Name: Bambi Ard's review of Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah
Item: Perfect Little Children
Rating: 2
Author: Bambi Ard

Sophie Hannah

The New York Times bestselling author of The Monogram Murders and Woman with a Secret returns with a sharp, captivating, and expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense. All Beth has to do is drive her son to his soccer game, watch him play, and then return home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the field, that doesn't mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn't seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn't want to see her today--or ever again. But she can't resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora arrives and calls to her children Thomas and Emily to get out of the car. Except . . . There's something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt, but they haven't changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven't they grown? How is it possible that they haven't grown up?

Perfect Little Children

Bambi Ard

Well. This was a fairly mediocre and at times agitating read, but I'm giving it two stars instead of one because it's not the worst mediocre and agitating domestic thriller I've ever read.

This book felt like it couldn't quite live up to its very intriguing and unique concept, but rather than admitting that tried to convince you of its own cleverness by running you around in a dozen circles and hoping that you would get dizzy enough to believe it was something mind-blowing. That's not your mind being blown, my dear, it's just vertigo!

The main character was annoying: reactive, bullheadedly stubborn, easily agitated, and not clever enough to justify any of it (no matter how hard the book tried to convince you that she was.) Her teenage daughter never felt like a real person to me, but rather an extraterrestrial's interpretation of what a human teenager probably acts like. 

Speaking of her teenage daughter, what was with that incredibly random chapter in the middle of the book that derailed the thriller-mystery into a squabble with her daughter's teacher? I get that it led to the MC having some realization that furthered the plot, but it was SUCH an outlandish way to make her come to that realization. I was annoyed reading that whole sequence.

I also have to admire this book's determination to convince you that Lewis Braid was a charming, magnetic, undeniably inspiring force of nature, when literally every single description of his personality and actions showed what an unbearable, manipulative, selfish piece of shit he was. Like, seriously, there was nothing likeable about that man. Ever. Even the memories of him that were supposed to say to us "Look! Look at how cool and charismatic he could be!" fell embarrassingly short. He sucked. Full stop.

Anyway. 2 stars, possibly would've been 1 star if I hadn't already read worse. Kind of a let down because I found the premise SUPER intriguing and the book fell short. But oh well, win some lose some.

Tabitha Rone

Leticia Leal

McKenzie McWhorter

kate humphreys 

Mandy Call

The New York Times bestselling author of The Monogram Murders and Woman with a Secret returns with a sharp, captivating, and expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense. All Beth has to do is drive her son to his soccer game, watch him play, and then return home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the field, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn’t seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn’t want to see her today—or ever again. But she can’t resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora arrives and calls to her children Thomas and Emily to get out of the car. Except . . . There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt, but they haven’t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven’t they grown? How is it possible that they haven’t grown up?

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Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah

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