Give Me The Child – Melanie McGrath

Psychological Thriller
4*s

This is the sort of book to read when your own family gets too much and we all know that season is fast approaching!

There is a knock at Cat Winter’s door in the middle of the night, going through the possibilities of which family member has had a disaster requiring such an action Cat is wrong-footed when she realises the young child, about the same age as her own daughter Freya, who stands pale and unspeaking, is actually her husband Tom’s daughter. Yes, not the news you really want especially as Ruby’s mother has been found dead and there is no-one else to take her.

Firstly I’m so pleased that the author has a sense of humour about this scenario.

As Tom spoke I couldn’t help thinking just how bloody old and worn and unoriginal the story sounded, a clapped-out tale of a faithless husband led on by some mysterious femme fatale. If you saw it on TV, you’d reach for the remote. This wasn’t us. This wasn’t who we were meant to be. So how was it that it was what we had become?

Her assurance that this was a somewhat overused storyline led me to believe that there was far more on offer, and boy there was. Ruby is a beautiful child but Cat simply can’t relate to her and becomes increasingly anxious about the way she interacts with Freya. This might sound overly dramatic but we know that Cat had some illness that led her to be admitted to a psych ward during her pregnancy so that explains part of her anxiety, the other part is explained by the work Cat does as child psychologist with damaged children, she’s seen the worst that they offer and fears poor Ruby has some kind of personality disorder.

Tom Winter I quickly surmised was not the man you’d want by your side when dealing with life’s daily battles and since he seems to protect Ruby at Freya’s expense the tension in the book quickly mounts and battle lines are firmly drawn.

This is one of those books that you settle down to and enjoy the ride, I don’t usually like the children in my fiction, certainly not ones who are yet to reach their teens reeking of malevolence, but Ruby does but her actions are enacted relatively subtlety and in a way that is age-appropriate which made it all a bit easier to swallow. With new revelations or more the pieces fitting together as Cat digs deep to find out where all the secrets are buried whilst simultaneously trying to keep her own daughter out of Ruby’s clutches this is a fast-paced read.

Although this book begs the question ‘What would I do?’ I didn’t feel with this one that I could realistically enter the game because in my world Tom would pack his and his daughter’s bags and go and deal with whatever seeds he had sown (literally) on his own but that didn’t stop this being a very entertaining way to spend a cold and wintery day.

I was fortunate enough to receive a proof copy of Give Me the Child from the publishers HQ and this unbiased review is my thanks to them.

First Published UK: 27 July 2017
Publisher: HQ
No of Pages: 384
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Amazon UK
Amazon US

This Week in Books (November 29)

Hosted by Lipsy Lost & Found my Wednesday post gives you a taste of what I am reading this week. A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words

I am currently reading The Dress Thief by Natalie Meg Evens as a change from all things dark and dastardly.

Blurb

Alix Gower may be poor but she’s also ambitious, and she’d do anything to secure her dream job in one of Paris’s premier fashion houses. But Alix also has a secret: she supports her family by stealing from the very houses she so adores.
But can Alix risk her reputation and her relationships forever? And is the handsome English reporter she keeps bumping into really to be trusted? Amazon

I have just finished reading Poison Panic: Arsenic deaths in 1840s Essex by Helen Barrell as I thought it was perfect timing, now that we are thinking about the big Christmas dinner, to brush up on poisoners…

Blurb

For a few years in the 1840s, Essex was notorious in the minds of Victorians as a place where women stalked the winding country lanes looking for their next victim to poison with arsenic. It’s a terrible image – and also one that doesn’t seem to have much basis in truth – but this was a time of great anxiety.

The 1840s were also known as the ‘hungry ’40s’, when crop failures pushed up food prices and there was popular unrest across Europe. The decade culminated in a cholera epidemic in which tens of thousands of people in the British Isles died. It is perhaps no surprise that people living through that troubled decade were captivated by the stories of the ‘poisoners’: that death was down to ‘white powder’ and the evil intentions of the human heart.

Sarah Chesham, Mary May and Hannah Southgate are the protagonists of this tale of how rural Essex, in a country saturated with arsenic, was touched by the tumultuous 1840s. Amazon

Next I intend to read Give Me The Child by Mel McGrath which was published to great acclaim earlier this year.

Blurb

Imagine your doorbell rings in the middle of the night.
You open the door to the police.
With them is your husband’s eleven-year-old love child. A daughter you never knew he had.
Her mother has been found dead in their south London flat.
She has nowhere else to go.
WOULD YOU TAKE HER IN? Amazon

What do you think? Any of these take your fancy? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments box below.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph (September 26)

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening. Feel free to grab the banner and play along.

This week my opener is from Give Me The Child by Mel McGrath a psychological thriller which was published in July 2017.

Blurb

An unexpected visitor.

Dr Cat Lupo aches for another child, despite the psychosis which marked her first pregnancy. So when Ruby Winter, a small girl in need of help, arrives in the middle of the night, it seems like fate.

A devastating secret.

But as the events behind Ruby’s arrival emerge – her mother’s death, her connection to Cat – Cat questions whether her decision to help Ruby has put her own daughter at risk.

Do we get the children we deserve?

Cat’s research tells her there’s no such thing as evil. Her history tells her she’s paranoid. But her instincts tell her different. And as the police fight to control a sudden spate of riots raging across the capital, Cat faces a race against time of her own… Amazon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph ~ Intro

PART ONE

24 July

CHAPTER ONE

My first thought when the doorbell woke me was that someone had died. Most likely Michael Walsh. I turned onto my side, pulled at the outer corners of my eyes to rid them of the residue of sleep and blinked myself awake. It was impossible to tell if it was late or early. Though the bedroom was as hot and muggy as it had been when Tome and I had gone to bed, Tom was no longer beside me. Now I was alone.

~ ~ ~

Well I don’t know about you but I have quite a few questions just from that first paragraph.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

Weekly Wrap Up (August 13)

No domestic goddess this week I’m afraid – in fact not a great deal of anything by way of other news so I’ll crack on with the book news.

This Week on the Blog

The week started with my review of The House by Simon Lelic which was awarded the full five stars and is one of my favourite books of the year so far.

My excerpt post came from The Lying Game by Ruth Ware, one of the many books that I’ve failed to get to yet!

This Week in Books featured the authors Sophie Hannah, John Boyne and Margaret Atwood.

My second review of the week was for The Island by Victoria Hislop which is mainly set on the island of Spinalonga, a former leper colony.

On Friday I celebrated my fourth blog birthday which just served to remind me how fast time can pass by when you’re having fun!

I finished off the week with my review of Broken Heart by Tim Weaver which should be read with the understanding that I read this book when times were really tough but that didn’t stop the author’s fine writing shining through.

This Time Last Year…

I was reading Did She Kill Him? by Kate Colquhoun which recreates the story of Florence Maybrick, a Liverpool lady who in 1889 who was suspected of poisoning her husband. The first portion of the book gives a sympathetic portrait of Florence Maybrick backed up with historical documents but it was the switch at the end when the evidence is examined from another perspective which most impressed me. Did Florence murder her husband? Well you need to read this book and see what you think.

You can read my full review here or click on the book cover

Blurb

In the summer of 1889, young Southern belle Florence Maybrick stood trial for the alleged arsenic poisoning of her much older husband, Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick.

‘The Maybrick Mystery’ had all the makings of a sensation: a pretty, flirtatious young girl; resentful, gossiping servants; rumours of gambling and debt; and torrid mutual infidelity. The case cracked the varnish of Victorian respectability, shocking and exciting the public in equal measure as they clambered to read the latest revelations of Florence’s past and glimpse her likeness in Madame Tussaud’s.

Florence’s fate was fiercely debated in the courtroom, on the front pages of the newspapers and in parlours and backyards across the country. Did she poison her husband? Was her previous infidelity proof of murderous intentions? Was James’ own habit of self-medicating to blame for his demise?

Historian Kate Colquhoun recounts an utterly absorbing tale of addiction, deception and adultery that keeps you asking to the very last page, did she kill him? Amazon

Stacking the Shelves

I’m very excited to have been given a copy of Angels in the Moonlight by Caimh McDonnell which will be published on 30 August 2017. This is the prequel to the trilogy the author’s Dublin trilogy.

Blurb

For Detective Bunny McGarry, life is complicated, and it is about to get more so.

It’s 1999 and his hard won reputation amongst Dublin’s criminal fraternity, for being a massive pain the backside, is unfortunately shared by his bosses. His partner has a career-threatening gambling problem and, oh yeah, Bunny’s finally been given a crack at the big time. He’s set the task of bringing down the most skilled and ruthless armed robbery gang in Irish history. So the last thing he needs in his life is yet another complication.

Her name is Simone. She is smart, funny, talented and, well, complicated. When her shocking past turns up to threaten her and Bunny’s chance at a future, things get very complicated indeed. If the choice is upholding the law or protecting those he loves, which way will the big fella turn? http://whitehairedirishman.com

I have a copy of Give Me the Child by Mel McGrath which was published on 27 July 2017 and the reviews I’ve read are great.

Blurb

An unexpected visitor.

Dr Cat Lupo aches for another child, despite the psychosis which marked her first pregnancy. So when Ruby Winter, a small girl in need of help, arrives in the middle of the night, it seems like fate.

A devastating secret.

But as the events behind Ruby’s arrival emerge – her mother’s death, her connection to Cat – Cat questions whether her decision to help Ruby has put her own daughter at risk.

Do we get the children we deserve?

Cat’s research tells her there’s no such thing as evil. Her history tells her she’s paranoid. But her instincts tell her different. And as the police fight to control a sudden spate of riots raging across the capital, Cat faces a race against time of her own… NetGalley

And as a huge surprise I have been granted my wish to receive a copy of Bad Girls from History by Dee Gordon which will be published on 30 September 2017.

Blurb

You wont be familiar with every one of the huge array of women featured in these pages, but all, familiar or not, leave unanswered questions behind them. The range is extensive, as was the research, with its insight into the lives and minds of women in different centuries, different countries, with diverse cultures and backgrounds, from the poverty stricken to royalty. Mistresses, murderers, smugglers, pirates, prostitutes and fanatics with hearts and souls that feature every shade of black (and grey!). From Cleopatra to Ruth Ellis, from Boudicca to Bonnie Parker, from Lady Caroline Lamb to Moll Cutpurse, from Jezebel to Ava Gardner.

Less familiar names include Mary Jeffries, the Victorian brothel-keeper, Belle Starr, the American gambler and horse thief, La Voisin, the seventeenth-century Queen of all Witches in France but these are random names, to illustrate the variety of the content in store for all those interested in women who defy law and order, for whatever reason.

The risque, the adventurous and the outrageous, the downright nasty and the downright desperate all human (female!) life is here. From the lower stratas of society to the aristocracy, class is not a common denominator. Wicked? Misunderstood? Nave? Foolish? Predatory? Manipulative? Or just out of their time? Read and decide. NetGalley

And I have bought a copy of Trial of Passion by William Deverell after reading the fantastic Spotlight Post by one of my trusted book advisors, Margot of Confessions of a Mystery Novelist… If you haven’t visited Margot’s blog I highly recommend it.

Blurb

Arthur Beauchamp, one of Vancouver’s most heralded criminal lawyers, has moved to a quiet island off the British Columbia coast. He’s trying to recover from a marriage gone sour, but his retirement is interrupted by his former law partners — they want Arthur to take charge of the defence trial of Jonathan O’Donnell, the acting dean of the law school.

O’Donnell has been accused of rape by one of his students, Kimberley Martin, a smart but arrogant woman who is engaged to a rich businessman. If convicted, O’Donnell understands that his career will implode; he believes that only Arthur Beauchamp can save his professional life. After much pleading, Beauchamp agrees to handle the case. He is drawn into a complex legal situation dealing with gender and sex, while his personal life takes a provocative turn as well.

A courtroom drama ensues, with unpredictable twists and bizarre events. Amazon

What have you added to your shelves this week? What do you think of my finds?

Since my last post I’ve read 3 books and gained 4!
The current total is therefore 179
Physical Books – 101
Kindle Books – 61
NetGalley Books – 17