snugglesandpages's reviews
243 reviews

"𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒅? 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒐—𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅—𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅?"

📖 Set 11 years after The Perfect Child, Janie is now 18 and has just been released from juvenile detention. With the release of her tell-all memoir giving her celebrity status, Janie, or Hope as she now calls herself, declares she has been healed of her murderous sociopathic tendencies, but Hannah and ex-social worker Piper aren't buying Janie's reborn again act. When Janie's scheming comes to light, it is clear that she is even more dangerous than she was all those years ago, and Hannah will stop at nothing to protect her family. 

🔪

💭 Thoughts
After how abruptly The Perfect Child ended, it was extremely satisfying to read this novella and get some resolve. It's just as intense, if not more brutal than you would expect for its short 80-odd pages. 

If you read my review of TPC, you'd know I am not a fan of Christopher, so it was nice to see his Janie blinders get shattered a bit in this one. It was also great to revisit Piper and have some closure on her storyline, especially the Bauers feelings/reaction once they found out about Piper's, or really child services' failure to respond to Janie's mothers pleas and how that could have changed things. 

Call me intrigued as to where this could possibly go in the full length sequel, which you best believe I am about to read that next. Physical TBR be damned, I am well truly down this rabbit hole. 

Hannah and Christopher Bauer both work in the medical field and have a great life, the only thing missing is a child. When little Janie is found abandoned in a parking lot in nothing but a diaper and clear signs of starvation and long-term abuse, she's brought into the hospital where the couple work. It's not long before Janie and Christopher form a bond and the Bauers agree to take her in as their own. They knew it wasn't going to be easy to settle a child so emotionally damaged and when Janie's behaviour turns violent & downright psychotic, Hannah struggles to cope. Janie's reign of terror escalates and the truth about her past comes all too late.

💭 Thoughts: 

If the movie 'Orphan' and ’The Push' by Ashley Audrain had a twisted cousin, it would be this book. 😱 It is dark, twisted and unnerving, yet utterly addictive. I couldn't hit pause. It's not for the faint of heart with heavy themes of abuse and animal torture/death. It's pretty f'cked. I hugged all my cats for a long time when that scene played out. 🤮

Gosh, I felt for Hannah, she put up with a lot of 💩 (literally). The way Christopher refused to acknowledge Janie's repulsive and disturbing behaviour for what it was, truly infuriated me. Everything Hannah went through, the genuine fear Alison expressed to him when Janie was staying with them, all of the twisted things she did that he continued to minimise... 🤯 Nope, I'd be done. 

A fact I found out after reading this, is that the Author is a former psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma. This is evident in her writing and how certain topics were explored and clinically explained. 

The ending is abrupt and if there wasn't already a novella and sequel published for me to read, I would be raging, 🤣 so of course I'll be reading both books ASAP.

When another body turns up on the Gold Coast strip, Lana is sent from Sydney to Queensland to assist in the case and look further into the inner dealings of the Strike Force Diablo, the team heading up the investigation into the now seven unsolved unalivings across the strip over the last two years.

Henry Loch is a disgraced cop with a bad rep and he is looking for a way to break free of all the strings. He knows the whole operation is about to come crashing down on them and Henry is hoping that solving the original cases is his ticket to a fresh start.  

When the unlikely pair agree to work together, they never could have predicted that two years of work could unravel in a week, exposing the dark aode of the Gold Coast and the task force. 

💭 Thoughts:
The early 80s on the Aussie Gold Coast was a prime time for police corruption, making it the perfect setting for an exposé inspired crime thriller. Told in multiple POVs, its fast paced with snappy chapters that deliver that true crime feel and there were plenty of references that threw me back to my childhood too. 

I like crime books with a mixed media element and the journal excerpts from Emmett Hades, the original head detective of the task force, made for a clever assist to the plot. A once infamous detective and now a broken man haunted and spiralling as the case takes over his soul, he is an interesting character indeed... 

Something that comes up a few times throughout the book is the unsolved missing persons case of Lana's father. She's plauged by it and it's not really delved into. I'm wondering if there might be another book in the future that focuses on this plotline. 

Thanks to the team at Ultimo Press for sending me a copy of The Strip for review.

I'l start by saying how captivating the cover of this
book is. It is what drew me in and the blurb sealed the
deal. A creepy gothic literary about twin girls struggling
With the grief of losing their mother and suddenly start
talking about a strange man in their room. A man who
later becomes their new imaginary friend called 'Black
Mamba.' sounds great! But, unfortunately, it just didn't hit
the mark for me. The story became slow and repetitive
and while I agree that the different variations of grief
were written well for each character, I didn't find myself
caring about any of them enough to keep me invested
It wasn't unnerving or as scary as anticipated and
ultimately I DNF this one.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for
access to the eARC of Let me In. Available now
**also released as Black Mamba in 2022**
E

miscommunication is the main trope which carries the plot
themes of possible cheating which a no for me.
maybe ill try again next xmas.