Review: The Hunter's Daughter

The Hunter's Daughter by Nicola Solvinic
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I am rounding up a bit, because although this book wasn't perfect, I did enjoy it. This is the story of a young law enforcement agent whose past comes back to haunt her--perhaps literally. She is the daughter of a prolific and gruesome serial killer who staged his victims in macabre fairy-tale like tableaux. And even though he was caught, imprisoned, and executed, it appears as though he has now returned.
The beginning of this book felt a bit disjointed and almost clunky. I wasn't sure where the story was going and had a hard time connecting with the main character, Anna. I honestly considered DNF the book several times. But I kept reading, and once I got through about the first 1/3, the story and action picked up, I kind of figured Anna out a little bit, and I found myself really drawn into the story that the author created. This was helped by the fact that the setting and descriptions in the book were extremely well-done. The author did a great job of creating a truly eldritch, eerie, and creepy atmosphere. I was transported to the forest, with all its sights, smells, noises, and feelings.
There were a few plot holes, some bigger than others (if that gene is so rare, how are there 3--or I guess 4!--people that have it all right there?!), but I could overlook them. I enjoyed the magical realism element, and the "is it supernatural, or is this all caused by trauma, physiological issues, drug exposure?" theme. But then, at the end of the book, when it was time for the "resolution," things ended a bit too neatly. Everything just fit so perfectly well together that it did not feel as though it fit the rest of the book. While I am not a huge fan of ambiguity, incompleteness, or deliberate vagueness at the end of books, this story was so unsettling and weirdly "off" (in a good way!), that the "happily ever after" felt jarring.
But I did enjoy the book, and will probably read more by this author. It would be a great book to kick of spooky season!

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