DEAR CHILD BY ROMY HAUSMANN

If you enjoy dark crime thrillers with unique twists then this is a musts read for you! I bought this as a hardcover for a hefty price but it was so worth it! 

Rating: ★★★★★
​Release Date: October 6, 2020
Genre: Darker Crime Thriller. 
Series: None. Standalone. 
Pages: 358 pages
Format: Hardcover Source: ​Purchased. ​

A windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare.

She says her name is Lena. Lena, who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior. She fits the profile. She has the distinctive scar. But her family swears that she isn’t their Lena.

The little girl who escaped the woods with her knows things she isn’t sharing, and Lena’s devastated father is trying to piece together details that don’t quite fit. Lena is desperate to begin again, but something tells her that her tormentor still wants to get back what belongs to him…and that she may not be able to truly escape until the whole truth about what happened in the woods finally emerges.

​Romy Hausmann's Dear Child is a captivating thriller with all the ingredients of a breakout hit.

PURCHASE A COPY

AMAZON PRINT | AMAZON KINDLE | LISTEN WITH AUDIBLE

READ MY BOOK REVIEW

My Rating: 5 stars
Genre Crime Thriller | Mystery

WOW! This book blew me away! Dear Child, is an unexpected and dark crime thriller that will literally GRIP readers from beginning to end. I’m not exaggerating in the slightest either. This is one of those books that just 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗬𝗢𝗨. I’ve heard many readers describe is as a mashup between ROOM by Emma Donoghue and a few 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘 psychological thrillers (i.e. Don’t Look for Me by Wendy Walker and The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald) and I couldn’t agree more! This book will take you on quite the journey and you won’t feel settled until the very end. It takes a lot for a book to get my blood pumping, but it was no feat while reading this one! I highly recommend it for those looking for a nail biting, unsettling, and disturbing book!

I think it’s worth the mention that I was concerned that I wouldn’t like this book. The reason being is because it was so hyped up by many readers and when a book is hyped up like this one was it (more often than not) becomes a big disappointment. Thankfully, that WASN’T the case here and all the hype and excitement for DEAR CHILD was TRUTHFUL. 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗!


𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞

So, this is a book about a kidnapping and imprisonment. 2 women are missing, one for over 13 years and the other who just escaped after 4 months in captivity. **𝗦𝗛𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦** Readers will get a full view of the timeline before, during, and after the kidnappings and see the effects it has on everyone involved (the children, the parents of the missing women, and even the ones who sadly lost their lives). This is an interesting read and doesn’t stay within the timeline straight throughout. Instead, your taken to certain points throughout the story using things like flashbacks- seems confusing but it’s not and it totally works! The book is told in dual point of views giving us a vast understanding of the aftereffects of the trauma (and I have to say the author did a WONDERFUL job here). Basically, you live through it all with Jasmin, Lena, Hannah, and Matthias.

This book is dark based on the 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧. There isn’t a ton violence throughout (maybe a few scenes that make you uncomfortable) so readers who THINK this may be disturbing based on the scenes should think again. I feel its disturbing BECAUSE of the kidnapping and the people who play a role in the story.
I honestly don’t want to talk a lot about the plot because this is a story you need that should be read as blind as possible, but I did want to make readers aware of the type of content within the story!

Normally I would continue on writing my exact likes and dislikes of the novel but I’m going to refrain because (as I mentioned above) this is a book you need to read and FEEL without knowing all the information beforehand. This way the book will be more powerful! I do, however, recommend it very highly! I hope many readers give this one a chance. For a debut, its perfection!