The Child by Fiona Barton

Kindle Edition, 336 pages

Expected publication: June 27th 2017 by Berkley

The author of the stunning New York Times bestseller The Widow returns with a brand-new novel of twisting psychological suspense.

As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?

As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell… 

My Thoughts…

The main characters of The Child are all intriguing.    There is Kate the reporter following up on a story of a baby’s remains found buried during a construction dig.    Angela is the mother of a baby that was kidnapped from the hospital just hours after her birth and has never had closure.   Emma is a surprise POV; she lived at the location that the baby remains were found.     I found it interesting how different their lives were yet together the stories all came together perfectly.

There were secrets, intrigue, and surprises that I never saw coming.   The mystery was not hard to solve but with each different twist and turn I learned more about the various characters.    I was invested in Kate getting her story, Angela getting her closure, and Emma coming to terms with her teenage years.   There is so much more to this story than meets the eyes.  

The ending was the surprise.    The Child is certainly a psychological thriller that kept me on my toes.    I could not put the book down.  

Thank you Loren Jaggers, Assistant Director of Publicity at Berkley Publishing Group/New American Library and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. 

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EARLY PRAISE FOR THE CHILD

·         One of Publishers Weekly and Bustle’s Most Anticipated Books of 2017

·         Readers “will be rewarded with startling twists—and a stunning, emotionally satisfying conclusion.”—STARRED Publishers Weekly review

·         “Barton’s second well-plotted outing, with its sustained tension and believable characters, is an excellent addition to thepopular psychological thriller genre.”—STARRED Library Journal review

·         *“Immersive, heartbreaking, and addictive”—Crime By the Book

·         “Tense, tantalizing, and ultimately very satisfying … definitely one of the year’s must-reads.”      —Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author

·         “Fiona Barton has outdone herself with THE CHILD. An engrossing, irresistible story about the coming to light of a long-buried secret and an absolutely fabulous read—I loved it!”—Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

PRAISE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER THE WIDOW

·         An NPR “2016’s Great Reads” and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Best Books of 2016” Selection

·         One of the WALL STREET JOURNAL’s “Five Killer Books for 2016”

·          “[A] twisty tale…that will blow your mind.”—OPRAH.COM

·         “Barton skillfully weaves a tale that reminds us that yes, we can be deceived by others, but we can just as easily deceive ourselves.”—USA TODAY

·         “Compelling and top-notch.”—THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 

·         “Richly character-driven in a way that is both satisfying and engrossing.”—THE WASHINGTON POST

·         “[Barton’s] journalistic eye is what makes this debut novel so assured and compelling.”—NPR.org

·          “A twisted psychological thriller you’ll have trouble putting down.”—PEOPLE

·         “A taut reconstruction of a crime and a ruthless examination of marriage”—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

·         “For all its twists, The Widow never loses sight of the dark secrets that define ordinary lives”—CHICAGO TRIBUNE

·         “Will keep you in suspense”—GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

·         “Gone Girl fans will relish this taut psychological thriller” —US WEEKLY

·         “THE WIDOW is being compared to Gone Girl, Before I Go To Sleep, and The Girl on the Train. It's actually better than them all.”—FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM