Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary (U.K.). Psychological suspense fans will be well satisfied. Propulsive pacing, a claustrophobic setting, and vividly sketched characters who are equal parts victim and villain conspire to create an anxious, unsettling narrative. Rose Gold’s past-tense narration, which chronicles her rocky path to independence, alternates with present-tense chapters from Patty’s point of view documenting her postincarceration transformation from predator to prey. Patty is determined to win back the neighbors and regain control of her daughter’s life unbeknownst to Patty, however, Rose Gold has plans of her own. Rose Gold’s testimony not only helped convict Patty, but pitted all of the dying town of Deadwick against her, so it’s a shock when Patty finishes her sentence and moves in with Rose Gold-now a 23-year-old single mother to two-month-old Adam. It wasn’t until Patty’s daughter, Rose Gold, turned 16 and gained internet access that she realized her mother had been poisoning her since infancy Rose Gold’s undiagnosable illness was actually ipecac-induced vomiting resulting in crippling malnutrition. Darling Rose Gold briskly moves with surprising twists as Wrobel delivers assured character studies. The release of 58-year-old Patty Watts from an Illinois prison kick-starts Wrobel’s diabolically plotted debut. The psychological thriller Darling Rose Gold works well as an intense look at a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship, a tale of manipulation and how one person’s devastating secrets and lies reverberate through a community and a family.
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