I received a complimentary advanced electronic copy of DEAR CHILD by Romy Hausmann. Thank you to Flatiron Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!
Rating: 5 / 5
In DEAR CHILD an accident brings a mother and daughter into the hospital, identified as Lena and Hannah. It is immediately obvious to hospital personnel that these aren’t just your average accident victims. Lena is the name of a woman who disappeared nearly 14 years ago never to be seen again, but could this possibly be her? When her family is called in to identify her, Lena’s father says no. The little girl is underdeveloped for her age and her ways of interacting with the world aren’t what might be called normal. While staff try to learn more from her, Hannah isn’t entirely forthcoming.
This is marketed as GONE GIRL meets ROOM and I do think that’s a good description! We’re hearing the story from a few different perspectives, the woman who identifies as Lena, the girl named Hannah and Lena’s father Matthias. Through these three perspectives with a mixture of flashbacks and present day, the author slowly reveals the story of what happened to Lena 14 years ago and what has brought all of our characters together at this hospital and going forward in time.
The author did a fantastic job of hooking my attention in quickly with this one and keeping me intrigued as she gradually revealed the full story. This is a dark story with trigger warnings for rape, suicide, and child abuse. Apart from seeing a couple great reviews for this one, I went in pretty unaware of what I was getting into and I think that is probably for the best as the author does such a fantastic job with all of the reveals!
This one is full of twists and darkness and is everything a good fall read should be! DEAR CHILD is out on October 6!
DG Reads 