The Perfect Child

 This is such a suspenseful and insightful story. I kept second-guessing the characters up till the end; the line between perpetrator and victim was blurred, and I really liked that. The story was nuanced and showed that not everything is always white and black. The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because it didn't give me that feeling that my other 5 stars' books did, but it came very close as I was devouring every word in the last 15-ish percent.

This book made me so irrationally angry. I loved it.

4.5/5⭐️

Lucinda never disappoints. So I won’t lie when I started this book I was really expecting to have an Orphan (movie) experience but instead Lucinda stressed me out even more. This is one where you could not put it down until you finish it. I really enjoyed it and find the psychological aspects of this book a lot. How intricate they are in ways you wouldn’t expect. The endings as Lucinda has been doing is open for interpretation but I couldn’t accept that for an answer until I found out that there is a short story that takes place after this book so of course after I finished this one and found out about it I picked it up immediately.

2.5/5 yes this book infuriated me, but reading some of the reviews on goodreads infuriated me even more. first, a mistake i made is that i couldn't help comparing what was happening in the book to what i know about our fostering and adoption process (and i know a lot), even though i know it's quite different in the US. after writing this review, i'm going to do some research on foster care in the US beause i found a lot of things in this book didn't make sense to me (for example how easy it was for chris and hannah to adopt janie or how little therapy all three of them got). unfortunately i think it was probably a realistic portrayal of it given that the author worked as a psychologist and researched childhood trauma. i didn't like much about about this book, but i did like the realism of each of the characters and that what they said or thought was exactly like things i'd seen in real life. however, in the end, i didn't understand the point of the book (i really hated the ending) and i really dont understand why its classed as a thriller. i would have given this book a higher rating if its purpose had been to raise awareness on child abuse, how broken the foster care system is and how a lot of parents have kids (biological or adopted) for selfish reasons but are not ready/do not want to care for a child who is "outside the norm" (to say the least). and don't get me wrong, i believe that the book adressed all of this issues but turning it into a thriller is a very poor decision. one of the big questions raised by the book is "who's at fault here?" obviously all the adults, through their lies, what they omitted to say and their refusal to see the reality for what it is, are guilty. but it's clear to me that the biggest culprit here is the system. it worries and disturbs me that people in the reviews call janie "evil" or "batshit crazy" (have you really read the book ??) or even that some people have said the book serve as an answer to the question "are people born evil". i don't know if these people realize that they sound exactly like hannah, who is an unreliable narrator, who has neglected, abused and tried to kill janie. do they also forget that janie's grandmother has neglected and abused her ever since she was born? do they forget everything her mother did? how she shaved her head and pretended she had cancer to get gofundme money. how on top of all of this horror, janie was probably sexually abused as well. there is no way anyone can go through this and not have severe trauma and disorders afterwards and that is stated multiple times in the book. i know the author cannot control how people interpret her books but i wish she'd at least said something in the aknowledgements. moreover, concerning the plot, there is a few things that i found strange and i don't know if it was a deliberate choice from the author (to make the story mysterious) or just bad writing, but let me explain. in the beginning, hannah and chris mention that they noticed cars following them and they think it's the fbi. why does it suddenly stop? why is it not mentionned later in the book? especially considering how bettys killer hadn't been found. related to this, how is it that it took a private investigator hired by greg (against chris) for bettys phone to be opened? if the fbi was involved, how had they not done this before... betty tried to seek help, she called the social services but why did she never go to the hospital? who is the man that we can hear in the videos? why is there no focus on him? how did janie even get the knife? hannah mention that janie doesn't know to use silverware so it couldn't be a knife that was used to eat. and i'm sure betty didn't let a knife just lying there.... too many questions are left unanswered (i hate it). ultimately, my heart breaks for janie and every kids who are/have been in a similar situation.

its so creepy i love it

Unable to put this book down!! I got frustrated with the dad frequently though.

My jaw is on the floor! I couldn't tell you how many times I wrote "Demon Child" throughout the book while annotating. I was very excited to read one of Lucinda Berry's books and she did not disappoint. I was iffy about The Perfect Child because it's on booktok and more often than not, it's not as great as the hype. However, this book was! I didn't want to set this book down. When I finally reached the end, I had to keep sitting the book down to take a break and process what I just read. Whether or not Janie is actually possessed by a demon is up for debate. I genuinely think she's some sociopathic child you'd find on an episode of Criminal Minds. This was a really great book and I highly recommend. Also, RIP Blue.

entiendo completamente a hannah, yo hubiera sido esa. odio a janie y cristopher es lo peor

Me dio mucha cólera Christopher, su estupidez y su blindness with love, hizo que le arruinara la vida a muchas personas

I need to start this book off by saying that what I read was Disturbing and the most disturbing book I have read. I highly recommend going to look up trigger warnings for this one as there are a lot and I’m not going to capture them all, It features Child Abuse and Animal abuse to name a couple. But It’s a gripping read and once you are hooked you are not released until you get to the end, and it will leave you wanting more…

Dr. Christopher Bauer and his wife, Hannah, have been struggling with infertility for years. Hannah, now 41, has all but given up hope of having children until.....

This story is told through alternating Character Chapters- Christopher, Hannah and A Social Worker and they all work together to move the story along The entire time your reading you know that it is leading up to something big but that reveal doesn't come until the last 25% which will have you furiously flipping the pages.

Lucinda Berry has penned quite the nightmarish tale. This was my first read by her but I assure you it will NOT be my last. I'm going to get my greedy grabby hands on anything she has written.

If you want a unique, edge of your seat, psychological thriller. . . Look No Further. This book will BLOW YOU AWAY.

Good beginning and middle— kind of anti-climatic towards the end. I enjoyed the social worker’s chapters and how the ending showed the breakdown of the DCF system and the effects of them being inundated. Hannah and Christopher were mehh. Mediocre read.

** spoiler alert ** The concept of the book was 10/10 but how could a doctor be such an idiot? Like honestly. Christopher pissed me off entirely, Hannah should have left him. The book also just udruptly ends as well. 3.5 stars.

Holy. Shit. So many twists and turns. An incredible look into the other side of trauma, fostering, and adoption.

WOW... JUST WOW... This book left me absolutely speechless. Janie has so many issues and Chis & Hannah just can't seem to keep it together. I couldn't figure out if the majority of what was happening was in Hannah's head because she was suffering from a postpartum psychosis or if Janie was truly that evil. I would love a 2nd book or maybe just a chapter because I felt like it ended in a cliffhanger and we don't know what all happens next for Chris & Hannah or even Janie.

The story is great, an absolute page turner. I hated the Dad, he was an absolute pain in the arse and such a wimp. Apart from him and his actions being kinda unbelievable it's a goodun.

This book is phenomenally written in detail. An amazing thriller that kept me very interested and emotionally attached. It does an amazing job drawing you in quickly and you really feel an emotional attachment to Hannah. I truly loved the book!! However, the ending made me feel like we were driving in circles.. I was disappointed that the ending was just tossed like it was when the build up and plot of the story was super well written. I still would recommend this book & author if you want a disturbing book to read!!

READ IF YOU LIKE: - short chapters - alternating POV's - dark & twisty reads - nature vs. nurture MY THOUGHTS: I have to start by saying that I really enjoyed this book despite how dark and twist it was at times. This book is written with alternating point of views of Hannah, Christopher, and Piper (Janie's social worker). Characters within this book were both unlikable and likable - I found myself getting most frustrated/irritated with Christopher. He was far too easily manipulated/roped in to Janie's tactics and took an extremely long time to come around to the fact that she was just not nice. If had to describe this read with two words they would be: disturbing and captivating. I could not put this one down, it was that addicting to read. I really enjoyed (but also really empathized with) Hannah's character's (un)development - I mean, she completed unraveled as the story went on and I really felt for her. This book covers lots of bases such as, but not limited to, the exploration of childhood trauma, mental health, parenthood as a whole, and nature vs. nurture. While I did really enjoy this book, I didn't love the ending. Mainly because there wasn't one? It seemed to build and build and build to just abruptly end with zero closure which left me a little unsettled especially given how heavy of a read this was at times. However, I would still highly recommend it to any psychological thriller lover.

I wish I could give this more.. I loved this book and was hooked from the beginning until the last sentence. It was like a chapter was missing and I feel like the book wasn't finished.

Boring. Yes, the child is batshit crazy. I found myself caring more that the husband was a stupid bitch. Wish he died. XO

I could not put this book down but was disappointed with the ending. There was no ending.

Why did I do this to myself?! Fantastic book. Fueled by my obsession for childhood psychology and trauma psychology, I picked this book up from my library. I think Dr Lucinda Berry should offer therapy coupons with this book, because I feel like I need therapy after this one.

4 stars Wow, what a ride. This was just wild, don’t even know what to say

*2.5 This was definitely promising. But it fell short for me. It was really predictable in my opinion and I just lost interest as I kept reading. I felt frustrated by all the events happening and the husband's disbelief with everything happening was annoying. Everything just felt over the top and ridiculous. I was honestly so relieved when I finally finished this.

I enjoyed this booked even though it was mostly predictable and very similar to the movie Orphan. It's a nice weekend read and has a good pace. Hannah and Chris are both great realistic characters (although very frustrating at times, especially Chris). A lot of people in the reviews are complaining about the ending but I like that (view spoiler)[you don't find out what happens to the court cases because it allows you to dwell on the ethics around how much responsibility parents should have for their children and when it's even too much for them. It's pretty crazy about how much they probably spent on therapy appointments during the course of the book and most people wouldn't have access to that. (hide spoiler)]