I've always been intrigued by fortune tellers and psychics, although I have never been to see one, so the opening pages of The Winter's Child sucked me right in. From that moment on, I couldn't put the book down as I wanted to know what had happened to Susannah's son and whether Susannah had finally received an accurate prediction from the people she brands as charlatans on her blog.

As much as she thinks they are charlatans, Susannah can't help but be drawn to people with such gifts as she is desperate to find out what happened to her son, Joel, who has been missing for 5 years. On a visit to Hull Fair with her sister and her kids, Susannah sneaks off to a fortune teller who tells her that she'll finally be reunited with Joel on Christmas Eve. Susannah is torn: she thinks these people are tricksters but she so wants to believe and I think this prediction started the unravelling of Susannah.

Susannah starts to hear Joel calling for her, she sees strange things, can smell mud and feels as if she is being drowned. I think I even held my breath when Susannah was underwater, even though I didn't know whether it was actually happening to her or if it was all in her head. It felt real to Susannah and it sure felt real to me! The creepy goings on had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end and my arms were plagued with the prickle of goosebumps.

The pain that Susannah felt with the loss of her child was palpable and I really felt for her when I thought she was going mad with grief or even inability to grieve as she clutched at the last, almost transparent, threads of hope slipping through her fingers. When we start to learn more about Joel himself, I don't mind telling you, my heart was broken into a million pieces. I'm not giving away any spoilers but I just wanted to bundle Joel up and keep him safe, which is all Susannah ever wanted to do. Susannah definitely has a special bond with Joel and it is clear that she will do anything for her precious boy, even at the risk of destroying her marriage. I really couldn't read fast enough to get the answers that Susannah, and I, craved.

The Winter's Child is a dark, disturbing, creepy book; so beautifully written that it draws the reader into the tangled web that Cassandra Parkin has intricately woven. It is deeply affecting and moving, haunting and haunted; quite simply a stunning piece of fiction.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

3.5 Susannah and John tried to have a child of their own for many years, before making the decision to adopt. Finally, they are notified s young boy, three months old named, Joel was available for adoption. At last they had their son. As we know life is not all roses, and Joel is not an easy child to raise. When John finds marijuana in his now, teenaged sons room, there is an argument. Joel runs out of the house, never to return.

In the aftermath of his disappearance Susannah and in the beginning John visit different mediums, pyschics, hoping to find one that will help them find their son. Susannah starts a blog, warning others of the lack of credibility of most of these shysters. She becomes friends with another woman whose son is also missing. I became quite caught up in Susannshs struggles, trying to retain hope amidst much skepticism. The author does a great job with the tense, melancholy atmosphere, and the myriad of small, meaningful details provided. The public attention brought to a person once a horrible event becomes public, from public condemnation, accusations and from those who sympathize.

Where I felt this story excelled was in the handling of the disintengration of Susanne's thought processes, emotional being. Trying to hold on to what is real, against illusions that are not. Made for some very tense, suspenseful scenes. The book travels to the past, scenes where Joel has just gone missing, contrasted with the limbo, and life changes, Susannah lives in now. Quite well done.

ARC from Netgalley. ( )

How do you watch a person going mad, page by page, ever so slowly, ripping you apart, page by page, ever so slowly? A child goes missing, sanity is bright, shiny and not real. Psychological torture on each page, in so many words, sentences, paragraphs.

Susannah and John want their perfect family but there are problems and they are unable to conceive. One perfect winter’s day they are matched to a foundling and with the adoption of Joel they are a family. Now they are three and everything they hoped for is not bliss. John is too demanding, Susannah is too forgiving, and Joel is manipulative. It is a wearisome story and would be easily dismissed except the reader becomes a party to the conflict by contemplating a question constantly asked; Is it normal for a parent to love a child more than their spouse?

Susannah expects us to forgive and give her a pass when she can’t afford herself that forgiveness. But the ability to acknowledge a failing and the ability to right a wrong never come together. She blogs and warns never to trust a psychic and yet she runs from one to another seeking any reassurance. Sanity is a pretend thing, the mud keeps pulling her down, slowly, ever so slowly.

Cassandra Parkin has written the most agonizing story about the devastation left behind when a child goes missing. Well written if a bit repetitive. Just shy of four stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Legend Press for a copy. ( )

The first thing to say about The Winter's Child is what a gorgeous, evocative cover. It perfectly encapsulates winter and the whole feel of the story.

This book plays on any parent's worst nightmare. Susannah Harper's fifteen year old son went missing five years ago and has never been heard from again. For five years she has lived with not knowing what happened to her precious boy. Her marriage falls apart and of course other relationships, such as that with her sister, have suffered too.

The book starts with a visit to Hull fair and a fortune teller. I found the use of psychics in the story absolutely fascinating and I thought the opening to this novel was a perfect way to draw me in.

Susannah is an unreliable narrator. As she starts to fall to pieces I didn't know if I could believe what she was saying and doing and this made it really exciting to read. There was actually a part where it became obvious to me what was going to happen but not to Susannah. So the thrill was waiting for it to dawn on Susannah and wondering when it would happen.

It's a rollercoaster ride of a story. Most of it is set in the current day as Susannah waits to see if the psychic's prediction that Joel will return to her on Christmas Eve will come true, but there are also some sections from throughout Joel's life which set the scene for what happened later on. And then there are the blog posts from the blog that Susannah set up to talk about her missing child. All these fragments of the story came together to make a superb whole.

The Winter's Child is a book that absorbed me, moved me, thrilled me, gripped me and shocked me. It's a superb read, full of myriad twists and turns. I thought it was brilliant. ( )