A review by minimicropup
The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Atmosphere 😕: Claustrophobic and uneasy. Some imagination crashing happens because minor details like appearance or locations are unnecessarily delayed in the story after readers may have already formed their own imaginings. Has a touch of "the" syndrome ("the bedroom by the family room", "the living room") where the layout of the house was confusing at times. 

Main POVs:

• A police interview with an overwhelmed social worker trying their best in a job where they are often forced to cut corners and make snap decisions on which families need their attention most
• An orthopedic surgeon eager to become a parent. Has a bit of Saviour complex particularly for children...can their unconditional love and lack of discipline heal a damaged child or are they making it worse by ignoring the reality of the situation?
• A nurse married to the surgeon, also eager to become a parent. Wants to adopt a baby they can raise together and isn't interested in raising an older child that would be dealing with trauma/abandonment issues. Do they have unrealistic, resentment filled expectations of parenthood or are they trying to set realistic boundaries and recognizing their limitations?

Cred Rating 👍👨‍👩‍👧: Plausible to realistic. Social workers are overwhelmed, the foster system is broken. Whether innate or caused, little brains aren't always wired right and some kids seem doomed to grow up into inherently dangerous people. But some of those same behaviours can also be little brains just trying to process massive traumas. Reminiscent of the Sabrina Caldwell case https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sabrina-caldwell-adoped-russia-brother-48-hours/

Reading Journey 🫥: Visiting someone's house for the first time and it's unexpected chaos - messy, smelly, kids running wild, no one seems to be doing anything about it...eyeing the door the whole time, can't wait to leave.

Good match if you like:

• Dark adoption and parenting dysfunction
• Creepy kid trope that isn't OTT (IRL horror energy with touch of supernatural possession vibes)
• Potentially unreliable narrator (paranoia/psychosis) treated with "pat pat, you're just hysterical honey" spousal support
• Kids behaving badly
• Flexible plot open to reader interpretation

Vibes: 🤢😡🤪

Content Heads-Up: infertility, adoption gone wrong, attachment and personality disorders in children, and death of a pet

cat, due to torture

Format: Kindle Unlimited

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder, Infertility, Death, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, and Excrement

Animal related content involves

death of a cat at the hands of a child

. Medical content comes from the MCs being a surgeon and nurse, and the child being hospitalized for injuries. Medical trauma involves

biting, breast injury and infection, broken bones, birth, and mental illness in a hospital setting