished her with every gift they could imagine. The second floor master bedroom suite, complete with rose silk wall hangings and a gold-trimmed bathroom, where she needed a stool just to catch her reflection in the genuine Louis IV mirror, was hers. The closet was the size of a small apartment, and it had been filled with every dress, hat, and, yes, gloves ever made by Laura Ashley. All that in addition to two parents, one brother, and one godfather who were shadowing every move she made, handing her food before she could think to hunger, bringing her games before she could think to be bored, and offering her blankets before she could think to shiver.
It had been a little weird.
Melanie had gone along at first. She'd been eager to please, wanting to be happy as badly as they wanted to make her happy. It seemed to her that if people as golden and beautiful and rich as the Stokeses were willing to give her a home and have her as a daughter, she could darn well learn to be their daughter. So she'd dressed each morning in flounces of lace and patiently let her new mom cajole her straight hair into sausage curls. She'd listened gravely to her new father's dramatic stories of snatching cardiac p...
