This is one of the most gripping books I have ever read. It is deceptively easy to read but behind it's simplicity lies a fascinating insight into the characters psychology. It makes you challenge your predisposed ideas about abuse. An intelligent, well crafted and interesting book. Well worth a read.

I picked this book up in a secondhand shop and never put it down until the last page. It is a frighteningly believable story of obsession and manipulation. Anyone who has ever loved someone that really shouldnt have, should read this. My only problem now is getting the sequel!

It is twenty-two years since Georgiana Payne was conceived in illegal circumstances. Returning to the country of her birth from Canada she arrives in East Sussex, searching for the family her mother so mysteriously left behind all those years ago, and hoping to unearth the secret behind her mother's departure.

In retreading the the steps made by her mother Georgie reawakens the memories left in the shadows at the end of 'Daddy's Girl', Inglis's haunting first novel. The lost innocence of that book - exploring, in explicit detail, the sexual nature of the central character's life - has evolved here into an engagingly sexual who-dun-it; Inglis peeling back layer after layer of the murky surface to reveal the detail of the lives that serve to fuel Georgie's growing - and increasingly dangerous - curiosity.

The arrival of Olivia partway through Father of Lies, returning to England in the aftermath of Georgie's shocking accident, achieves what few authors have ever successfully managed: ageing a character from adolescence into adulthood, and making the transition so natural that the joins don't show. Back in England for the first time since a teenager this now thirty-seven-year-old wife and mother of two is forced to confront her past and the incendiary secret that lies at the heart of her family, but yet is known only to two members. It is then she realises her daughter has all but discovered the reason for her own abrupt departure all those years before, and with it the man responsible for her scandalous past.

Thought-provoking, unflinching, and containing subject matter that will either tease, tantalise, (or maybe even worse!) Inglis, once again, has created a little piece of magic from a dark and compelling storyline. Pure, driven class from a writer at the height of her powers. Bring on the next one, Janet.

The plight of young Olivia tells all too well the struggles of a teenage woman-child to find herself in a broken family. Olivia's sexual awakening is a crafted story of a love and betral. This story highlights the feelings of abandon, loneliness, and desire without being too sentimental, too melodramatic, too overbearing. The story line flows quickly. There is much in the young heroine a reader can identify with. Her toubles are unique, however her fears and her emotions are real. This is definitely a captivating read.

I am surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel.It is probably one of the best books I read last year. Every situation in this book ring true.

A well crafted book to say the least! You find yourself rooting for Olivia in all her stubborn and misguided glory. Wishing for her to make the right decision. I found myself wondering what the hell she was thinking of in her decisions more than once. The relationship between her and her future step-father is done erotically without seeming smutty. Don't get me wrong, there is A LOT of sex in this book! The illicitness of the couplings (either from the age gap or the relationship to one another) makes you feel guilty for becoming so aroused from them, yet at the same time it makes you despise her future step-father for his callousness and what seems a lack of respect for Olivia and her feelings. Makes you think and makes you horny... give it to your significant other to read and make sure you're around when they put it down. ;) The edition I have is called Daddy, I guess they decided it was too risque a title

Though this book originally seemed to me a bit of a trashy romance with incest thrown in on the side, after reading it my opinion becomes much higher. There's actually a really good, true message about the effect of divorce on the children, and especially adolescents. Then there's the theme of growing up, of the end of childhood. The end is simply beautiful, both in message and in writing. Despite the frequency of seemingly gratuitous sex scenes, most of them have a purpose . Those that do not develop plot significantly help complete the theme, and make father-daughter parallels. This isn't a great novel in history, but it's compelling, enjoyable, and has some nice themes.

Few books contain such a myriad of gut-wrenching, difficult subjects. Divorce,incest, betrayal and the end of innocence. Yet it is beautifully written and extremely moving. Instead of coming across as dramatic and whiny, Olivia is a sympathetic and strong central character. The sex scenes are explicit and sometimes demeaning to women in general, but powerful and erotic. The feelings of abandonment experienced by Olivia are true to life, as are the effects of divorce. Out of the hundreds of books I've read there is none I loved more.