Wayne-Carroll High School graduate D. Scott Pokett (Class of ’88) is coming home this summer—not just to reconnect with old friends, but to share a story that’s been quietly haunting readers across the country.
His debut novel, Daddy’s Girl, is the first in a completed psychological thriller trilogy that explores the fragile line between love and control, grief and obsession.
Pokett will be signing copies and meeting readers at Udder Delights in Wayne on Saturday, July 12 at 3 p.m. All are welcome.
The idea first took shape in 2020, while Pokett was recovering from back surgery. With time off his feet, he began outlining the story that would eventually become Daddy’s Girl. But once he returned to full-time work, life took over—and the pages went quiet.
It wasn’t until years later, during a conversation with Pokett’s store director, Jeremy Pitt, that the story came roaring back.
“It came out that I was a writer,” Pokett recalls. “He asked to read what I had so far. He didn’t have a horse in the race—he didn’t have to like it. But he did. And he told me I needed to finish it. That lit the fuse.”
But the earliest spark came from Pokett’s own home life. “Being a father of four daughters makes me the ‘girl dad,’” he says. “When I’d be away for work, my girls would get… let’s say, spirited. That’s when it first hit me — how powerful that bond is. I just took that idea and turned it up to eleven.”
The novel follows a young father devastated by the loss of his wife in childbirth. As he rebuilds his world around their daughter, her love begins to twist into something darker—and far more dangerous. This story will break your heart, then turn around and give you hope.
Pokett, an award-winning broadcast journalist and longtime Hy-Vee manager, now lives in Omaha with his wife, Becky. He is proud of four girls and numerous “adopted” ones.
He says Daddy’s Girl isn’t just a thriller—it’s an emotional reckoning. “I didn’t write this book to scare people,” he says. “I wrote it to make them feel something. To ask hard questions about love, loyalty, and what happens when grief goes unchecked.”
Daddy’s Girl is available now on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com, with Book Two in the trilogy set to release later this summer.
“If you are not sure about good and evil, when you read Daddy’s Girl... it’s so plain to see. Now you must decide which side you are on. Good luck.” — Jack Hutchinson
