The Child ✦ Fiona Barton

This is my first book review so bear with me!  

Good evening friends! I hope everyone is staying safe out there behind their masks! North Carolina is now mandated to wear a mask everywhere we go, but I can’t complain. My Marauder’s Map mask is much cooler than the one I have to wear at work! With all this extra time on our hands lately, I figured now was as good a time as any to make my first post. Here goes nothing!

I wanted to love this book, but I knew within the first few chapters that it was going to be hard to love. I came across it at a Books A Million sale a while back and just grabbed it based off the front cover and the excerpt within.  I started and stopped a solid five times before I was able to actually get more than 30 pages into it. It’s not that it’s bad; it’s just more of a slow burn style book. I wouldn’t call it thrilling (ha) but there is a mystery involved and a twist that did give me goosebumps. I liked it; I didn’t love it (surprising, really, since it has 4.3/5 stars on Amazon). It’s not one I would read again.  

Premise: Four women are drawn into a circle of bombshells when an infant’s body is discovered beneath a construction site. Each of them is shaken by the finding in various ways. Kate sees a chance to further her journalism career. Angela wonders if this is her long-lost baby. Emma feels an overwhelming sense of anxiety… about what? And Jude is just Jude. How is this related to the baby that disappeared from a busy maternity ward four decades ago? How are these women related? What secrets are yet to be unburied? 

What I like: Although off to a slow start, it was intriguing unraveling the connections of the primary characters. The final twist was just enough to set off goosebumps! I also enjoyed how the character backgrounds were revealed piece by piece and building off one another. The author did a great job of tossing some pretty significant foreshadowing into the mix as well.  

What I didn’t: The book starts off slow… very slow. I also struggled a bit with switching back and forth between the four-character point of views and timelines. The author does her best to aid this by labeling each chapter with the name of the person starring in it, which slightly helps although I personally had trouble keeping up with the backstories of each character.  In addition to the slow build-up, I felt like there was one medium boom at the end and then the final chapters seem unfinished and rushed.  

If you crack open The Child, let me know what you think! 

• What I’m Drinking: Duplin Black River Red
  • Sweet red wine produced in Rose Hill, NC.
  • Muscadine and Catawba grapes
  • This is my new favorite wine. It’ s sweet without being overly sweet and it leaves a pleasant fruity taste in your mouth. Very Smooth! Also, I feel like I’m supporting the North Carolina economy when I buy it. Nothing finer than a taste of Carolina ❤