Review: Daddy's Girl (Clare Hart #3) by Margie Orford

About the book

She tells herself an hour is not so long to wait, and steps outside. The street is empty. Then she hears the car. She keeps still. That saves you if you are in danger. Her daddy says so. Friday evening. A deserted street below Table Mountain. A six year-old ballerina waits alone for her mother to fetch her. Then an unmarked car approaches, and she is gone. Captain Riedwaan Faizal is a member of Cape Town’s elite Gang Unit. Tough and streetwise, he is used to being a target. But when the danger of his anti-gang war envelops his only daughter and he becomes the prime suspect in her abduction, there is little he can do. He turns to Dr Clare Hart, investigative journalist and criminal profiler. Their desperate search for the missing child, whose chances of survival diminish with each hour, unravels a web of deception and danger that puts all their lives at terrible risk.

My thoughts

It makes sense to me that this book is the first one in the “Clare Hart” series! If you read my review of “Like Clockwork”, you would have seen that I was a tad confused about some ‘backstory gaps’. “Daddy’s Girl” makes a lot more sense in that regard, seeing as it is in the book that Clare meets Riedwaan Faizal for the first time. I did technically “skip” the second book in the series, noted to be “Blood Rose”, though.

As we came to expect from Margie Orford’s crime thrillers, “Daddy’s Girl” is dark and gritty, and not for the faint-hearted. It can be graphic at times, mirroring the real-life realities of gangsters, brutality against women, murder and corruption.

There are quite a few plot twists, with a large number of characters, so make the effort to become familiar with “who’s who”.

The story is compelling and riveting, and the tension increases at a break-neck speed as the clock is ticking, wondering if Riedwaan’s kidnapped daughter is still alive and if she will be found in time.

This solid plot is a sterling example of contemporary South African crime fiction, addressing topical social and political issues.

Complex relationships
Clock is ticking
Realistic, investigative journalist
Fast-paced, solid plot, emotionally charged
Compelling and riveting

RRR (Roelia Reads Rating) 4/5

With thanks to Jonathan Ball Publishers for the opportunity to read this book. The full Clare Hart series was recently re-released by Jonathan Ball Publishers, with bright new cover art! Do check it out.

The details:

https://www.jonathanball.co.za/component/virtuemart/daddy-s-girl
Category: Thriller Books
ISBN: 9781776192571
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
On sale: November 2022
Format: Paperback
eBook ISBN: 9781868424030

Available from major booksellers