The Child Who Never Was – review (AD)
I was given an electronic copy of The Child Who Never Was in exchange for an honest review*.
Book blurb for The Child Who Never Was
Her child has been taken. But no-one believes her.
Sarah’s beautiful baby son Oliver has gone missing. And she will do anything – anything – to get him back.
But there’s a problem. Everyone around Sarah, even her beloved identical twin, Evie, tells her she never had a son, that he’s a figment of her imagination, that she’s not well, she needs help.
And on one level, they’re right, Sarah does need support. She has suffered massive trauma in the past and now she’s severely agoraphobic, very rarely leaves the house, avoids all contact with people.
But fragile though she is, Sarah knows deep in her heart that Oliver is real, that the love she feels for him is true.
And that can only mean one thing – someone has been planning this. And now they’ve taken her baby.
My overall thoughts of The Child Who Never Was
This is the first book that I’ve read by this author, the book blurb definitely piqued my interest and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
The first few chapters are extremely fast paced and I found the whole book a really engrossing read which I really enjoyed.
The majority of the book is told from Sarah’s point of view and I felt like you really felt her struggling with her mental illness, panic attacks, loss of control and heartbreaking realisation of just what her twin sister is capable of.
It’s a clever devious plot which is quite disturbing.
The pace is really fast and frantic at the beginning then slows down as Sarah’s mental health improves and we see character and plot development and then the pace quickens again for the last few chapters which keeps the reader hooked.
Throughout you are left wondering which twin is mad, bad or are they both mad and bad?
I liked the way that the reveal is handled.
A fast paced thrilling read that makes you question just what is going on and how deceptive a person can really be. I loved it.
About the author Jane Renshaw
As a child, Jane spent a lot of time in elaborate Lego worlds populated by tiny plastic animals and people. Crime levels were high, especially after the Dragon brothers set themselves up as vets and started murdering the animals in their ‘care’. (They got away with it by propping the victims up with lasticine and pretending they were still alive…)
As an adult, she is still playing in imaginary worlds and putting her characters through hell – but now she can call it ‘writing’ and convince herself that she is doing something sensible. In real life, she has a PhD in genetics and copy-edits scientific and medical journals.
Jane is the author of Watch Over Me. THE CHILD WHO NEVER WAS will be her second novel published with Inkubator Books .
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Publishing information
Published in digital format by Inkubator Books on 16 August 2020.
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*Disclaimer
This review has been written with 100% honesty.
I was not financially compensated for this post. I was given an advance copy of this book for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own based on my own experience.
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Thanks so much x
Hi Rachael! Thanks very much for reading and reviewing – glad you enjoyed it!
I loved it Jane. Really clever. So dark.