JP Delaney

What if you found out that your family isn’t yours at all? How far would you go to protect them? A gripping new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Girl Before. . . . “[JP] Delaney takes domestic suspense beyond its comfort zone.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent’s worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete’s son, Theo, isn’t actually his son—he is the Lamberts’, switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they’ve been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again. The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents—or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts’ glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe. They are done playing nice.

A Novel

Playing Nice

J. P. Delaney

A gripping new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Girl Before. How far would you go to protect your family? Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete's son, Theo, isn't actually his son--he is the Lamberts', switched at birth by an understaffed hospital, while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they've been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again. The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents--or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts' glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe. They are done playing nice.

Alexa M

i had a pretty good time reading this and i was definitely interested in the mystery but the pacing of this was just sooo slow to me. i think this could have benefited from being a lot shorter. the story was definitely very interesting so if you enjoy slow paced mysteries than this one will be for you!

Elissa Bowe LeBeau

This book is hard to read - not because it’s poorly written, because it is perfect in every other way - because it is so terrifyingly real. I couldn’t put it down and my heart rate was up all day. Fantastic.

Arianna scasino

Great book, by one of my favorite authors. I just wish there was more conclusion.

Jennifer

A fast-paced psychological thriller which dives deep into issues with parenting styles and how that affects a child's upbringing. I don't really read thrillers but I managed to go through most of Playing Nice today thanks to its fascinating character study and surprising plot twists which kept my adrenaline level high. It's deeply character focused, easy to get into, and also quite a page-turner.

Playing Nice has an interesting premise: the child that Pete and Maddie thought to have turns out to be someone else's. Through the narration of these 2 characters, Playing Nice sheds lights through both the legal issues as well as the psychological headspace of the characters - particularly the nature vs nurture of raising a child. These plotlines provide a page-turning build-up that made me have a difficult time putting down the book. If there's something that's done really well in Playing Nice, it's the psychological depth of the narrators.

While I highly enjoyed the character explorations in Playing Nice, I also found the novel quite a tense and an unsettling read (so while I highly enjoyed it I didn't feel like I'd realistically think about the specific content in the book in the future). This is because I found some of the content quite triggering, for example hospital visits, being drunk, and illnesses. I do understand that these details are provided to flesh out the psychological headspace, so my concerns with the content is purely a subjective and a personal one (because I wasn't made aware of the potential content warnings in advance). 

If you do plan to get around reading Playing Nice, the major triggers are: alcohol, hospital, illnesses, murder, and kidnapping.

Nevertheless, this is a rather interesting psychological thriller and I think the characterisation as well as the concept of nature vs nurture in the parenting styles are really well done. If you are looking for something fast-paced, character focused, with plenty of plot-twists then Playing Nice definitely checks the boxes!

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Luna

jp delaney really said yeah serial killers are bad but people who don’t have sex are the fucking worst. idk why every domestic thriller needs to make this point but it sure as hell didn’t make this book any better when the ending was obvious from page 80 because these characters are so unbelievably dumb. but it gets a bonus point for showing how ableist and homophobic sex therapy is (even though it wasn’t the point)

Heather Heaton

https://youtu.be/kevNO_S5w9w
I read recommendations from gabbyreads on booktube and this book was one of them. Check out my vlog linked above for more thoughts and feelings on this very intense book. If anything this book can invoke some amazing conversation and intense feelings.

Ruth Parker 

This book had me on edge constantly. I had to take breaks reading it - some reviewers said they finished it one go but I have no idea how they managed that. Every so often it just became too much for me and I started feeling tense and stressed. 
Of course the ending is predictable but this story is not about the end; this book is about the journey. And oh boy is it one hell of a journey! 
Go into this as blind as you can!

Playing Nice A Novel

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