(reviewed by JD Jung)
“…I had an epiphany that, notwithstanding my every effort to steer my gifted daughter clear of the precincts of forgery, she possessed more of the counterfeiter’s mental and physical tools than perhaps even I did.“
Will had reformed his life. Now married to Meghan, father to two daughters, and living in the Hudson Valley, life was relatively good for this Irishman. Meghan, who was a seller of rare books, was well aware of his past as a forger, and how he sent his accomplice, Henry Slater, to prison. But that was twenty years ago.
Will had put his skills to good use, as he taught his eldest daughter, Nicole, calligraphy when she was young. This proved to be valuable father/daughter time, which continued through her college years.
However, Slater hadn’t reformed and hadn’t forgotten. Upon his release from prison, he had nefarious plans for Will. He coerced Will to produce a counterfeit of an early work of Edgar Allen Poe, “Tamerlane”. Will could no longer write with exact precision (partially due to an earlier altercation with Slater), but his daughter had the skill. Could he get her to accomplish this task, even if she had no idea of the crime she was committing?
There were even more questions and concerns. Will had found the art of forgery addicting, so could he escape the craving of the thrill after this assignment was complete? Would this get Slater out of their lives for good, even though Will knew of his propensity for violence and possibly murder?
The Forger’s Daughter takes a contemporary thriller with murder and sociopathy and weaves it into the nineteenth-century world of rare books and even the history of Edgar Allen Poe. It keeps readers guessing as we are not sure of the characters’ motives until the end. The author’s writing skill brings each of the geographical and historical settings to life.
What I particularly appreciate about this novel is its originality, and that is hard to come by. This thriller will keep you glued to every page until the end.
