The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd is a book that follows Juliet Moreau, a maid who was once a rich young lady. Her father was a renowned doctor until he was found conducting unethical experiments on animals and assumed dead when he went missing. When Juliet meets Montgomery, an old childhood friend who worked under her father, she realizes her father is alive and lives on a remote island. Montgomery reluctantly decides to take Juliet to the island where her father is with a native he befriended called Balthazar. While on the ship, Montgomery and Juliet’s relationship grows. Then, they find a man named Edward Prince, a shipwreck survivor. Juliet immediately takes an interest in him and his feelings for her become obvious very quickly. Montgomery isn’t too happy about his sudden arrival. When they reach the island, Juliet’s father welcomes her, surprised that she’s on the island. It’s only as the story goes on that she realizes that he does conduct unethical experiments, but not just on animals. 

The first few chapters of the book were enjoyable (it was probably the only part of the book I enjoyed) and I found myself liking Juliet’s character and her ability to stand up for herself. But as the story went on, it seemed like the author wanted to fit a lot into the book and rushed some things. For example, when Montgomery and Juliet first met, their meeting scene seemed kind of rushed and everything happened really, really quickly. One minute she was just getting to know him again, trying to decide if he was trustworthy, and the next she was getting on a ship with him to a mysterious island. In my opinion, Montgomery’s character was also kind of unrealistic. Juliet’s father specifically asked him to not bring anyone to the island but he is literally almost immediately agrees to bring Juliet there with minimal persuasion. 

Another thing I disliked was the love triangle between Eric, Montgomery, and Juliet. It took over the whole plot and became the sole focus of the book. To be honest, Eric and Montgomery’s rivalry was more annoying than interesting. Also, Juliet jumped between her attraction to them a lot. She would be thinking about Montgomery and then the next sentence would be about Eric and vice-versa. She’d even think of them during moments of action which kind of ruined them. She thought about them more than her dad (who was basically who the story revolved around)! This book could’ve been great but it felt as if the author lost inspiration mid-way through and decided to add romantic filler to reach the climax earlier.

When I picked up this book, I expected something along the lines of a thriller. Instead, I got a book that started out as a thriller and midway through changed into a romance novel. This is the first book in a trilogy but I really can’t see it going anywhere so I don’t think I will be checking out the other two books. So, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking to read a thriller.