Name: naomi's review of Baby teeth by Zoje Stage
Item: Baby teeth
Rating: 3
Author: naomi

Zoje Stage

Afflicted with a chronic debilitating condition, Suzette Jensen knew having children would wreak havoc on her already fragile body. Nevertheless, she brought Hanna into the world, pleased and proud to start a family with her husband Alex. Estranged from her own mother, Suzette is determined to raise her beautiful daughter with the love, care, and support she was denied. But Hanna proves to be a difficult child. Now seven-years-old, she has yet to utter a word, despite being able to read and write. Defiant and anti-social, she refuses to behave in kindergarten classes, forcing Suzette to homeschool her. Resentful of her mother's rules and attentions, Hanna lashes out in anger, becoming more aggressive every day. The only time Hanna is truly happy is when she's with her father. To Alex, she's willful and precocious but otherwise the perfect little girl, doing what she's told. Suzette knows her clever and manipulative daughter doesn't love her. She can see the hatred and jealousy in her eyes. And as Hanna's subtle acts of cruelty threaten to tear her and Alex apart, Suzette fears her very life may be in grave danger...--Amazon.com

Baby teeth

naomi

i am so glad that the reason she prefers her father over her mother is that she’s just a bad ass kid and not a victim

Wow. This book takes you on a journey. When you think you know where the path is going it juts out another way and you have to run to catch up again. The highs, the lows, you feel every emotion this family feels. That ending! The ending is the most chilling thing of all. Highly recommend to lovers of the slow burn and thrillers

Stephanie Boisvert

Zoje Stage's thriller novel "Baby Teeth" initially captivated my attention with its gripping premise and intriguing characters. The story had a promising start, but as it progressed towards the climax, I found myself yearning for a clearer explanation or conclusion regarding the nature of Hanna's behavior. The uncertainty prevented me from fully immersing myself in the story and left me with some unanswered questions.

Stage did a wonderful job of creating a suspenseful atmosphere from the very beginning, whereby the dynamic between Hanna (the daughter) and Suzanne (the mother) was particularly well developed. Suzanne's increasing desperation to understand her daughter's disturbing actions brings out a sense of unease and tension that keeps the reader engaged.

However, as the narrative unfolded and we witnessed Hanna's unsettling behavior escalate, the story failed to provide a definitive answer as to whether she was possessed or dealing with a mental illness or disorder. While this ambiguity can work well in some thrillers, in "Baby Teeth," it left me feeling sort of unsatisfied. I was left wondering if the author intended to leave room for interpretation or if the lack of resolution was an oversight.

Another thing was that I LOATHED that bum of a husband, Alex who exhibited an alarming level of ignorance and denial. That man refused to acknowledge the gravity of the situation until his wife's life was directly threatened. Their (both Alex and Suzanne) lack of proactive parenting and failure to address the unfolding dangers left me exasperated and disappointed.

Despite these shortcomings, "Baby Teeth" is an enjoyable and suspenseful thriller. I’d recommend "Baby Teeth" to fans of psychological thrillers, with the caveat that some aspects may leave you wanting more.

Tali ⋆.˚🦋༘⋆

Zoje Stage's thriller novel "Baby Teeth" initially captivated my attention with its gripping premise and intriguing characters. The story had a promising start, but as it progressed towards the climax, I found myself yearning for a clearer explanation or conclusion regarding the nature of Hanna's behavior. The uncertainty prevented me from fully immersing myself in the story and left me with some unanswered questions.

Stage did a wonderful job of creating a suspenseful atmosphere from the very beginning, whereby the dynamic between Hanna (the daughter) and Suzanne (the mother) was particularly well developed. Suzanne's increasing desperation to understand her daughter's disturbing actions brings out a sense of unease and tension that keeps the reader engaged.

However, as the narrative unfolded and we witnessed Hanna's unsettling behavior escalate, the story failed to provide a definitive answer as to whether she was possessed or dealing with a mental illness or disorder. While this ambiguity can work well in some thrillers, in "Baby Teeth," it left me feeling sort of unsatisfied. I was left wondering if the author intended to leave room for interpretation or if the lack of resolution was an oversight.

Another thing was that I LOATHED that bum of a husband, Alex who exhibited an alarming level of ignorance and denial. That man refused to acknowledge the gravity of the situation until his wife's life was directly threatened. Their (both Alex and Suzanne) lack of proactive parenting and failure to address the unfolding dangers left me exasperated and disappointed.

Despite these shortcomings, "Baby Teeth" is an enjoyable and suspenseful thriller. I’d recommend "Baby Teeth" to fans of psychological thrillers, with the caveat that some aspects may leave you wanting more.

what did i just read?!? creepy little child that’s WAY too obsessed with her father 😳 i enjoyed seeing both mom & daughters perspectives. i felt like there was too much backstory for the mom, and felt myself skimming over most of it. i found it quite annoying how the father took so long to believe the mom. there was a lot of 😲🫨😬🫣 if you want something with disturbing shock value i definitely recommend!

BROOKE A

Sarah Sammis

Baby Teeth could be a very scathing depiction of sexual predators in the home. But that portrayal is stymied by slow pacing and the ridiculous ghost-witch tangent.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

What would you do if you started to believe your child was a psychopath? On the outside it looks like Suzette has it all. A stunning ultra-modern home, designed by her handsome Swedish husband. A beautiful, but silent, seven-year-old daughter who is fiercely intelligent. But under the shiny veneer, the cracks are all too clear. For her daughter Hanna isn’t just clever, she’s dangerous. Her behaviour is carefully calculated. She adores her father, yet wants Suzette to disappear. And as Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated – from tampering with her mother’s daily medication, imitating a rabid dog, to setting Suzette on fire – it’s increasingly clear that there is something seriously wrong with their little girl. Because what kind of child wants to kill their own mother? 'Stage expertly crafts this creepy, can't-put-it-down thriller into a fearless exploration of parenting and marriage that finds the cracks in unconditional love' Publishers Weekly

Baby Teeth

Ally Perkins

jess larry

One of Entertainment Weekly’s Must-Read Books for July | People Magazine's Book of the Week | One of Bustle's "Fifteen Books With Chilling Protagonists That Will Keep You Guessing" | One of PopSugar's "25 Must-Read Books That Will Make July Fly By!" | One of the "Biggest Thrillers of the Summer"—SheReads | A Barnes and Noble Blog Best Thriller for July! | "New & Noteworthy" —USA Today | "Summer 2018 Must-Read"—Bookish | "One of 11 Crime Novels You Should Read in July"—Crime Reads | "Best Summer Reads for 2018"—Publishers Weekly "Gripping"—InStyle "Propulsive."—New York Times Book Review "A wholly original and terrifically creepy story."—Refinery29 "A twisty, delirious read"—EntertainmentWeekly.com "A deliciously creepy read."—New York Post MEET HANNA: Seven-year-old Hanna is a sweet-but-silent angel in the eyes of her adoring father Alex. He’s the only person who understands her. But her mother Suzette stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good. MEET SUZETTE: Suzette loves her daughter, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. She’s also becoming increasingly frightened by Hanna’s little games, while her husband Alex remains blind to the failing family dynamics. Soon, Suzette starts to fear that maybe their supposedly innocent baby girl may have a truly sinister agenda. A battle of wills between mother and daughter reveals the frailty and falsehood of familial bonds in award-winning playwright and filmmaker Zoje Stage’s tense novel of psychological suspense, Baby Teeth. “Unnerving and unputdownable, Baby Teeth will get under your skin and keep you trapped in its chilling grip until the shocking conclusion.”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline “We Need to Talk About Kevin meets Gone Girl meets The Omen...a twisty, delirious read that will constantly question your sympathies for the two characters as their bond continues to crumble.”—Entertainment Weekly “A pulse-spiking thriller.”—PopSugar

A Novel

Lara Engle

That kid is disturbing and that family is messy. I'm not sure if I enjoyed reading this book, but I had a hard time putting it down.

Megan Christensen

On the outside it looks like Suzette has it all. A stunning ultra-modern home, designed by her handsome Swedish husband. A beautiful, but silent, seven-year-old daughter who is fiercely intelligent. But under the shiny veneer, the cracks are all too clear. For her daughter Hanna isn't just clever, she's dangerous. Her behaviour is carefully calculated. She adores her father, yet wants Suzette to disappear. And as Hanna's tricks become increasingly sophisticated - from tampering with her mother's daily medication, imitating a rabid dog, to setting Suzette on fire - it's increasingly clear that there is something seriously wrong with their little girl. Because what kind of child wants to kill their own mother?

Jessica Ford

Baby Teeth

This is the most disturbing book I’ve read since Gone Girl. Seven year old Hanna gave me the chills. I definitely recommend this for anyone who loves thrillers. I can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next.

Megan Ferguson

This book is free birth control, highly recommend

Taylor

me going into this book: i don’t want kids
me finishing this book: i rlly don’t want kids

Anna Cashman

didn’t do much at all... the last third was better but there wasn’t much of an ending (to be fair, it seemed intentional) can’t really articulate why, but it just wasn’t for me. it it didn’t scare me, it just bored me

Ethan E. Harris

If you enjoyed the constant creep brought out in Dathan Auerbach's Penpal or Bad Man, I think you'll enjoy Baby Teeth.

It has a steady, consistent creepiness. It's a growing low-grade terror unfolding throughout the story. I can't stress how enjoyable the book is and how it unfolds. There aren't any gotcha moments, no crazy slashers hiding in the woods. It's just an unfolding darkness told from two first-person perspectives. The author does an impressive job at placing the reader in a position to sympathize with the mother as she's exposed to the downard-spiral of her daughter's behavior.

I discovered this type of story most recently in the writing of Dathan Auerbach and was hoping to find someone else who could unveil a story like this. Suspense-filled and fluid. Highly recommended!

Hope-Marie Pollard

** spoiler alert **
           I'm sitting here after having finished the book severely underwhelmed. I spent a large majority of the book with a lot of questions about the origins of the conflicts within the characters and I have to say after having finished it I haven't found the answers I was looking for. 

this book leans on a lot of tropes within the Horror/thriller thing but doesn't do the best job of really building on them in a cohesive way. I feel like the author almost had a checklist that they went down and crossed things off as they went. I found the character development to be sort of lacking as well. 

Suzette has a lot of issues related to her health both mental and physical due to her chronic illness and somewhat traumatic childhood that make this character relatable to an extent but I felt like for something that was mentioned so frequently it didn't really add to the storyline if that makes sense. there's a lot of talk about the complications from her various health issues and at points it does tie into the story (example with Hanna tampering with the medication) but apart from that it doesn't do much for the plot other than "weakening" the character to make it easier to explain how Hanna has managed to manipulate the situation with her parents for so long. 

Alex as a character sort of irritated me because I've seen that kind of cognitive dissonance in action before and it drives me crazy how some people are so fucking oblivious to what's going on around them and again it felt like that was really his only personality trait. plus the switch from oblivious airhead to terrified father felt too rushed and forced. I would have liked to see the author make that more of a slow burn situation where instead of Suzette constantly having to point things out to Alex maybe he could have caught Hanna's carefully crafted facade slipping and started to form his own conclusions. I feel like that would have added to the plot more than the rapid switch.

as far as Hanna went I feel like once again really heavy on the creepy kid tropes without enough explanation as to the origins. 

it's obvious that there's some serious issues with the way she views her father and their relationship but again no real point of origin on where that came from. the oversexualization of her father in her minds eye is one of those things that kept me asking myself wtf was happening here. 

I did like the points of brevity where we caught a glimpse of the fact that even though she's an evil little shit Hanna is a 7 year old kid and does have instances where she behaves like one. though I felt like that was another thing that kind of threw me off because she has so many adult ideas and thought processes that the contrast of her being a normal kid leads to a little bit of a disconnect. 

I would have liked to see the Marie Anne connection elaborated on as well. we see her as a catalyst and driving force between a lot of Hannas actions but there's no real perspective. Hanna mentions that Marie Anne said this or did that but it would have been interesting to see her as a more separate devil on the shoulder type of entity even if to help move along the mental illness aspect of the plot. 

Hanna continuously escalates her attacks against her mother but we don't really see where that animosity originates. obviously we know that she feels possessive of her father and his attentions but I would have liked the author to sort of elaborate on the starting point for that because from where I sit I seems like Hanna was a normal ish albeit incredibly intelligent child and then she morphes into the spawn of Satan for no discernable reason. 

overall this book left me with more questions than answers and it's disappointing because it's a strong premise
another note: there's a lot of repetitive mentions of different things. like a constant focus on sharp objects. repeatedly pointing out the potential danger and yet nothing much comes of it. this would have been a great opportunity to utilize those moments for foreshadowing but it didn't really pan out again. 

there's a lot of opportunities that were missed here for a really strong plot.

Kwan Ann Tan

oof i rarely give a book a 1 star but seriously this was almost just all weird torture porn (not even in a suspenseful horror way) and also what even was this plot. very frustrating lol.

Amanda Autumn Berrey

four stars

halfway through the book i was nervous that it was going to get unrealistic with outcomes but i actually was pleased with the outcome. i took away 1 star because i feel like alex isn’t a super believable character. i feel like after everything he should’ve trusted his wife sooner

Zoe Deckard

This book…. It was so good. I feel like it addressed the doubts I have towards parenting while also being terrifying. Check out my tiktok @ayearinbookswithzoe for a post read stream of thought.

Megan Oiler 

I have mixed feelings. 

The book was amazing At first, real page turner. Then it started to drag on.. 

And then the ending made me feel disappointed both in the ending and the parents.

Zoe McKenna

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand,
it was disturbing and propulsive enough that I couldn't
put it down, listening it to on my commute, while | got
ready in the morning, etc.

On the other hand, it feels like the ending was
lacklustre and, while the author acknowledges the
tropes at play in-narrative, the book still ultimately
feels formulaic. Ah well.

Creepy, amazing, realistic, weird and just awesome!!
Couldn't put it down!
Is there going to be a sequel???

sin h.

I read this book so fast, excited to get to the shocking finish. boy was I disappointed. through the entire book, nothing changes. the cycle continues. there was in fact no shocker at the end that saved the monotony. and for the love of god suzette all you had to do was record hanna's behavior and maybe discipline her every once in a while?! 

Chrissy

This has been the wildest plot I have read all year. This follows mother and daughter in alternating chapters; Hannah and Suzette. Suzette didn't have the best relationship with her mother growing up which effected her physical health growing up since her mother ignored signs. Now that Suzette is a mother of her own her goal in life is to be a better mother than her own. Being there for her daughter the way she wished her mother was and to not give up, to see any signs to worry about and do whatever she can to help. But Suzette cannot figure out what is wrong with her child.
Hannah has never spoken, though she is intelligent and creative, words are not her thing. Throughout the novel you and Suzette are trying to figure out if its a choice and she actually cannot speak. It was extremely interesting reading Hannah's chapters, to read from a child's point of view and her thought process. Hannah doesn't think like a typical seven year old. Hannah for some reason does not like her mother and wishes she was not around and so she thinks up some creative ways to get rid of her. Its a clique story of how Hannah is the perfect angel in front of her father but the opposite in front of everyone else, her mother and teachers. 
I felt for Suzette so much, being a stay at home mom with a child who doesn't like her and tries to make her life a living hell. It was so frustrating that her husband didn't believe her and made Suzette feel dumb so she kept some experience to her self because of it. But I also found it so frustrating that Suzette could never document any proof... I mean in the world that we live in now with technology, you never thought to record the things that this child is doing/saying. 
I have mixed feelings with the ending though, it seemed unfinished like it was open ended leaving room for a book two. But I did like how things changed in the relationship between Suzette and her husband. 
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes to read wild psychological stories

this book was meh, the characters were unlikeable and the story didn't really go anywhere?? 

★3/5★

naomi &
Baby teeth by Zoje Stage

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