The Perfect Child

Me and this book were like a bad blind date. Nothing worked.

Be aware that there is a lot of vivid detail regarding child abuse, and there is also animal abuse. I'm not squeamish in the least, but, for me, the author went way overboard on this aspect. There are scenes I wish I hadn't read that I'd like to get out of my mind. Readers, in general, don't need to be assaulted with descriptive abuse in order to understand it.

I could have, maybe not enjoyed, but appreciated the story despite the abundance of detail, if I'd liked the main characters. I didn't. The couple seems almost childish and naive, especially considering they are at the top of their medical fields. They don't communicate well. They take on a severely traumatized child show more without really understanding what they're getting into. And then they try to hide how bad things are.

The writing style didn't engage me. So, as I said, a bad blind date. show less

POSSIBLE TRIGGERS: Gore and some very disturbing elements.
A young married couple are desperate to have a child of their own, and the unsettling consequences of getting what they always wanted.
This is an intense, disturbing and very creepy story. A young couple, Hannah and Christoopher, adopt a severely traumatized child who as trouble bonding with the mother, Hannah.... but "overly bonds" with Christopher, the father. You will really feel for this young couple, especially Christopher.

The story is told through the perspectives of the three characters; Christopher and Hannah, who adopted the child, Janie, and Piper, their social worker. Christopher was just blind to the issues facing the family and in particular, his wife, Hannah. We're show more at first made to wonder if Hannah is just over-reacting and not very well prepared for her responsibilities for Janie. The social worker, Piper wonders if perhaps she had completely misjudged the family. The biggest question though was WHY was Janie abandoned in the first place? While reading you are forever wondering and dreading what Janie might do next and the impact it would have on Christopher and Hannah.

Janie is no ordinary child, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents were expecting. Janie is fiercely. perhaps even overly devoted to Christopher, but she acts out in increasingly disturbing ways, directing all her rage at Hannah. Unable to bond with Janie, Hannah is "drowning" under the pressure, and Christopher refuses to see or acknowledge Janie’s 'true nature" The author, Lucinda Berry, is a child psychologist, so she definitely knew what she was doing when she created these characters.

It was a really good read. The only problem I had with the story, and what earned it the 4-star rating was when reaching the end, it just seemed to "stop"...what happened to the end? If you are not a fan of horror or weird fiction...this is not your "cuppa tea". It will leave you 'disturbed". show less

Oh man, I went through this book in spurts. Because once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I adore psychological thrillers, and this book made me think of the movie Orphan, except Janie actually is a little girl. Chapters were short so felt like the story moved quickly.

My God, Janie creeped me out! I don't think I've ever been as disturbed by a villain child as much as her. I even hated her toward the middle/end of the story, once her layers were revealed little by little. Really sympathized with Hannah and I could put myself in her shoes. Didn't like Christopher as much but I did understand how he felt.

Just took off one star because...the ending. It felt like it was the end of a chapter and I was looking forward to reading show more what happened afterward. And then nothing. Also, wasn't a fan of the animal abuse, however briefly it was described. Animal abuse never sits well with me.

Otherwise, well done and I would definitely be looking out for Ms. Berry's other works! show less

What the hell! That ending 😡 but wow This book was so well written I thought I was going crazy too. I felt my skin crawling every time Janie came up! That’s my biggest fear. Children are a blessing but it’s scary to think they can become evil.

What the hell! That ending but wow This book was so well written I thought I was going crazy too. I felt my skin crawling every time Janie came up! That's my biggest fear. Children are a blessing but it's scary to think they can become evil.

4.5 stars
Current thoughts after just finishing: WTF!?
Ok, updating the next day after thinking more. This is such a wild, twisty, crazy ride of a story. The entire time I was unsettled, pissed off, and completely captivated. The twists just kept hitting and the nerves kept building. The ending didn't bother me but I will always ask for more from Dr. Lucinda Berry's world.

So this was my first experience with an audiobook,, and I will give kudos to the narrators, who did a fantastic job. All of their Janie voices were really creepy which I think was perfect.

Now, as for the book itself. I have a lot of thoughts on this book, many of which have been sent to my partner/friends over the last several days, so allow me to summarise them here:

The Plot: The plot was interesting. It was captivating and definitely kept you intrigued, and I thought it was a nice insight into family dynamics when the unthinkable happens. This is where most of my praise for the book comes from, because I think insofar as it being a thriller, it did a really good job. Even if the twist at the end about Becky was obvious from like show more Chapter 3.

The Writing: The writing was generally good, though I did notice a few things that really irked me, but maybe were heightened as a result of the audiobook medium. (1) Every. Single. Chapter. Ends. On. An. Ominous. Note. This is good in thrillers to do occasionally, but it kinda oversells the tension after a while. (2) Some of the phrasing was really repetitive within a single paragraph i.e. the author would use the same word or phrase in quick succession, not really mixing it up. Apart from that though, overall really nice writing.

The Characters: The characters are where things get messy. Janie is creepy and good as a little demon child, which I think is nice and contributes prominently to the thriller aspect of the novel (see above), though at times her requests or actions I think went a bit too far. I hated how manipulative she was, but that's good. It made her a good villain.

Hannah is interesting as a character, because of the fact that she is by far the most level headed through the majority of the book and her psychotic break was genuinely a surprise when it was revealed to me . She was the one of the only characters I felt genuine empathy for.

Alison is likewise sympathetic and level-headed and I was genuinely upset when she died near the end of the book .

The Social Worker was largely uninteresting and after 4 days of listening to her interviews I can't even remember her name and honestly I don't care enough about her to go back and check.

And then there's Christopher. In my opinion, Christopher might actually be the main villain of the book. His weird underlying misogyny and obsessive, creepy love for Janie is ultimately what ends up causing almost all of the morbid events of the book and the FACT THAT HE TWIRLS JANIE AROUND AFTER HE FINDS OUT SHE KILLED ALISON MADE ME IRATE . He disregards basically the opinions of every woman in the book, dismissing them as hormonal or not invested enough in Janie. I honestly couldn't stand his character at all, and I was kinda hoping he'd be killed by Janie in the end. I'm also mad about the ending (in general, see below) but mostly because I wanted him to have a mental breakdown after learning the truth about Becky .

The Social: Maybe I'm being all Gen X about this, but I got serious undercurrents of misogyny throughout the whole book, and I feel like so much of the 'family drama' aspect of the novel was predicated on cishetnormative stereotypes and social roles. Also, the fact that I think every character was cishet and mostly white was just ugh. It's the year of our Lord Twenty-bi-teen. Maybe I missed something, and someone please let me know if I did.

The ending: The ending was disappointing, and I didn't like that it ended without a real resolution. This seems to be the majority opinion of readers, and a lot of folks have said a lot more on it and in better words, so I'll leave it to them.

Overall, I think it was a good thriller that did what it set out to do: unsettle the reader by unravelling a family due to a psychopathic child. I just wish some of the characters had been a little more interesting (and Christopher less of a total prick), and that the cishetnormativity were watered down a bit. show less