Killer Review: The Other Child by Lucy Atkins

*The Killer Reviews are reviews from our feature 'A Killer Season'. To show our love for psychological thrillers we are reviewing psychological thrillers of which much fuss has been made about*

PURCHASE |Goodreads. 

My Synopsis 

Imagine This: You've been swept in a whirlwind romance. And suddenly you are moving from England to the states, with your son from another relationship, carrying a new baby as a sign of your new budding relationship with this hot-shot doctor.

But things in the Boston suburbs are not as they seem. For starters all the other kids hate your son for being having an accent. There are also creepy sounds of someone breaking and entering your new home. You are sure of this. Even though your husband who's mostly away doesn't believe you. Then soon you begin receiving threatening notes and you really feel someone is around every corner watching you.

But of course, you have no idea what the main threat is.

Tess Gallo's life summed up for your delight. 

My Review  

I liked this book.

The storyline is good. It really gives this novel a domestic thriller feel being set in a suburb and all. And who doesn't love a storyline they can all relate to?——★

You'd sympathize with the main character. Her choices are questionable. Because who'd leave dreary London for sweltering Boston (with a man well into his forties who has never married). She's quite a nag though really. Always worrying and going on and on about the same things. But you'd get used to this character flaw. She's only seeking answers to puzzling questions even you can't wrap your head around. A star.——★★

Other characters you'd possibly fall in love with are the deranged, obsessed neighbour next-door Helena, and the best friend Nell back in London who can't help but give our lead more headaches with her persistent habit of going to Google for everything.——★★★ 

As I said, I liked this book. But heck, there were so many twists—it got so much I couldn't wrap my head around it. The blurb says, 'Then she makes a jaw-dropping discovery...' but frankly Tess makes too many jaw-dropping discoveries (that do not change the course of the story) its hard to tell which the writer means. I expected dark, and chilling but this title was nowhere intense as the Atkins' debut.

My rating:  A 3.5 stars.

The Other Child is available on Amazon. 

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a psychological thriller that shares close boundaries with a domestic thriller. Anyone who's in for a book in which they can't figure anything out—highly unpredictable—should go get this

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads and Amazon. 

Blog Tour: The Other Child By Lucy Atkins

We are celebrating the release of one of my favorite Lucy's new book! Lucy Atkins, whose debut, The Missing One was thoroughly enjoyed by me, is up on our blog discussing her reading life! Find out her book obsession growing up!

My reading life

Ok, so here’s a list of classic books that I did not read as a child:

- Wind in the Willows - Secret Garden - The Hobbit - Anne of Green Gables - Alice in wonderland - The Railway Children - Any of the Famous Five books…

I could go on….It wasn’t that I came from a home of non-readers. My parents are book lovers, and our house was stuffed with books. I didn’t read these books because I was mad about horses, and so from the age of about 6 to 14 I read nothing but Pony books. I can still recite the opening lines of my favourite, Rebel Pony.

My mother was a lexicographer (she wrote the Collins Robert English-French dictionary) and she would come back from book fairs with bags stuffed full of small, hardback pony books that she got for 20p each. I read and re-read those books. My mother sometimes put a different book on my bedside table, but I generally ignored it, and she never made me feel this was wrong. She never pressurized me that I ‘should’ be reading a certain kind of book. She simply enabled my love of pony books. As a result, I came to see all books as magical – feeding my imagination, my dreams, my passion.

I did move on from pony books as a teenager, to novels by Thomas Hardy, DH Lawrence, The Brontes. I didn’t find this a leap because I trusted books to let me in – I wasn’t intimidated by them, because I’d learned that books were my friends. Reading through childhood and adolescence opened up new chambers in my mind. It expanded my vocabulary, it taught me about the world, it introduced me to feelings and concepts I had not yet experienced. But above all, it made me a writer.

I wrote and illustrated my first ‘novella’ – you guessed it, a pony book! – when I was nine years old. My mother laminated it and I still have it. It felt entirely natural to me to write as well as to read. I never thought about it, or questioned it. The two activities seemed like part of the same whole.

I’ve now read those children’s classics out loud to my own three children, who have loved them, but I’ll always be grateful to the pony books of my childhood: they were the greatest gift.

Learn more about Lucy’s books at www.lucyatkins.com Follow lucy on Twitter @lucyatkins. Or Facebook: Lucy Atkins Writer.

Find out more about The Other Child.

Blurb: Sometimes a lie seems kinder than the truth ... but what happens when that lie destroys everything you love?

When Tess is sent to photograph Greg, a high profile paediatric heart surgeon, she sees something troubled in his face, and feels instantly drawn to him. Their relationship quickly deepens, but then Tess, single mother to nine-year-old Joe, falls pregnant, and Greg is offered the job of a lifetime back in his hometown of Boston. Before she knows it, Tess is married, and relocating to the States. But life in an affluent American suburb proves anything but straightforward.

Unsettling things keep happening in the large rented house. Joe is distressed, the next-door neighbours are in crisis, and Tess is sure that someone is watching her. Greg's work is all-consuming and, as the baby's birth looms, he grows more and more unreachable. Something is very wrong, Tess knows it, and then she makes a Jaw-dropping discovery...

Reviews: 'Truly unnerving. The neck-prickling suspense starts on the very first page, building and building until I wanted to get in the car and drive to Boston to rescue Tess and Joe myself. Atkins perfectly captures the vulnerability that comes with moving overseas, away from friends and support networks, and uses it expertly in this compelling novel. Not just one-more-page gripping but perceptive and beautifully written' Lucie Whitehouse, author of Before We Met.

'Taut, tense, and beautifully written. I held my breath between chapters and didn't sleep until I reached the end' Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go.

'Tense, involving and clever. I defy you not to get hooked' Jane Lythell, author of After the Storm.

Purchase| Goodreads| Quercus.

Book View Plus INT. Giveaway: The Missing One by Lucy Atkins

Monday, you all saw my review of Lucy Atkins' debut, The Missing One, Here's a fun feature where I ask the lovely author questions concerning her debut's characters, scenes and everything her debut. READ to the end there might be a gift for you to unveil.

1.    1  Susannah was one of my favourite characters despite being the most deranged (and also oh-so-well-developed). Did you have any inspirations for her creating her character? (real-life or fictional).

She’s one of my favourite characters too. I have no idea where she  came from – there is no real life inspiration. I think that most of us have, at some point or other in our lives, come across difficult, complicated, dangerous women with powerful personalities. She’s a kind of essence of all that!

2.      2. Kali’s sense of motherhood was a striking feature in the novel. How she fought with the arch-villian to prevent the demise of her child was described so vividly. How did you manage to pull off this scene so well? Perhaps you put yourself your character’s shoes or you just watch too much Angelina Jolie flicks?

I am really interested in the power of maternal feelings. I was inspired in fact by a story I read in an American newspaper about a 19 year old singe mother of a baby who had fought off two big guys who broke into her house. The police officer in charge said ‘There’s nothing more dangerous than a mother protecting her child’ and that stuck with me. The lengths we’ll go to to protect our children can be almost superhuman (you hear stories of small women lifting trucks off a child who has been knocked down etc). That’s what I wanted to write about.

3.      3/ Still on motherhood, I find this title would be well-loved by all mothers (new or old). What type of mummy would you characterize your lead as? Is she a manic mummy who spends so much time noting details other mothers would otherwise have ignored? Or would you characterize her as an ignorant mummy. (Whatever your answer is, I’m hoping Susannah would agree).

When it comes to Kali, I think she is a fairly typical, stressed out mum of an active toddler – but her stress of course is made much worse by the fact that her life has collapsed, and she is in this alien place, with a dangerous person. And this is what drives her to make questionable decisions. When it comes to Kali’s mother, Elena, her mothering has been complicated and warped by her own history. She loves her daughter, but the complexity of her history, means she has a hard time showing it.

4.       4. What one tip do you think Kali would give to all mothers?

“Trust your instinct!”

5.     5.  Elena and Kali didn’t have the best mother-daughter relationship. What’s the best tip you would give to all daughters who have the same riotous relationships with their mothers?

Kali is determined not to make the mistakes her own mother made, and not to let the past influence how she mothers her own son. I think this is the strength in her (and also, in a sense, the weakness). She is determined to be a better mother, but of course, she can’t really escape her past, and the way she was mothered. So, where she gets to in the end is a deeper understanding of how her own mother shaped her. This will ultimately enable her to be a better mother to Finn, her son.  I think that’s what we all have to do in a way. By the way, my own mother – I’m very happy to say – was the best and most loving mother I could have wished for!

6.     6 I described your novel as very well-researched in my review. The information about killer whales was lovely to read about. What do you think humans could learn from Killer Whales?

Killer whales are matriarchal for a start!  They are also extremely loyal, with very strong family bonds (and they stay with their mothers for life). They have rituals and traditions and share ‘childcare’. There are numerous ways in which they seem extremely sensibly organized!

7.       7. Which character in your novel are you more likely to be?

I actually don’t feel as if I am any of the characters  - or maybe I am all of them. Even Kali is very different to me. 

8.      8.  Are you working on something new? Could you tell us what it’s about?

I have just finished my second novel, The Other Child, which is set in a suburb of Boston, USA, and is about the devastating secrets inside a marriage.

9.     

 9.  Is there any question you would have wanted me to ask?

Your questions were perfect! Really interesting – thank you so much for having me on your wonderful blog, and for supporting my writing. I hope you enjoy The Other Child as much as you liked The Missing One.

For further information, my website is www.lucyatkins.com. 

People can also follow me on twitter: @lucyatkins or  Facebook: Lucy Atkins Writer.

All the best

Lucy.

To see my review of the amazing The Missing One by Lucy Atkins, click here.

To purchase the amazing The Missing One by Lucy Atkins, click here.

To stand a chance of winning a paperback of Lucy Atkins' debut, RT this on twitter and follow the blog account: @kobbyreviews

Summer Book Review: The Missing One by Lucy Atkins

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: Your relationship with your mother hasn’t been all braiding each other’s hair and slagging your father when he’s away for work (—normal daughters and mothers do this! Please review your relationships.). Growing up, both of you fought like crazy, made up like crazy, then within a few seconds were drawing battle lines again.

So when your mother dies, you are the least person to feel sorrow. You are the least person to rethink the happy moments with your mum. You are the last person to jet away to your mother’s past—which she has shut out to you all her life—to go find out why she was the woman you could never get on with. But you do.

Moments later, you are hightailing it to Canada in search of a best friend of your mum who’s been sending her cards a particular day every one of these thirty-eight years they split up without a reply. With your adorable toddler on your back, and a chance to ditch your husband who you’ve suddenly found out might be having extra-marital affairs, you get away from England.

Now your mother’s best friend is rather peculiar, never revealing much, withholding things about your mother’s past from you. Of course, you could consider the journey here all to be a waste and leave, but you feel this woman is hiding something about your mother’s past she doesn’t want to pass on, you have so many unanswered questions you want to see if you could use your skills as an interviewer to goad her into revealing.

Before you realize it’s really a waste to have come, and when you make a decision to leave, this woman has become preoccupied with your little son and has shocking extraordinary plans for him. Plans that would flare up all the maternal instincts in you such that you would do anything to protect your son from this bitch. Even if nothing helps.

Kali’s life-treacherous, suspenseful journey towards uncovering the secrets of her mother’s past summarised for your delight.

My REVIEW

This book is great. One that would consume your time this summer and totally-worth losing the hours for. So well-researched, so well-written, so highly thrilling!

First of all, I loved the storyline. I love the whole mother riding shotgun with her adorable infant to uncover the secrets of her mother’s past. Absolutely fab! You would never underestimate the lengths a mother would go to protect her own child after reading this. And you would adore the weaving of info about captured Killer Whales in parks that would struck an emotional nerve. A star to the storyline.

The main character, Kali, is damn right superb. I loved her to bits. You would also love Kali for worrying about essential details about parenting and mothering that most parents and mothers ignore, her constant eyes on her son, the little mistakes she berates herself daily for like feeding him with fries or not washing a sippy-cup before pouring warm milk in it. She’s the embodiment of a mother constantly looking out for her child even though she admits sometimes she does a shitty job at it. Plus her constant curiosity, making speculations and conclusions with the little info she has about the purpose of her ‘adventure’ makes this title suspenseful.── ★

Speaking on the element of suspense, mystery and the fear of the unknown, I can vouch that this book has all the above. Laden with so much suspense even when the main issue of the plot hasn’t kicked in yet (that is, mother’s best friend endangering her son) you would still find yourself sitting at the edge of your seat and mumbling to yourself, “What the hell.”── ★★

Other characters also make this book a plus as well. There’s Elena, the mother whose backstory is presented in third-person narrative during intervals of Kali’s first-person narrative. There’s Susannah, the once best friend of Elena who’s highly secretive and not giving much away… should I mention deranged too? Alice, the sister who always has a firm perspective of things with her job as a lawyer. There’s also Graham, Kali’s dad who’s also secretive as hell and hiding a chunk of his wife’s past from her daughter—a man who’s (in)actions gutted me so much. A star to these characters.── ★★★

There’s no denying I loved this book. But I found some back-story on Elena’s part unnecessary detail that slowed the pace of this book—some parts were intriguing and important to understand the psyche of a mother who never really showed that much love to her oldest daughter, others were just dragging the story and made me want to quickly get over with it so I could get into the current day life of Kali. Of course, if this book was less suspenseful, I’m not sure I would have been feeling this way, because there would be no eagerness to get on with Kali’s present.── ★★★★

So my rating is a four-point-five stars out of five (4.5 stars).

Lucy Atkins’ highly suspenseful debut (—yes! You heard right!—) which would keep you awake late in the night and wondering when sleep would ever claim you is available on amazon. I totally wouldn’t recommend this book if it didn’t give me headaches for lack of sleep.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants something laden with suspense, anyone who wants something to steal away the hours on a lounger and make tanning for hours seem endurable should get this. It’s the perfect summer read for anyone who wants to feel chilly in these burning hot temperatures.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Watch out for giveaway and questions and answers on this book with the author.