Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Perfect Child

I devoured this book, I couldn’t put it down and read it nonstop for hours. The writing was great, easy to understand and kept me interested in the story. This is a thriller and the main characters are a doctor and a nurse that foster and then later adopt a child that comes into the emergency room with serious neglect. I don’t even know what to say about this book but normally when I can separate it from real life but for this it was so real.

The couple deals with taking care of this child that is not okay and has issues surrounding her past and the neglect and trauma she’s faced. Bringing this child into their home causes the couples relationship to change and leads them to do things that aren’t great. There are a lot of themes dealing with trauma, mental illness, manipulation, child abuse and neglect so be aware if you choose to read this. While I was reading the only thing I could think of was that the child should not be in a home. They should have be in 24/7 therapeutic program or something cause i would have also gone insane as the parent.

The last 10 percent of the book was crazy, a lot of things happened, were revealed and it happened too fast. It also annoyed me because I needed to know more about the child past and I had so many questions. Read this book if you like thrillers, the author was a trauma psychologist and it shows in the she wrote this book and the character interactions. I definitely need to pick up the short story because I need to know more.

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callmejes92's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

2.75

Beginning was slow, but laid foundation for ending. Picked up toward the middle, and couldn’t put it down but mostly because it was like a dumpster fire and l couldn’t look away. It drove me insane that the “Doctor” husband was so clueless, and really didn’t come off as having any medical knowledge at all. Overall, didn’t really enjoy the read, and the big “twist” was pretty clear from the very beginning.

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brittanylee0302's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I listened to the audio version of this book.
This book was HIGHLY predictable, it worked out just the way you'd imagined it would when you start reading it. I didn't like any of the characters & I mean, maybe for the story I shouldn't have? I think Hannah could have been more likeable as a character if I was going to like any of them. There was a minor twist at the end that I didn't see coming but I feel like it didn't really add much to the story. The book also kind of just leaves you hanging? The narrators for this book were really good, but I felt like Janie maybe needed her own narrator because listening to these narrators trying to sound like a child was absolutely terrible. I really enjoyed the case file interviews in-between but that was the only slightly enjoyable part of this book tbh.

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kaylasbookgram's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

🤯🤯🤯

What did I just read?!?! I don’t think I’ve been this hooked on a book like this since I read Verity By Colleen Hoover. This was my first Lucinda Berry book and most definitely won’t be my last, especially if all her books are as great as this one. This book was impossible to put down the second I started it.

Hannah and Christopher are a lovely couple who are struggling with infertility. As they start to consider the option of international adoption a little girl is admitted to the hospital whose mother was murdered and has clear signs of abuse. After being part of her surgical team Christopher falls in love with the little girl and talks his wife into fostering and then adopting her. What they didn’t fully expect was the toll it would take on their marriage. The little girl ends up pitting the couple against each other and causing Hannah to eventually have a mental breakdown.

I absolutely couldn’t stand Christopher. Even with the therapist confirming Hannah’s fears he still refused to support her or even be there for his wife. I felt so bad for Hannah and understood her terror although I definitely think she went to far in her actions near the end. The ending of the book was extremely frustrating because it just ended pretty much in the midst of a thought. Left us wondering what happened I think a more satisfying ending was definitely needed. Overall I enjoyed this book and it got a 5 star review in my book.

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