Expected: 6 August 2020
If you found out that your family isn't yours at all, how far would you go to protect them?
Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete's son, Theo, isn't actually his son--he is the Lamberts', switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they've been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.
The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents--or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts' glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.
They are done playing nice.
The review
Wow - I absolutely loved this. It was definitely one of those books that once you start you literally can't stop - a real page-turner.
It's a really difficult book to talk about without spoiling the plot but what I can say is that it was a real roller-coaster. There were so many twists and turns and different elements to this story. The author says in the acknowledgement that he wanted to write about ordinary people who try to resolve a near-impossible situation with compromise and dialogue. And, that's Pete and Maddie - two completely normal people, both with good qualities and flaws, who try to play nicely in the nightmare situation of finding out their son is not theirs, and another polar opposite couple is bringing up their birth son.
And, you gotta feel for poor Maddie and Pete as they reel from one mishap to another. Granted they bring a lot of it on themselves, but the things that happen to them are all fairly innocuous in themselves and the type of things that could happen to anyone but they take on a different meaning and importance in court. Its a terrifyingly view of how quickly events can escalate into a legal nightmare. For example, in court googling parenting advice is no longer normal, responsible behaviour but can be used as a sign of incompetence. What I liked is that I too read something and thought nothing of it but then later got a feeling of dread as I suddenly realised how it was going to play out just before it did. I was kept in an almost constant state of anxiety as the tension built and built as the story twisted and developed towards its conclusion.
I've not read this author before (I definitely will be in future) but apparently this is quite different to his previous work although I understand his stories are always base on ethical quandaries. And, this one was truly thought-provoking exploring a variety of hard-hitting topics including mental illness, gender roles in parenting, nature vs nurture, and child protection.
The psychopathy test was a nice touch.....and I'm pleased to say I'm not. But, it was enlightening to understand there's scales of psychopathy and the impact of nature vs nurture on someone's likelihood of becoming a psychopath.
I don't feel that I've done this book justice with my review but as I said it's so hard to explain why it's so good without giving anything away. I will just urge you read it yourself and it's undoubtedly the best psychological thriller I've read this year.
The author
JPDelaney is a pseudonym for a writer who has previously written fiction under other names. Delaney is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Girl Before, which is being brought to the screen. To find out more visit www.jpdelaney.co.uk.
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