The Child by Fiona Barton Published by Penguin Books Canada on March 6, 2018
Pages: 400
Goodreads
The author of the riveting New York Times and Globe and Mail #1 bestseller The Widow returns with a novel of twisting psychological suspense that will have you hooked from the first page to the last.
A tiny skeleton, unearthed from the remains of a demolished house in a gentrifying neighbourhood, sets into motion an investigation that will dig into a decades-old crime that rocked a city. Journalist Kate Waters sees an important story, and 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? What Kate finds is a cold case involving a newborn baby stolen from the maternity ward of the local hospital, never to be found, to the distress of her parents. In the crumbling neighbourhood with secrets deep and dark, Kate finds herself venturing from house to house and into the pasts of the people who once lived there. 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....
When I picked up The Child by Fiona Barton I thought it was just a stand alone book and didn’t realize that this is actually the second book in the series. The first one is The Widow. In all honesty it didn’t bother me since I had read the first one.
So going into The Child I was expecting to read more about the previous characters and soon realized that this was not the case and then I begun to wonder how this could be the second book in the series. Was I missing something because the only character being mentioned was Kate the journalist?
Anyways in all honesty you don’t need to read The Widow to read this one. They can be read as stand a lones in my opinion. You will not feel like you are missing something. Not once did I feel this way as I was reading it.
Just like The Widow, The Child will have you reading the book from start to finish in almost one sitting. There is so many twist and turns that leave you thinking so many things and your heart breaks for everyone in this book and you want nothing more then for them to have a happening ending but as you read you wonder if that will even happen.
The story line follows our four main characters (Emma, Kate, Angela and Jude) from March 20th, 2012 until April 1st, 2013. The later chapters are more of a follow up.
Emma suffers from anxiety and she struggles to make it through the day and as the story progresses you begin to realize the cause of her anxiety. You know that it’s something when the book begins with the news saying the body of a baby has been found at a building site that is currently being demolished. How is this related to Emma? Is there more to Emma’s story then she is letting on?
Kate is a reporter and she sees that the finding of this baby really isn’t news worthy for her paper to cover but as Kate begins to dig into this she knows there is more to the story and wants nothing but to get to the bottom of it and follow it through. Before long she begins her own investigation into the case.
Angela hasn’t had the easiest life and still struggles with it. When Angela had her first baby within 24 hours the baby was taken from the hospital room. It appears as though no one believed her story about what happened and they could never prove anything because the baby basically vanished into thin air. So when she reads the news about the baby being found she begins to hope that she will finally get the answers to all those burning questions she had but is she ready for what she will soon find out?
The final woman is Jude, she is Emma’s mother and I have to say she had to be my least favorite character in the book. She was always a selfish mother who would put her boyfriends before her daughter and would listen to them over her own daughter.
I was curious to find out how Angela, Emma and Jude would be connected. As the story progressed I began to put things together and a few times I was changing my mind and would flop back and forth. It did happen like I thought it would but still I admit I wasn’t so sure. This is one of the reason I love reading Fiona’s books because at times you think you have it figured out and before you know it turns into a whole new direction.
I definitely can’t wait to read the next book by Fiona. I am so happy to discover a new and exciting author and to continue reading her future books. If her future books are anything like the two I have read then I know I will be enjoying them.
Also coming out is the third book in the series called The Suspect.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Widow returns with a brand new novel of twisting psychological suspense about every parent’s worst nightmare…
When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight–desperate, bereft and frantic with worry. What were the girls up to before they disappeared?
Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth–and this time is no exception. But she can’t help thinking of her own son, whom she hasn’t seen in two years, when he left home to travel.
As the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even when it seems far away, danger can lie closer to home than one might think…