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nzlisam 's review for:
Playing Nice
by JP Delaney
Psychological Manipulation at its Finest!
JP Delaney has expertly crafted a nightmarish domestic situation in his latest tense and twisty dramatic thriller. What if when your child was two years old you discovered he had been switched at birth? And, as if that wasn't bad enough, what if the seemingly nice, charming, easygoing birth parents (who have been raising your biological child) soon become pushy, overbearing, weird, and inappropriate.
It all begins for Peter Riley and Madelyn Wilson when a stranger, Miles Lambert, knocks on their door with the earth-shattering news, But relief sets in when they realise the Lambert's feel the same way they do – they both love the son's they've raised and have no intention of switching them back – are content for both families to get to know each other and be involved in each other's lives. But how involved is too involved?
The sneaky ways the Lambert's tried to undermine Pete and Maddie's parenting style and subtly make them out to be unfit parents definitely increased the suspense and made for nail-biting reading. A campaign of hate designed to break them down and turn the couple against one another. Pete and Maddie were fairly naïve and easily influenced and exploited but it made sense given that Miles and Lucy had had time to adjust and plan while Pete and Maddie that been thrown for a loop with no time to grasp or process the desperate, emotional and potentially dangerous circumstances they found themselves in.
Playing Nice reminded me a lot of Mark Edwards, both in style and content, except instead of Neighbours from Hell or In-Laws who won't leave, Miles and Lucy had the ultimate hold over Pete and Maddie – access to their biological son, David, as well as the underlying threat that they could file for custody of Theo, so they were unwittingly connected to these strangers, and couldn't have walked away if they tried. POV's alternated between Pete and Maddie, with snippets from Case No. 12675/PU78B65 via official documentation, emails, texts, and forum posts, where the often contradictory accounts added an extra layer of suspicion and foreboding.
JP Delaney impressed me so much with Playing Nice, and I for one would be thrilled to bits if he wrote more in this vein in the future and steered clear of artificial intelligence and science fiction. Mark your calendars for early August because this is my top read by him so far.
I'd like to thank Netgalley, Quercus Books, and JP Delaney for the e-ARC.
Publication Date: 6th August, 2020.
JP Delaney has expertly crafted a nightmarish domestic situation in his latest tense and twisty dramatic thriller. What if when your child was two years old you discovered he had been switched at birth? And, as if that wasn't bad enough, what if the seemingly nice, charming, easygoing birth parents (who have been raising your biological child) soon become pushy, overbearing, weird, and inappropriate.
It all begins for Peter Riley and Madelyn Wilson when a stranger, Miles Lambert, knocks on their door with the earth-shattering news, But relief sets in when they realise the Lambert's feel the same way they do – they both love the son's they've raised and have no intention of switching them back – are content for both families to get to know each other and be involved in each other's lives. But how involved is too involved?
The sneaky ways the Lambert's tried to undermine Pete and Maddie's parenting style and subtly make them out to be unfit parents definitely increased the suspense and made for nail-biting reading. A campaign of hate designed to break them down and turn the couple against one another. Pete and Maddie were fairly naïve and easily influenced and exploited but it made sense given that Miles and Lucy had had time to adjust and plan while Pete and Maddie that been thrown for a loop with no time to grasp or process the desperate, emotional and potentially dangerous circumstances they found themselves in.
Playing Nice reminded me a lot of Mark Edwards, both in style and content, except instead of Neighbours from Hell or In-Laws who won't leave, Miles and Lucy had the ultimate hold over Pete and Maddie – access to their biological son, David, as well as the underlying threat that they could file for custody of Theo, so they were unwittingly connected to these strangers, and couldn't have walked away if they tried. POV's alternated between Pete and Maddie, with snippets from Case No. 12675/PU78B65 via official documentation, emails, texts, and forum posts, where the often contradictory accounts added an extra layer of suspicion and foreboding.
JP Delaney impressed me so much with Playing Nice, and I for one would be thrilled to bits if he wrote more in this vein in the future and steered clear of artificial intelligence and science fiction. Mark your calendars for early August because this is my top read by him so far.
I'd like to thank Netgalley, Quercus Books, and JP Delaney for the e-ARC.
Publication Date: 6th August, 2020.