Psychotic break? Postpartum? Grimm fairy tale? Real life?!
“She hadn’t loved them immediately, but she loved them after a spell. It seeped into her. Slowly. Like the love was something she’d been sipping at. Intoxicating. Accumulating. Snowballing. Slowly, quietly but unstoppably until she was quite drunk with it, and it was all she did. She loved them, it was her calling. Every instant was devoted to it, every thought, every action, every reaction. All her plans, all her dreams were about them, through them, for them, because of them, because of this love, that had not been there immediately but came upon her slowly, inexorably, irreversibly. That was why it was such a shock when it disappeared, the love: just like that, click your fingers, gone. She’d looked at those creatures in the stroller and the love was not there, not for them. It existed in her as a painful yearning, a missing part, reaching out to her real babies, wherever they were now, wherever that revolting woman had taken them. Under the water, somewhere. It didn’t matter, she’d find them. Because she was their mother, and that was her job.”
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Lauren gives birth to twins and while in the maternity ward has a traumatic experience when a woman tries to abduct her babies. But, was the woman real or is something else going on?
I was on the edge of my seat this whole book and kept myself up at night thinking of Lauren, the babies, the woman from the river...
Though aspects of the story line could be considered “played out” lately - i.e., the tireless police investigator going above and beyond the call of duty following a hunch that could cost her job and the dogged reporter stopping at nothing to get the latest scoop - it actually felt fresh and exciting and overall thrilling (with a bit of terror!). I loved the horror theme, ties to old Grimm’s fairy tales, and the quotes from old literature which really added to the storyline.
Unfortunately, I found the majority of the characters forgettable and wish there had been better character development. I also would have liked the history of the town to be woven in much sooner so as to provide more of a backdrop and build the suspense.
Overall I absolutely loved this book and absolutely recommend it for anyone seeking a new thriller!
........
Lauren gives birth to twins and while in the maternity ward has a traumatic experience when a woman tries to abduct her babies. But, was the woman real or is something else going on?
I was on the edge of my seat this whole book and kept myself up at night thinking of Lauren, the babies, the woman from the river...
Though aspects of the story line could be considered “played out” lately - i.e., the tireless police investigator going above and beyond the call of duty following a hunch that could cost her job and the dogged reporter stopping at nothing to get the latest scoop - it actually felt fresh and exciting and overall thrilling (with a bit of terror!). I loved the horror theme, ties to old Grimm’s fairy tales, and the quotes from old literature which really added to the storyline.
Unfortunately, I found the majority of the characters forgettable and wish there had been better character development. I also would have liked the history of the town to be woven in much sooner so as to provide more of a backdrop and build the suspense.
Overall I absolutely loved this book and absolutely recommend it for anyone seeking a new thriller!