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    The Trophy Child
    Unavailable
    The Trophy Child
    Unavailable
    The Trophy Child
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Trophy Child

    Written by Paula Daly

    Narrated by Emma Fenney

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Karen Bloom is not the coddling mother type. She believes that tough discipline is the true art of parenting. She expects her husband and her children to perform at 200 percent no matter the cost. But her unending quest for excellence causes her seemingly flawless family to rebel against her. Karen's husband Noel is a handsome doctor with a proclivity for alcohol and women. Their prodigy daughter, Bronte, excels yet longs to run away. Verity, Noel's teenage daughter from his first marriage, is starting to display aggressive behavior. And Karen's son from a previous relationship falls deeper into drug use. When tragedy strikes the Blooms, Karen's carefully constructed facade begins to fall apart-and once the deadly cracks appear, they are impossible to stop.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateMar 7, 2017
    ISBN9781520066745
    Unavailable
    The Trophy Child
    Author

    Paula Daly

    Paula Daly is the author of several novels including Just What Kind of Mother Are You?, Keep Your Friends Close, The Mistake I Made, and The Trophy Child. A freelance physiotherapist, she lives in North West England with her husband, three children, and whippet, Skippy.

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    Reviews for The Trophy Child

    3.5/5

    42 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      When Noel Bloom’s affair Karen lead to her becoming pregnant, he left his first wife and his daughter, Verity, and married his mistress, who had a young son, Ewan. When the story starts, their daughter, Brontë is ten years old and her parents have drifted apart and Noel is losing himself in casual affairs and his work as a GP. Unemployed, pot-smoking teenager Ewan, is now living separately from the rest of the family, in an extension above the garage, and is a huge disappointment to Karen and Verity, now living with them because Noel’s ex has advanced MS and is living in a nursing home, is failing at school. Following two recent incidents, when she physically attacked Karen and was suspected of drug-taking, the head of the expensive private school she attends insisted that she should attend counselling and undergo regular testing for drugs in order to remain at the school. It soon becomes clear that, disappointed with all her other relationships within this increasingly dysfunctional, disconnected family, Karen has become obsessed with proving to the world that she can be a brilliant mother, that at least one of her children will excel, even though at the expense of the needs of everyone else. Poor Brontë, a sweet, good-natured child of average intelligence, is pushed to exhaustion as her mother expects her to achieve academic brilliance. Karen also fills every moment of the child’s spare time with piano and harp lessons, dance classes, extra tutoring etc., allowing her no free time in which to relax and have fun. Things reach crisis point when Brontë goes missing and although she turns up safe and well she refuses to enlarge on her story that she spent the night in a neighbour’s shed, even though it is clear to everyone that she is not being entirely truthful. However, whilst the intense search for her daughter was underway, Karen’s arrogant and aggressive attitudes towards the police and the press provoke abuse on social media and so, when Karen herself goes missing several weeks later, there is a long list of potential suspects who may have wanted to harm her!In this story Paula Daly created a central character it was very easy to hate, and it’s hard to believe that any reader would think other than that all members of this family would fare much better if Karen, vividly portrayed as a woman who doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as she gets achieves what she wants, was to disappear from their lives! I thought that the author’s exploration of parenting and family dynamics, although somewhat superficial, was probably the strongest feature of the story. Although there were some interesting aspects to the development of the plot, I found too much of it to be predictable – I had guessed the outcome just over halfway through! – and this resulted in the story lacking any of the tension I look forward to in a good psychological thriller. I found many of the characters to be fairly stereotypical and one-dimensional and there were times when I felt like shaking most of them for their stupid and thoughtless behaviour! That said, I did enjoy the portrayal of Verity who, at times felt like the most mature character in the family! Also, I quite liked the very human characterisation of DI Joanne Aspinall (a familiar character from an earlier novel I read by this author) - although her lack of professionalism made me want to shout at her on several occasions!This was an easy to read, relatively thought-provoking story about parenting and family relationships, with themes about abuse, control, deception, rivalry, secrets and lies providing some interesting discussion points for reading groups and, living in Cumbria, I certainly enjoyed the recognisable locations – these were the features which encouraged me to give it three rather than the two stars I had originally considered!
    • 4/5
      Wow, I wish Karen was my mother, not. This woman, Karen, expected 200% out of all the children. The family was made up of Ewan, her son from another marriage, Verity, her new husband's son from another marriage and Bronte, the daughter from her current marriage. Since she couldn't rule Ewan and Verity as much as she would like, Bronte got the biggest brunt of her tiger mother attitude.Bronte had so many activities going it was crazy. Not only did she have to excel at one musical instrument, she had to play horn and piano. She also had to take dance lessons as well several other extra curricular activities. She also has her regular school activities as well. Bronte is 10 years old.When Karen ends up missing, her car found half burnt on the side of the road with the keys and her purse inside the car, her body missing. Eventually they find her body in the lake. The list of suspects is long. The atmosphere in the house is one of relief, like one big breath, a huge boulder has been lifted from their chests. I would like to say that this book was entertaining and enjoyable. However, there was a lot of sympathy on my part for these poor children, especially Bronte. However, I was mesmerized and shocked, it was like a trainwreck, instead of looking, I couldn't stop reading. So, I guess since the author was writing a thriller, then because I couldn't put it down, the author did a great job!Huge thanks to Grove Atlantic for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Karen Bloom is disappointed in her son Ewan so she wants her daughter Bronte is excel. Bronte is spending all her time on every activity and extra schooling on offer. Bronte however one day goes out and disappears. DS Joanne Aspinall is assigned to the case.I've seen plenty good reviews for this book so was excited to read it. The story opens straight away with the need to know more about Karen Bloom and her family. It all seems ok on the surface but things are nit always what they seem. When the crime is committed I was already drawn into the story wanting to see how it went. The story progresses deeper with a shocking turn of events. I quite like the character of Joanne. I was willing her not to do perhaps some of the things she did. I would like to see how she gets on if she appears in another book.I'm not sure with the ending. It was justified with reasons given why but I felt it came out of nowhere. There was no room at all for guessing and I didn't see any clues.This book for me was over hyped but I still enjoyed it. Its the second book for me by Paula Daly and I will read more by her. I just felt slightly disappointed with the ending.Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for review.
    • 3/5
      It was okay but it didn't do it for me. I guess the bottom line is the story dragged for me and I didn't care for any of the characters and that combination in a book is never a good one.I'm disappointed because I really liked the other 2 books I read by Paula Daly.
    • 4/5
      I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.DS Joanne Aspinall is called to investigate the disappearance of ten-year old Bronte and discovers, to her horror, that Bronte's father, Noel, is the man she had a one night stand with a fortnight earlier. Noel is married to Karen, who favours Bronte over both Ewan, her son from a previous relationship, and Noel's daughter, Verity. Sadly, her favour takes the form of making Bronte do harp, piano, dance, extra tutoring etc etc because she is so "special". Verity is having to see a counsellor after trying to strangle Karen. (Despite the fact that Karen is portrayed as a truly terrible human being, I found it odd that everyone expected her to co-exist with Verity as if nothing had happened).Bronte returns unharmed after 24 hours, claiming to have fallen asleep in a friend's shed, although no one believes her. Then Karen goes missing....This is a page turner and a fairly short, easy read. The sections dealing with Verity and the ways she is misunderstood were well done. Joanne's relationship with Noel was, to say the least, ill-advised. My least favourite part was the ending. It managed to tie the loose ends together, but was underwhelming. I wish Karen had had a few redeeming features to make us care a bit more about who had murdered her.
    • 3/5
      Well developed story but the ending was anti-climatic. It sounded like the author just wanted to finish the story.