Lauren Tranter has just given birth to twin boys, Morgan and Riley, after a difficult birth. She’s completely exhausted. When a strange, threatening woman comes to her hospital room carrying a basket with her own two weird babies and tries to convince Lauren to exchange babies, no one believes Lauren. They think she’s imagining things. But Lauren is convinced that this filthy woman is trying to steal her babies, leaving her “changelings” in their place. When Lauren gets out of the hospital, she hides away at home, leaving her husband baffled. When she finally ventures outside with the babies a month later, she falls asleep in the park, awakening to find her babies are gone. They’re soon discovered but Lauren is sure that these are not her babies.
Goodness, this one had my spine perpetually in chills throughout its reading. It was so realistic and frightening but I couldn’t look away. It completely held me in its spell. I don’t often given thrillers 5 stars but this one was a step above the usual. I could completely relate to Lauren and suffered her fears right alongside her. As horrifying as it was to believe her babies were going to be stolen and not having anyone believe her and then finally having them taken, how much more horrifying for her to believe that these were not her babies but rather the creatures left by the scary woman. This just escalates in suspense. And there are plenty of twists that have you wondering whether Lauren is correct in her convictions or not which really leave you on the edge of your seat.
What I absolutely loved, too, is that the author included snippets of fairy tales/poems throughout her book, such as from “The Stolen Child” by Yeats and from several poems from different authors called “The Changeling”. This added to the overall darkness of this compelling book. This fact that this is the author’s debut is quite surprising.
Most highly recommended.
Goodness, this one had my spine perpetually in chills throughout its reading. It was so realistic and frightening but I couldn’t look away. It completely held me in its spell. I don’t often given thrillers 5 stars but this one was a step above the usual. I could completely relate to Lauren and suffered her fears right alongside her. As horrifying as it was to believe her babies were going to be stolen and not having anyone believe her and then finally having them taken, how much more horrifying for her to believe that these were not her babies but rather the creatures left by the scary woman. This just escalates in suspense. And there are plenty of twists that have you wondering whether Lauren is correct in her convictions or not which really leave you on the edge of your seat.
What I absolutely loved, too, is that the author included snippets of fairy tales/poems throughout her book, such as from “The Stolen Child” by Yeats and from several poems from different authors called “The Changeling”. This added to the overall darkness of this compelling book. This fact that this is the author’s debut is quite surprising.
Most highly recommended.