The Child
Fiona Barton
Berkley, June 2017
ISBN 978-1-101-99048-3
Hardcover

From the publisher—

As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?

As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell…

Just mention a dead baby and the pathos sets in, doesn’t it? Regardless of what might have happened to that infant, you know it was sad in one way or another and, in this case, it’s really bad because this poor little child had lain in its small grave for so many years.

Many people from the past and present are affected by this discovery, as you might imagine, but there are four women in particular who get our attention. At times, the baby was front and center but, at other times, the story focused much more on the individual women and Kate, the journalist, is the catalyst that brings out more than one truth. What begins as a story that shocks the senses in the beginning soon proves itself to be full of innuendoes and accusations, heartbreak and, eventually, healing.

Ms. Barton has crafted a tale that has been told before in some ways, both fictionally and in real life, but it’s the twists and coincidences that grabbed my attention, even though I was pretty sure of the direction this was taking. At the end, I felt a sense of sorrow at what one human can do to another but also hope for mending and new beginnings.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, July 2017.

Fina Barton does it again. It was alittle slow to start but keep reading it is worth it. The journalist Kate Waters is back and she is investigating a tiny skeleton unearthed at a demolition house. Kate is just the type of journalist you want to hate until she does something out of character and then you don’t. Three women, Jude and her daughter and the woman whose baby went missing from the hospital the day after she is born, all their stories come together. Told from all points of view, each ’s view has their own reason the discovery of the skeleton affects them. Jude and her daughter are estranged because Jude chose a boyfriend over her daughter. Angela has never given up hope her daughter will be found. Great read. I would like to thank the Publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC.

Author Fiona Barton's The Child is her follow up to 2016's The Widow. Reporter Kate Waters, who readers met in The Widow, returns in a story that is set against the back drop of the mysterious discovery of a skeleton that is unearthed in a part of London that is going through gentrification. Named the "Building Site Baby" by nearly everyone, Kate pushes her employer, Daily Post, to allow her to investigate the story. Who was the baby? How did the baby die? Who was the mother? Who would bury a baby? For the record, this story takes place between March 20, 2012 and May 2012, with a brief closing chapter dated June 1, 2013.

The chapters in this story are short and revolve around (4) different perspectives: Kate, Angela Irving, Emma Simmonds, and Jude Massingham. Kate takes on an apprentice this time around. His name is Joe, and his mother is a hot shot in the business. The two actually work very well together. In fact, Joe is absolutely useful, and not just a prop
the author uses to tell the story. Kate has been involved in some very sensational stories over the years which has carried her career while others have flamed out.

This time around, she has to weave together stories and backgrounds from (3) very different women in order to solve who the Building Site Baby was. The first character who Kate meets is Angela Irving. 28 years ago, Angela's newborn baby disappeared without a trace. Even thought she now has two other children, she keeps celebrating her missing daughters birthday. Angela has never once given up hope of seeing her again. The discovery of a baby in London causes Angela to believe that her Alice has finally been found. Angela is character who I respected a whole lot. Accused of her own babies disappearance, she never once gave up hope of finding Alice.

The next character Kate meets is Emma Simmonds nee
Massingham. Emma is a character who has a heavy cloud hanging over her head. She has been hiding a secret for a very long time. Nobody knows. Not her husband, not her best friend, not even her mother. After hearing about a baby being discovered in the neighborhood where she once lived, she goes into a panic. She starts counting the days until she must make a choice that could change everything. Emma is tough to handle at times because of her depression, her anxiety issues, and her past that is slowly revealed.

Readers know she has a secret. We know that the secret must be something really important for her to suddenly feel as though the world is closing in on her. What, though, is her secret? I actually felt for Emma after learning about her past. It is a shock that this sort if thing is kept in the dark, and not brought out into the light. Which brings us to Jude. Kate's encounter with Jude is barely tolerable. Jude is the wild card in this story. I will say this without fear of spoiling what happened in the story....I hated Jude.

I hated that she blamed Emma for all of her troubles with certain men, and ignored Emma when her mood and temperament seemed to change overnight. I hated Jude told her own daughter to get out of the house because she was in love with a man, and her own child was a pain in the ass. I have no respect for parents kick their kids out into the streets. When all is said and done, Jude's actions were irredeemable and reprehensible. The secrets that were exposed are really painful to read about, but necessary in understanding why certain choices were made.

This story is not fast paced by any means. It slowly burns chapter by chapter, character by character, & step by step as Kate works with others in trying to get to the bottom of who the baby really is, and why it was dumped where it was found. The question will always be asked in these sorts of stories: Will Kate's actions bring answers to the families involved, or cause further heart break, pain, and suffering? After all, not all reporters are as understanding as Kate was in putting the pieces together and working with the police to solve the mystery. I will say this in closing. The ending was bloody brilliant. I loved how this story is wrapped up, and the characters who are involved in doing so.

Took a littler while to get into this one. Overall, a solid 3 star. Full review to come.

This just wasn't for me. I first read Barton's first book, The Widow, when it came out and didn't care for it all that much, but I decided to give this one a try because of the hype but ended up not finishing. I just couldn't get into the story or connect with the characters.

The bundled up skeleton of a newborn baby is found at a London demolition site. As Kate Waters, reporter at The Daily Post, works to put the story together, she unearths a decades old mystery with three unsuspecting women at the heart of it. Angela gave birth to a baby girl forty years ago, kidnapped from her hospital room. Emma is house bound and struggles with anxiety, a result of a secrets she has kept buried. Jude, Emma's estranged mother, craves an improved relationship with her daughter but is unable to let go of her obsessions. What are their stories and how are these three women connected? But most importantly who is the 'Building Site Baby'?

What can I say, except that I loved The Child! Fiona Barton has created within its pages an intricately woven web of characters, each with their own trials and tribulations. Each hiding dark secrets. As the story came together, I found myself playing detective, jotting down notes, potential clues and constantly guessing, inferring the likely outcome. Did I have an inkling of what the twist would be? Yes, probably about halfway through when I mused to myself, "Hmm, wouldn't it be interesting if...", but it didn't take away one bit from my enjoyment of the story's progression and found the resolution to the mystery very satisfyingly written.

Not having read The Widow (no I haven't been living under a rock), Fiona Barton's debut novel, I was a little hesitant to read her next novel fearing some overlap and although I did come across a few references to it in The Child and the fact that Kate Waters is in both novels, I was happy to learn that the two can be read as stand alone. Needless to say, I have put a hold on The Widow at my local library!

The Child is a gripping, fast-paced addictive read; the first book in a while that kept me awake reading way past my bedtime! With complex, well developed and totally likeable characters, sharp, relevant dialogue and numerous twists and turns, The Child is one of this summer's best mystery thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Berkley Publishing Group for providing a digital advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I was able to guess where the book was headed pretty early, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying the story. I also enjoyed seeing Kate and Bob from Barton’s previous book, The Widow.

The story of The Child is told from the prospective of four different women, Kate, Angela, Emma and Jude.

The Skeleton of a baby is found on a building site. Who is the building site baby?

Angela thinks it is her baby girl Alice who was taken from her hospital room at a maternity hospital several years ago.

Emma thinks it is the baby that she gave birth to when she was a teenager. She hid her pregnancy from her mom and all her friends. She tried to tell her mom Jude but she didn’t want to hear the truth as it involved her boyfriend Will.

Jude chose not to believe her if she did then she would lose Will. Jude and Will threw Emma out when she was sixteen and she had to go live with her grandparents.

Kate, a reporter just wants a story for the paper she works for but once she meets Angela and Emma and hears their stories it becomes more than just a story for her. She wants to find out the truth for these two women who have come to touch her heart.

Whatever happened to baby Alice? Who took Alice? Whose baby was buried at the building site? Who would bury a baby like that and why? Come and join Kate on her quest to find the truth.

If you have not read The Child then let me suggest that you do. The Child is filled with lots of twist and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat wanting to know why, who and what? Why did they bury the child there? Who buried the child there? What is going to happen next?

Towards the end was a bit of a surprise and I was glad it went the way it did. Though out the story we are told through different points of views. The reporter Kate, Emma a young woman who is trying to go on with her life but yet seems to harbor a secret, her mother Jude who needs a man to love her, and Angela whose daughter was taken many years ago when she was a baby.
When a baby's skeleton is found on a building site secrets will become known, a family can possibly be able to put their child to rest, and someone will have to answer to what went on during the 70's and 80's.
Kate who is a reporter will stop at nothing to find the answers that need to be answered and it seems she is very good at job because she got more answers than the DI's did. The plot was steady for me and had me turning the pages to find out what was going on during that time period. The characters were well developed and I found myself getting the feels because of what Emma went through.
If you like thrillers and murder mysteries than pick up this book. This author has a way with pulling you into her world!

I may be the only mystery/thriller reader left on the planet who still hasn’t read Barton’s debut, The Widow. It’s been sitting on my nightstand for almost a year and I just haven’t had time to squeeze it in yet. I know that one received some mixed reviews, but that only piques my interest more and makes me want to read it for myself and form my own opinions. I think that this book will get similar reviews as well since my own feelings seem to be all over the place.

I love the premise of this, cold cases always grab my attention in books and this was no exception. Kate is a reporter and I like this type of POV as constantly reading from a police officers perspective can get a bit tedious. Besides her viewpoint, you also hear from Emma, Jude and Angela. Emma and Jude are a mother and daughter with a strained relationship and Angela is a woman who’s newborn baby was kidnapped from the hospital back in the seventies.

Multiple viewpoints are a device that always works well for me and it was well executed here. The chapters are really short and snappy so the POV switches quickly and often, but the overall pacing was sedate. This unusual combination actually worked rather well for me oddly enough. This was heavily character driven as you slowly learn about each woman’s past and what connects them all presently.

I have to admit that I did guess the big plot twist before it was revealed which is always a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, it was very well played, I think I just made a lucky guess that turned out to be correct. Barton is a gifted writer and there was something really addictive about this read, I just wish I hadn’t figured out the twist as early as I did, but overall this was an entertaining read that kept my attention throughout.

Forty plus years ago a newborn baby girl was stolen from a British hospital. Recently a newborn baby girl's skeleton was found at a demolition site. Is it possible these two infants are linked? That is the premise presented in Fiona Barton's latest psychological thriller The Child.

Kate Water is a journalist looking into the story behind the discovery of the skeletal remains of a newborn infant at a demolition site in metro London. The more she investigates into the remains found, the more she begins to think these remains just might be related to a missing newborn girl taken out of a hospital over forty years. While Kate delves into her investigation and the background of the missing girl's family, we are introduced to several other women that are impacted by the discovery of the skeletal remains: first there's Angela Irving, the mother of the missing infant; second is Emma Simmonds a former teen resident of the house where the body was found; and last, is Emma's mother, Judith "Jude" Massingham. Angela is positive the body is that of her missing daughter Alice. Emma is fearful that the police will be knocking on her door at any moment. Jude is sure the discovery has no impact on her life until her daughter begins to have another emotional breakdown. The story of all four women intersect until finally the answer of exactly who the building site baby was and how she got there is uncovered along with a host of secrets kept hidden for years.

I read and reviewed The Widow in 2016 and loved it, so when I was afforded the opportunity to read The Child I did not hesitate to shout YES! and it did not disappoint. Talk about a wild ride. The Child was fast-paced, engrossing and, yes I have to say it, suspenseful read up to the very end. Kate is an accomplished journalist and it was fascinating to travel along as she uncovered the truth behind this dumped baby. Emma is initially depicted as emotionally fragile and unreliable, but we quickly learn that although she may have some emotional problems she is anything but unreliable. Angela Irving has spent 40+ years grieving the loss of her infant daughter and feeling guilty for leaving her in a hospital room unsupervised. Again, she initially comes across as needy and fragile, but she is just as strong as both Kate and Emma. Jude, Emma's mother, is initially portrayed as this strong and independent single mother, but we learn that looks can be deceiving as she is the neediest and most fragile of the bunch. With the presentation of these four women, we learn that all is never quite how it appears. These women all have their strengths and weaknesses, as do all humans, but they persevere in the face of adversity and prejudice. The Child is much more than a story of a missing child and the discovery of skeletal remains, it's a story about relationships, family, and what we're willing to do for family. Sometimes the family is related by blood, sometimes the family may be our work family, and sometimes the family might be our friends, but when push comes to shove the strong stand by family. This is also a story about secrets. The secrets we keep from our friends, our parents, our spouses, and sometimes we tamp down so deep that we try to keep hidden from ourselves. I enjoyed the characters, the storylines, and the action. Ms. Barton crafts psychological suspense thrillers that truly live up to the name; just when I thought I knew where this story was headed, I was yanked off into a new direction and then back again. It wasn't until I hit about the 80% mark that I caught a hint of where the story was going and even with the confirmation it was still a bit of a shock (no, I won't tell you what happens, read the book!). If you read The Widow, then you know you'll want to read The Child. If you enjoy reading taut psychological thrillers or suspenseful reads, then you'll definitely want to read The Child. I highly recommend The Child and look forward to reading more from Ms. Barton in the future. (If you couldn't tell, I thoroughly enjoyed The Child and look forward to rereading it in the near future.)

Book review: 'The Child' is full of secrets, suspense
By SANDY MAHAFFEY FOR THE FREE LANCE–STAR

The Child
The “Building Site Baby” is at the center of Fiona Barton’s new novel, “The Child.” The remains of an infant are discovered at a local building site in London. A small article in the daily paper catches the eye of reporter Kate, who occasionally finds small articles to be great starting points for in-depth reporting. Who was the baby? How long has it been there? Whose baby is it? How did it get there? Common questions for such a discovery, but this turns out to be a very unusual and complicated story for Kate.

Hers is but one voice of four women who are the voices for alternating chapters. Emma is a troubled young woman married to an older gentleman. Something in her past is haunting her so that she barely even leaves the house, but stays home editing celebrity memoirs. Jude is Emma’s mother, who threw Emma out of the house at the age of 15, because Jude’s boyfriend didn’t like her. Needless to say, their relationship has been quite strained since then. The fourth voice is Angela, wife of Nick and mother to two grown children. Their first child was abducted from the hospital shortly after her birth, and she has never learned what happened to her or recovered from the grief and guilt she feels for leaving the baby alone in her room while she showered. Angela is convinced the baby found is theirs.


I had expected this to be a thriller, but don’t consider it one. It does have mystery components, but I found it to be a fascinating psychological character study. The four women are different and their individual ways of seeing the unfolding story are fascinating. The various threads of the plot interweave cleverly. The readers gets to know each woman through their short, well-written chapters while the plot unfolds.

Kate was sure there was a story, but had no idea of the histories and family secrets she would uncover. As she tracks down former residents of the area, she slowly peels away layers of clues. The many secrets, when revealed, make for a very satisfying read and some unexpected turns.

Sandy Mahaffey is the former Books editor at The Free Lance–Star.

THE CHILD
By Fiona Barton
(Berkley, $26, 384 pp.)
Publication: June 27

I have to say I really enjoyed the character who appeared in The Widow a lot in The Child. I'm not sure what it was but she ended up being my favorite character. She was so determined to find out the mystery behind the child's bones that were found. Plus I feel she is an enjoyable character to read about. She's so good at her job and always goes that extra mile to find out whatever she can to solve her story. Plus she's very good at getting people to trust her and open up to her. She always knows how to read people and I always enjoyed reading those interactions.

Of course in this story there was a character I absolutely hated and that was Jude. I could not stand her at all. I felt like every time I would read about her I ended up getting so pissed off. I am so happy the other characters balanced her out because if she ended up being the only point of view character I probably wouldn't have continued with this book. She was just a horrible person.

With that being said I do have to say I enjoyed the different point of views. I liked getting inside each character's head to understand what they're thinking and going through. It's always enjoyable and it's such a nice way to see how everything comes together. I know some people don't like that but I felt it ended up working nicely for the story. I feel it helped the story stay fresh and not get repetitive by only having insight from only one character. I do have to say at the beginning I was a little confused by who was who. As I continued to read and learned more about the story I knew who everyone one.

I do have to say I did not seeing the ending of the book coming. I do feel it's something I could have seen coming but I honestly I'm glad I didn't catch it because it makes the story more enjoyable. It was overall a really enjoyable story. I went through a lot of different emotions reading this book but I found it very enjoyable. I can't wait to see what Fiona comes out with next.

I read The Widow and it wasn't my favorite read but I wanted to give the author another chance.  I struggled through this book.  It took a while for me to read 50% of it and then I contemplated just counting this as a DNF book.  However, I did want to find out the solution to the situation.  

I was able to predict the ending though and that was disappointing to me.  I like to be completely thrown for a loop.  I will not be reading any more from this author in the future.  This isn't the type of thriller/ mystery I like.

“When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.” — Yevgeny Yevtushenko

'The Child's is a haunting and emotional character-driven suspense novel that also explores our modern-day obsession with 24/7 news.

Angela's newborn baby was kidnapped from her hospital room several decades earlier. The baby was never found. Angela and her husband Nick carried on after their devastating loss but Angela never fully recovered. When the bones of an infant are found at a construction site, she is sure the body is that of her long-gone Baby Alice.

Kate is a brilliant newspaper journalist who uncovers news stories the old-fashioned way: through leg work and research and determination. She was also featured in the author's previous book 'The Widow' which I am now going to read! I loved Kate's style. While this book started off just a tiny bit slow, it picked up the pace in the middle and thundered toward an unbelievably shocking conclusion.

"I’ve always thought that’s a funny saying. Let sleeping dogs lie. Because sleeping dogs always wake up eventually, don’t they?"

Emma is married to a university professor many years her senior. She is devastated by the news of the "Building Site Baby' but why? She has no apparent ties to Angela's family. Emma has had a difficult relationship with her mother Jude but it seems the two are trying to make peace with each other now that Emma is grown and married. But Emma has secrets of her own that will devastate everyone close to her when they are revealed.

The multiple points of view are executed brilliantly. Each narrator has their own unique voice and are each vital to the story.

'The Child' is an imaginative and surprising thriller. While the writing is filled with British slang and customs, that only added to my enjoyment of the story.

There are many twists and turns to this book and the ending was far more touching than I expected from what I though would be a suspense novel. The conclusion was enormously satisfying! Highly recommend this book for all thriller fans as well as anyone who loves a great story.

“People say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. They say that when you been through something terrible ... But it doesn't. It breaks your bones, leaving everything splintered and held together with grubby bandages and yellowing sticky tape. Creaking along the fault lines, Fragile and exhausting to hold together. Sometimes you wish it had killed you.”

The Child is a new mystery novel from Fiona Barton, author of The Widow. In this book, Kate, a newspaper journalist, thinks she has hit upon a potential story when she sees mention in the news that the skeleton of a baby was found at a building site. She begins to investigate and dig deeper into the story, attempting to find out the identity of the child. Through her investigations, she encounters three women: Angela, Emma, and Emma’s mother, Jude. The three women are each tied to the deceased child in different ways, and as the novel progresses, Kate slowly unravels the truth of what happened to the child and how it came to be found at the building site.

This is a fast-paced book, with short chapters told in the alternating perspectives of all four women. The twists and turns keep you constantly guessing as to the motives and trustworthiness of each of the women that Kate encounters, creating a tense, suspenseful feel. Several grisly secrets are discovered during the course of Kate’s investigation, and the histories of the women are slowly revealed. This was a quick, captivating read for me, and I found myself dying to know the ending. If you like crime mysteries with compelling characters and a fast-moving plot, pick this one up.

Just who is the "Building Site Baby"? The bones of a newborn found when tearing down old houses that had been there for while has everyone talking. Who's baby is it? How long has it been there? Journalist Kate Waters sees the bit post in a competing newspaper and decides that it would make a good human interest story. She decides to investigate it further and see what really happened to this baby and just who is this baby?

This synopsis made for a really good read. I had previously read "The Widow" by Fiona Barton and when I saw this one listed on Net Galley, I immediately hit request. I was very excited when my request was approved. And, after reading it, I think that Fiona's first book was much better, however, this one is not one to stay away from. I never saw the ending coming until way into the book which is always a pleasant surprise. An entertaining read that kept me wondering.

Huge thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This was my first Fiona Barton novel. It makes me want to check out the first one now. Great story, great writing, and it's a page turner. I wasn't a surprise ending to me, I had it figured out a while before, but it didn't stop me from enjoying it. I like that most of the characters were older (in my head I kept wanting to picture 20-somethings as I read. I had to consciously stop doing that. Maybe it is a result of having read so many novels with main characters that age.) Most characters were 40-something or 60-something. One thing lacking, I found, was more coverage of Kate's family life. The author kept touching on major issues there, but it didn't feel like it got the attention it needed, and definitely left me wondering if I should have read The Widow first, since Kate was in that (I believe that's what I read somewhere). Maybe reading it would have given me more insight to her marriage and relationship with her kids.

5 stars all the way! this was my 2nd Fiona Baryon book, I adored The Widow also. I'll be back soon with my full review.