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bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
2.0
Didn’t enjoy that much. The narratives felt too ... separate. It felt repetitive in places. I didn’t connect with many of the characters.
abbieuprooted's review against another edition
3.0
Took a while to get going and predictable ending.
natalieandrea's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
2.0
I did not like this book at all. The plot was overly complex with too many narratives, and characters with unfinished story lines. The protagonist is unlikable at best, and acts in ways that no person does. Fliss - one of the many characters we follow in this novel - is meant to be a young producer, but is so apathetic and uncurious that this seems completely unbelievable (and seems useless at her job). She has an unexplained crush on a man that is redundant to the plot. His “only” use is to give her the opportunity to work on a documentary about crib deaths. This again seems unrealistic given that his reason to do this was to manipulate her to do what he wanted with the project, only to have him ignore her for the majority of the book.
There are weird inner monologues from police officers sexualizing women for no reason, love plots that do not go anywhere and mysteries that are so uninteresting that I regret pushing myself to finish this book.
This novel is confusing and irritating. I do not recommend.
There are weird inner monologues from police officers sexualizing women for no reason, love plots that do not go anywhere and mysteries that are so uninteresting that I regret pushing myself to finish this book.
This novel is confusing and irritating. I do not recommend.
bethnellvaccaro's review against another edition
3.0
This is the third Sophie Hannah book that I have read and I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much, but it was still a fun read. I think I enjoy Sophie HAnnah mysteries so much because she addresses the taboo subjects of motherhood, like infanticide.
falconerreader's review against another edition
3.0
She's done better, and the "vaccines cause SIDS and autism" drives me nuts. Still, I love how she spins her convoluted stories.
faithtutton's review against another edition
1.0
I gave up reading it halfway through. The story just didn't grab my attention as much as the blurb on the back had
readbydusk's review against another edition
1.0
An unsatisfactory read; I expected more from the intriguing setup but the execution left me cold. The mysterious cards with the numbers turn out to be almost irrelevant in the end and the subject of vaccination damage is mentioned as suddenly as it is discarded. I was not a fan of the way the story is told in the forms of letters/papers instead of shown as it happens.
I've accepted that Sophie Hannah's protagonists tend to be complex characters who aren't necessarily likable. But the protagonist in this book is not only unlikable, she also makes choices that seem illogical, like locking someone in her house because she's afraid of him! I couldn't relate to her and as a result I didn't care about her. When the ending shows that even the protagonist has no idea what really happened with one of the characters, it's a frustrating yet fitting conclusion for a book that misses its mark.
I've accepted that Sophie Hannah's protagonists tend to be complex characters who aren't necessarily likable. But the protagonist in this book is not only unlikable, she also makes choices that seem illogical, like locking someone in her house because she's afraid of him! I couldn't relate to her and as a result I didn't care about her. When the ending shows that even the protagonist has no idea what really happened with one of the characters, it's a frustrating yet fitting conclusion for a book that misses its mark.
em_beddedinbooks's review against another edition
3.0
this is typical Sophie Hannah - dark psychological mystery with prominent female characters, and too many twists and turns to really identify the perp before the very last page. In this book she has dealt with a gruesome topic - that of mothers killing their infants. This story deals with 3 mothers who were imprisoned for killing their offsprings (one is not a mother, but a lady who is supposed to have smothered her friend's infant) and the media struggle for their release as a few people believe that they are innocent and what happened was just crib death. The antagonist is a female doctor who is responsible for their imprisonment via her testimony. Now the women are let out after a few years of imprisonment and a media circus is going on regarding their guilt/ innocence. The readers are kept in tenterhooks till the last and there are a few murders in between with bizarre clue. And central to it is a young investigative journalist (by force, not by choice) and a team of police officers who are quite antagonistic to each other investigating the recent murders. It was interesting but with a tendency to drag a bit in the middle. I give it only 3 stars because the subject matter made me ill at ease. Thank God, I did not come across such a book when my son was in his infancy. I would never have had a good nights' sleep.