Score: 4/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Minotaur and Macmillan Audio for gifting me review copies of The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter.

This story had the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up. The main character’s level of obsession and self-denial is super creepy!

Delta Dawn is a talented photographer who has started photographing families and birthday parties for well-off New Yorkers. But she’s starting to believe she belongs there, in their houses, as part of their families.

She tries to make herself indispensable to one family in particular, believing she can become more than a hired contractor to them if given half a chance. Soon she’s Photoshoping herself into their photos when she’s alone, and imagining herself there beside them. And it doesn’t stop there.

Having a Bachelor's degree in Commercial Photography I found the Photoshoping parts fairly unrealistic in terms of what she’s able to pull off, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. This story is chilling, manipulative, and an eleven out of ten on the creepiness factor.

The audiobook is narrated by the author and has an interview at the end. I don’t always love when authors narrate their own books but I thought she did a really great job. The audio comes in at 8 hours and 46 minutes, so you’ll scream through it in no time. You can download the audiobook via the button below, or get yourself a physical copy here. I guarantee you’ll be more careful about who you let into your home, and life, after reading this book.

Synopsis:

Mary Dixie Carter's The Photographer is a slyly observed, suspenseful story of envy and obsession, told in the mesmerizing, irresistible voice of a character who will make you doubt that seeing is ever believing.

WHEN PERFECT IMAGES

As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City’s elite: snapping photos of their children’s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for.

ARE MADE OF BEAUTIFUL LIES

But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub’s eleventh birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens but a part of the scene―in the Straub family’s gorgeous home and elegant life.

THE TRUTH WILL BE EXPOSED

That’s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough until she discovers that photos aren’t all she can manipulate.