The Child by Fiona Barton

Description

The author of the stunning New York Times bestseller The Widow returns with a brand-new novel of twisting psychological suspense.
As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?

As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell…

 

I have mixed feelings about this one. I didn't realize it was part of a series before I started it, and although it is a stand alone story I find that I am not that big a fan of the main character Kate.

 

Emma on the other hand, was captivating. I felt a lot of sympathy for her.

 

Emma is a woman haunted by her past. She suffers bouts of anxiety and depression. Her husband knows this, accepts this, but does not know or pursue the reasons for it. He does know that she has a very strained relationship with her mother Jude, and that for many years they did not speak to each other. He doesn't know why. For the longest time in Emma's childhood it was just her and Jude, until she was sent away. Some women will do absolutely anything for their children, but not Jude. Jude is one of those women who just can't be without a man, no matter what. I loved hating Jude.

 

Then there is Angela and Nick, who decades ago, when their marriage was already in a turbulent state, lost a child. Their newborn baby Alice was whisked away out of Angela's hospital room, never to be seen again. The case has gone cold but not a day has gone by that Angela has not thought of her baby. My heart just ached for her.

When Angela hears that a tiny skeleton was unearthed at a construction site she is sure that it is her Alice.

 

Of course there is far more to this story as journalist Kate uncovers.

Now as spellbound as I was by Emma, I was just so bored with Kate. It was all I could do not to skip past those parts about her, and her son, and her annoying new trainee.  Thankfully those parts were brief. Whenever the story focused on Kate it felt kind of like watching your favorite soap opera and you can't wait for it to get back to the characters with the more exciting parts and quit interrupting the storyline with the bits about people you aren't interested in.

 

3 out of 5 stars from me

 

I received an advance copy for review