Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

 

It is Daisy's grandmother's eighth birthday and the entire family has gathered at her house to celebrate.  Nana lives in a sprawling mansion that is cut off by high tide twice a day.  The celebration is forced because this is no happy family.  Nana is a famous author; her most famous book is Daisy Darker named after her favorite granddaughter, Daisy.  There are three sisters, their parents and the neighbor boy who spent most of his childhood with the girls.

The mother is Nancy, who showed favoritism to her two older daughters, Rose and Lily.  She alternated between ignoring Daisy and over protecting her as Daisy was born with a broken heart and had numerous operations to try to keep her from dying.  The father is Nana's son but his musical career was more important to him than his family and he and Nancy divorced and the girls rarely saw him after that.

Rose is now a vet.  She had an early love affair with Conor, the neighbor boy but never had another serious love or married.  She devotes herself to her career.  Lily is the spoiled one, a mother herself.  Trixie is her fifteen year old daughter, no news on who the father was.  Lily was the kind of teenager who was boy crazy and would do anything to get attention.  Conor is now a journalist, his days of living with a brutal, alcoholic father long gone.  

Now someone is killing all the family while they are cut off from help and a storm rages.  One person dies each hour.  Who is doing the killing and who will survive?

Alice Feeney is known for her thrillers, often involving family relationships.  As each person dies, their secrets and backstory are revealed.  The sisters were never close, Daisy envying the older girls and those two locked in a rivalry and feud that has lasted for decades.  There are twists and turns and few readers will see the ending beforehand.  This book is recommended for readers of psychological thrillers.