The Trapped Daughter
A Dark and Twisted Psychological Thriller
by Jay Kerk
Have you ever been trapped somewhere? I have.
Have you ever found that the world does not believe you? I did.
I have been betrayed by the people I trusted the most. They coil around me like snakes, lulling me with whispers about protection and safety and for your own good.
They offer up pills like sweets, promising me relief. Just take the meds and everything will be fine, Belle – the meds, Belle, the meds.
Everything will not be fine, and it never will be. Justice is gone from the world. I have been wronged by Gabe, the man I loved most, and when I turned to others for backup, they sided with him because he’s a star. When I ran to my father for safety, he locked me up in his great big mansion and threw away the key. Now I drift like the ghost Gabe pretended I was, my bare feet tasting the coldness of rich tiles, my breath turning to ice.
Gabe isn’t real, they tell me. They insult me, they spit at me, then smile and pretend that they wish to help. Meanwhile, Gabe is out there, luxuriating in all that I won for him, and I suffer and burn.
Have you ever found that the world does not believe you? I did.
I have been betrayed by the people I trusted the most. They coil around me like snakes, lulling me with whispers about protection and safety and for your own good.
They offer up pills like sweets, promising me relief. Just take the meds and everything will be fine, Belle – the meds, Belle, the meds.
Everything will not be fine, and it never will be. Justice is gone from the world. I have been wronged by Gabe, the man I loved most, and when I turned to others for backup, they sided with him because he’s a star. When I ran to my father for safety, he locked me up in his great big mansion and threw away the key. Now I drift like the ghost Gabe pretended I was, my bare feet tasting the coldness of rich tiles, my breath turning to ice.
Gabe isn’t real, they tell me. They insult me, they spit at me, then smile and pretend that they wish to help. Meanwhile, Gabe is out there, luxuriating in all that I won for him, and I suffer and burn.
Momma Says: 3 stars⭐⭐⭐
The Trapped Daughter is one of those books that keeps the tension high right from the start. Jay Kerk certainly knows how to pull a reader in. Then we have Belle, and she's the very definition of the unreliable narrator.
Both of these things should lend themselves to a gripping psychological thriller, especially with the tagline claiming it to be a dark and twisted psychological thriller. It is dark and twisted, but it's also incredibly predictable. I had most of it figured out in the first part of the book and since there are four parts, that's pretty early. That's not to say the story is bad because it really isn't. It's just that I prefer a bit more suspense in a story like this, and I feel like the ending would've had more impact if I hadn't already seen so much of it coming.
Jay Kerk does know his stuff when it comes to creating interesting characters. I didn't trust Belle from very early on, but she is interesting, and even though I knew what was coming, I still kept turning the pages - not only to see if I was right, but to get more of Belle's thoughts on her life and the things she was being told.
So, what it comes down to is The Trapped Daughter may not have been wholly my kind of story, but it was most definitely worth the time to read it, and I'd say that my middle of the road opinion will probably be in the minority. Even so, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Jay Kerk's work, and I'll be interested to see what he does next.
❃❃ARC provided by Reedsy Discovery & the author
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