The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner

Copyright: 1999
Publisher: Bantam
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 413
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description: 
Melanie Stokes might be almost 30 but she is still dealing with the fact that when she was 9 she was abandoned in a hospital and her real parents never came forward.  She as adopted by a cardiac dr and lived a good life, but it's something that has always been there.

It seems somebody else doesn't want her to forget it either.   See, she was adopted by a family who had lost their 4 year old daughter several years earlier, she had been kidnapped and murdered.  Now somebody wants the truth to come out.  It appears the family is hiding a secret, or several, about what really happened to their first daughter.   There are also several questions about how Melanie came to be associated with her family.
Somebody is leaving notes, and sometimes "gifts", for the family members and causing everyone to panic.  Somebody is also trying to force Melanie to remember what happened to her before her 9th birthday.

Melanie connects with an FBI agent who is actually investigating her father for healthcare fraud.  Together they begin to unravel what happened all those years ago. Somebody has found out and is trying to kill them, or at least Melanie.  It looks like Melanie's perfect, rich family has a lot of secrets after all.


My Thoughts:
It might have taken me forever to actually read this book but that should not be an indication of how much I liked it. I actually really enjoyed it and can't believe I waited this long to read a book by Lisa Gardner.

While at times the book didn't have me turning the pages to find out what was happening or fill me with that urge to know what was going to happen next...it still kept my interest and was really good.  I actually didn't figure out what was up until, well, it was revealed in the book. haha.  It makes sense too..it wasn't one of those endings where you feel like it came out of nowhere, it makes sense, the clues were just hidden well enough that I didn't figure it out.

Definitely recommend this one to other mystery fans and you can bet I plan to read more by this author in the future.