Author: Renee Harrell
Genre: Young Adult/Supernatural Thriller
Publisher: Hunting Monsters Press
Publication Date: 14th September 2011
ISBN: 9780982922149
Stand alone or series: Series
Pages: 270 pages
Book Received from: Author (Renee Harrell)
First Lines: I don't want you to think you've fooled me. Dr Ron. When Lew, your enormous orderly, your troglodyte in training, brought me this notebook and huge, clumsy pen. I was immediately suspicious.
Synopsis:
"Why am I such a freak?"
Kristin Faraday feels trapped, worried she'll spend the rest of her life in the small and suffocating town of Winterhaven. She also worries because she's different from her family and friends. She knows other people's secrets because she can tell, with certainty, when they're lying to her.
She doesn't realize she has this ability as a “gift” from Mrs. Norton, the woman who murdered her father. When Mrs. Norton and her family return to Winterhaven, Kristin discovers she's the only one that can see them for what they truly are.
They aren't human. They feed on humans.
Mrs. Norton is aware that Kristin is the one person who can stop her -- if the teenager only knew how. But this is one secret that Kristin Faraday hasn't learned....
My Thoughts:
I have to say that I love the dedication at the beginning. 'This book is dedicated to Danger and Adventure'. Great touch. I enjoyed reading The Atheist's Daughter. It's great to see real scary monsters that are outside the norm.
I must admit I was a little confused at the beginning. The supernatural beings didn't fit into any of the boxes I was so used to, and it left me itching for any details at all I could absorb in when I had the chance. Once I'd worked it out it definitely gave me the heebee jeebees.
Kristin was a great character for the story to mainly follow. We do get to see snippets from the other side of the coin as well as a few other characters but the story's focus is on Kristin. Right from the beginning I found reading from Kristin's POV to be very entertaining. She's the kind of character I can definitely relate to. I wasn't too sure on Liz, one of Kristin's friends at first though but she actually started to grow on me. Hawkins was another character I wanted to hear more of in the story so hopefully in the next book we get to see more from him.
Another element I loved were the moments that Kristin can hear the falseness in other peoples words. 'Schhhct' has got to be the best sound effect ever for what it represents. I could just about hear and see it, the times it happens in the story.
The Atheist's Daughter is an entertaining story with origanal monsters and a girl trying to do the best she can with the life she's dealt.
