Daughter

Spring Break trips (and the partying that accompanies them) are a ritual for high school seniors, but Scarlet Murphy knows that her chances of joining her classmates in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, are slim. The reason? Her mom. She’s “overly protective. Like, to the extreme.” (p. 7) Allison Murphy is careful to meet the entire families of her daughter’s friends, and she did a background check on Scarlet’s last boyfriend. One thing is clear: “It’s not only me she’s paranoid about. Something happened to her to make her this way, but she’ll look me in the eye and lie rather than tell me about it. I guess it must have been pretty bad for her to be like she is.” (p. 8)

After a party, a very drunk Scarlet stays overnight at the home of her friend Taylor, and, as they eat breakfast, they notice a black SUV, one just like the one that had parked outside the party house the other night. Once home, Scarlet sees the vehicle again, now parked a few houses down the street. The next day, Scarlet pitches the idea of the Spring Break trip to her mom and, not surprisingly, the answer is “No”. Instead of the usual worries about sex, drugs, and booze, Allison’s concerned about the possibility that Scarlet might be victim of a sexual predator. When Scarlet mentions the black SUV, her mother’s mood takes an abrupt turn, and she heads for a nap while Scarlet orders take-out for dinner. When a late-winter snowstorm cancels school, Scarlet and Taylor spend the next day vaping pot and eating while hoping that the buzz will have worn off before Allison returns from work at a local pharmacy. But the buzz is killed when the doorbell rings. Two FBI agents are at the door, and Special Agent Andy Logan asks Scarlet to call her mother. Life is about to change.

Before Allison gets home, Agent Logan asks Scarlet is she’s ever heard of a man named Jeff Lake. Lake is an infamous serial killer. His victims were all young women, and Scarlet knows of him from a movie she has viewed in her film studies class (as well as from her friend, Ashley, who knows everything there is to know about serial killers.) In fact, Lake is Scarlet’s father, and now that he is dying of pancreatic cancer, he claims that he will offer information about victims that were never found, “. . . but he’ll only give that information to one person.” (p. 43) That person is his daughter, Scarlet Murphy, born Britney Lake, and named after Lake’s first kill. Sixteen years earlier, Allison Murphy, born Gina Delvigne, left her husband and, with her infant daughter, she headed north from Raleigh, North Carolina, and forged a new life. Gina managed to cover her tracks well, avoiding the notoriety that comes with being a loyal wife believing in her husband’s innocence until discovering that the necklace she was wearing in her courtroom appearance had belonged to one of his victims. Scarlet now understands the reason for her mother’s over-protectiveness and has a real struggle reconciling the strong, intelligent woman who raised her with the woman portrayed in the movie she viewed. It’s hard for both of them. Allison/Gina is ashamed, and Scarlet is experiencing an emotional maelstrom: shock, horror, anger, confusion, and so much more.

Nevertheless, Scarlet decides to go ahead and meet her father. Her motivation? A sense of responsibility to do the right thing for the FBI as well as an earnest need to know her origins. Before they head south to Raleigh, NC, where Lake is incarcerated, Scarlet researches Wikipedia, reviews YouTube news clips, and, finally, watches Lake’s prison interview with Barbara Walters. Lake is charming, handsome, articulate (he was a lawyer), a Southern gentleman, and he appears to be incredibly sincere. He’s a world class manipulator, and it’s only when Scarlet looks carefully at the expression in his eyes – eyes that are just like hers – that she sees him for what he is: a man who “knows exactly what he is, and he embraced it with all his heart. He doesn’t regret killing or causing pain. He only regrets getting caught and being forced to stop.” (p. 56)

On the plane trip to Raleigh, Agent Logan talks with a very anxious Scarlet about what will happen during the visits with her father. Logan reassures her that, if she “start[s] feeling uncomfortable, there will be someone nearby to get you out of the situation. Me, probably. Lake will adapt to whatever boundaries you set before he tries to break them down.” (p. 78) After the plane lands, Scarlet, her mother, and Logan head straight for the prison, and Scarlet has the first of many visits with the dying man who is her father. It’s uncomfortable – there’s no playbook for a situation like this - but she makes it through the ordeal, and, when she’s released back into the arms of her mother, Agent Logan tells her that she was “more than okay. . . .” His voice is full of pride when he tells her that she was “[expletive deleted] brilliant, sweetheart.” (p. 94)

On first arriving in Raleigh, Scarlet and Gina (Allison) live with the Logans; Andy Logan’s wife, Moira, is a psychologist, and he has two teenaged children: a daughter, Darcy, and a son, Luke, who is very tall, dark-haired, and extremely handsome. Logan’s children take Scarlet into their fold, introducing her to their group of friends and making her feel totally at ease with them. In between visits with Lake, Scarlet finally meets her grandparents (Gina’s parents, with whom she has managed to keep in touch), and Jeff’s sister, her Aunt Catrina, who is as normal as her brother is twisted. For the first time ever, Scarlet no longer feels as if she and her mom are totally alone in the world.

Still, the visits with Jeff are gruelling. Over time, Scarlet learns more and more about her father’s “dark urges”. In one of their visits, he describes his “favorite girl”, the woman who was his “muse, feeding my fantasies. I’d practice on her what I’d do to my other girls, and when she told me she was pregnant –“ (p. 211) Suddenly, Scarlet is stunned by the realization that Jeff is talking about Gina, a victim who survived. But the visits continue, with horrible details emerging, including Jeff’s violation of the corpses of his victims. After those visits, Gina reveals more about her life with Jeff and her shame at having been so trusting. She is also re-victimized. Now that they are out of hiding, people begin to recognize Gina when she is out in public places, and, because of media coverage that suggested she was complicit in the murders, she is vilified and, at one point, physically attacked.

Scarlet’s mission to get her father to reveal the identities and, possibly, the location of those women who hadn’t been found is partially successful. Although it’s been emotionally exhausting, she has gained so much. She finds connection with family members, romance with Luke Logan, and a new understanding of her mother, of whose strength and courage she is enormously proud. After Jeff’s death, there’s one more truly horrifying revelation, but I’m not going to be a spoiler. I will give Scarlet the final word: “Knowing him made me stronger and gave me purpose.” By making a documentary film to tell the story of Jeff Lake’s victims, she “will give them a voice.” (Pp. 327-328)

Daughter is a truly gripping story. Like it or not, serial killers and unsolved crime exert a real fascination, and the media, whether in print, television, cinema, or digital, exploit it. Sometimes, there’s a genuine attempt to find details which may aid in solving the crime, thereby bringing a sense of justice to the families of victims. Other times, it’s just a story that will sell. In Daughter, Kate McLaughlin intersperses the narrative with fictionalized media content which might be featured in sources such as Newsweek.com, Psychology Today, TMZ News, CBSNews.com, as well as websites giving voice to conspiracy theorists. Like the story of Jeff Lake, the content is fiction, but it’s an accurate portrayal of the ways in which the spouses and families of such criminals are also victims. Revisiting the stories of the crime also causes pain to the families of the victims already traumatized both by what they know and worse, by what they don’t know. Scarlet and Gina are both survivors, and this is the story of two women who grow and change as a result of a truly difficult life experience. McLaughlin has a keen ear for adolescent voices, and some will be upset by the profanity of those voices. Scarlet’s speech is peppered with plenty of F-bombs, and, while rock and roll seems curiously absent, there’s sex and drugs. Like it or not, I think that it’s an honest portrayal of life in the last year of high school when “senioritis” can take hold and students are waiting for school to be out, and life, as they see it, to begin.

As for the portrayal of Jeff Lake, he’s smooth. Evil, intelligent, and disgusting, he’s another version of Hannibal Lector. It’s impossible to feel sympathy for him, and you can’t help but admire Scarlet for taking on the burden of his revelations. Who’d want to find out that their father is a serial killer who interred his victims in shallow graves at his family’s summer cottage, a necrophiliac who would later dig them up to violate them further? Scarlet does, and it makes for a great story.

Daughter is definitely a book for students in the upper grades of high school, and I think that it would appeal primarily to a female audience. Guys might read it, but the story focuses on Scarlet, her friendship with her gal pals, and her relationship with her mom, making it an unlikely choice for male readers. Daughter will appeal to a southern gentleman aficionados of the true crime and thriller genre. However, before making the decision to purchase it for a high school library, read the entire book. As well, be prepared with an acquisition rationale. Sex, drugs, and swearing make it a prime candidate for a challenge from someone who will find it offensive.