My review
4 main characters all disjointed, all broken, some getting broken everyday, some breaking others.
2 adults: mother Teresa, neighbor/childminder Angie
2 children: Teresa’s daughter Jessica, her step-daughter Fran.
They are bound in secrets, they are cloaked in secrets. They want secrets hidden, they want secrets deleted. But life shows them a drastic truth, when 3 year old Jessica disappears suddenly one night from her bed..
Can open, worms everywhere. Cops are called investigation starts and the story rolls.
My second book by Jill Childs, and I enjoyed it just the same. The missing child arc never failed to capture my interest. In every book, I kept hope that the treatment of the story was different. This book appeared as a thriller with the writing and hints of truth. But it was actually a domestic story where each character was either frustrated or scared and took it out on the other.
In this story, I liked, hated, pitied Teresa. She had everything and yet had nothing. She stole something, yet had nothing. Her husband (I forgot that spineless fellow’s name) provided the hint of suspense and suspicion. Angie a 60-year old woman, had her own tragic past and her interest in Jessica raised my doubts.
These made the book an exciting read, yet something just niggled me, I kept thinking as I kept reading. Till I reached the end, I got it – I didn’t like any if those characters, they felt too disconnected to each other, didn’t like any of their reasonings. But since I realized this at the end, it was a time well spent. Enjoyable!!
I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Bookouture, and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
My rating : 3.5 stars
Book blurb
Teresa’s heart stops when she enters her daughter’s bedroom to find that her sweet, trusting little girl is gone.
Teresa can’t bear to think who would snatch a terrified three-year-old from her mother in the middle of the night, but all the signs point to someone close to home. Hasn’t Jessica’s stepfather been acting a little oddly? Or is it, as Teresa is beginning to fear, something to do with Angie, her daughter’s babysitter who lives next door…?
Gentle, retired Angie – she must be lonely, with only her memories to keep her company in that big, old house. And she’s always had a special connection with Jessica… was trusting Angie with her precious daughter the biggest mistake of Teresa’s life?
Product Details
Publication date : 12th September, 2018
Publisher : Bookouture
Domestic thiller
24 Responses
Well, if you didn’t like the characters, but still enjoyed the book for the most part despite that fact, I’m thinking that this was a really good book. For me, both in books and movies, characters are always important. If I grow attached to them, I experience it much more vividly and usually give something a higher rating because of that as well. As usual this was another fantastic review Shalini 😘😊
I understand… Well the plot kept me gripped, hence the book was good. Have a great Sunday, Michel 😘☺️
Thank you Shalini, I hope you will have a great sunday yourself as well. Enjoy it 😘😊
Enjoy your ANIME 😉😉😂😂😘
Haha…actually I’m doing a bit of reading now. Have finished my anime this morning 😊😘😂😂 Hope you will enjoy your books 😊
Liked it
Thank you
Great post 🙂
Thank you so much
An interesting review Shalini.
Thank you Moushmi
It’s rare when a book still turns out to be a pretty good read despite not having well written characters. Awesome review Shalini!
Thank you so much Kim😘😘♥️♥️
🤗
I no exactly what you mean. I am afraid this one would be too angsty for me and I need to be able to like the characters.
I understand. It was still a good story
Great review Shalini. Glad you still liked the story despite not liking the characters. I am curious about Teresa because of your description of her.
She was one weird babe, who was frustrated always…
Thank you so much Diana ♥️
Wonderful review. An author does a good job if you can still enjoy a story, but not like any of the characters. I find I don’t have to like a character to connect with them, even if that connection is negative. It sounds like this would be an emotional story though if not frustrating with everyone having issues.
Exactly, but the arc of the story made it quite a fast read and It made me curious… So a good read
This sounds like something I might like. I have seen Jill Childs books before, but never read anything. I will have to check this one out!! Thanks!
The last one was a hotchpotch of spirituality and thriller but this was good