This book was both creepy and heartbreaking. Excellent debut novel

There will be some minor spoilers in this review, so be aware!

Being a survivor of sexual child abuse, like the main character in this novel, this is a subject that touches me profoundly whenever I read about it.
I did not know before starting the reading this would be the theme. Perhaps if I knew I'd not have requested the book but I understand that telling this on the blurb would spoil the reading for many. It is a difficult thing, to let your future readers know what the story is about without telling too much. I understand that.

That said, this is a terribly sad story. Not just due to the matter it deals with but the entire novel is quite depressing. There isn't a single uplifting event or character throughtou the reading and it can have a heavy effect on many readers, I imagine, hence another warning. It was hard for me to keep reading because it felt all so oppressive, so depressive, it is not for the faint of heart.

The abuse is treated with psychological delicacy, with respect in the approach and I got the feeling that the author either works in the area or has a lot of experience in it because it feels real. It feels maybe too real in some parts.

However, there was an amateurish feeling in the writing. I can't quite point exactly what gave me this impression but the fact is that I felt like reading an inspired student's attempt at a refined draft more than a published novel. I think the dialogues played a great part on that feeling; the therapist sounded better and more credible but the other dialogues, specially Fiona's, lacked something. That made me feel a bit disconnected from the characters and the story itself which is a shame. I respect the author for dealing with such a dark subject and for approaching it the way she did but in the end I don't think this was ready for publication. I think some other editing rounds could have polished it more and made this a 5 star novel. As it is the most I can give is 3.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Anna Quinn's novel took me on a path of pain and discovery. Quinn's main character, Nora, has a vision one day after her last English class leaves the classroom. She sees the face of a young girl hovering in front of her. This begins a story that grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. I used all of my own experiences in life to imagine why Nora would have a hallucination. My first thought was a brain tumor as that is a source of pain and grief in my family. I suppose that was my fear, but I couldn't square this with heavy emotional pain Nora seemed to carry with her.

Nora is a good teacher, an empathetic adult in a world of high school teenagers. Nora lives in Seattle with her husband, Paul, and their six-year-old daughter, Fiona. Nora's closest friend and supporter is John, her principal. He is one of the few people Nora trusts with her emotions and concerns. But her visions remain a secret that she tells no one. The girl's face appears again and then more frequently. Nora sees doctors and goes through a barrage of tests. I waited and read and kept reading.

Eventually, Nora must confide in John after her behavior changes in class and she is becoming worn down physically and emotionally with her secret. I understand the toll that keeping a secret has on people. Nora's secret is something she is cognitively aware of and must seek help from a psychiatrist. I hoped David, the doctor, could help Nora. I wanted her to get to the bottom of all her questions and fears. I wanted her to be healed so that she could be with her loving daughter and make a decision about her relationship with her husband.

I took this painful journey with Anna Quinn's character. I am impressed that this is a first novel, knowing it must have been extremely difficult to write. Often, this book was difficult to read. It was intense and filled with suspense, with bogeymen around every corner. If anyone wants to know what some people suffer in their lifetime and the price they must pay to save themselves, this is an important book to read. I recommend it unconditionally.

Thank you, NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Publish date January 30, 2018.

The Night Child leaps into action, with the protagonist, Nora, seeing an apparition of a little girl. Her mental state, marriage, and relationship with her daughter and brother head into a downward spiral as she comes to grips with memories of her horrifying past. The book's cover, title, and opening scene led me to believe it was a contemporary ghost story or paranormal fiction, and I debated abandoning it altogether. Within a few pages, I was sucked into Nora's story. While it is a page-turner, I would have liked to have gotten to know more about the kind of woman Nora was before her psychotic break. The ending of Night Child is subject to interpretation, which will make it popular with book clubs with members who are willing to explore topics of sexual abuse, suicide, mental illness, and alcoholism.

I am grateful to Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of The Night Child provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Suppressed memories made for a compelling novel. Will be an excellent book for book club discussions.

Wow what a debut novel by Anna Quinn! She really went there in this book! The Night Child is disturbing at time but had such a message of hope and resilience that was so wonderful. I can not wait to read more from Anna Quinn.
Nora is an English high school teacher and has a happy life in Seattle with her husband and young daughter. But one scary day in November a girl’s face appeared above the desk….yup a floating face!!! Nora is paralyzed by sheer terror of what she is “seeing”. She tires her hardest to shake it off but while on Thanksgiving break the face appears again. After that Nora meets with a neurologist and then a psychiatrist to see what is causing these “sightings” but she gets a lot more ….the secrets that is uncovered are unspeakable!
One paragraph was so hard to write as I didn’t want to give anything away…..but with saying that I feel I should give a little disclaimer….its dark and might container some triggers for some people.

I started this book on Monday night and read it whenever I had a minute at work yesterday, stayed up late last night to finish because I couldn't put it down!!

Nora is a high school English teacher, married for 15 years to Paul and they have a 6 year old daughter Fiona. Nora starts having hallucinations, of a girls face, the first time happening in her classroom. Over the next couple of weeks she has a couple more finally leading her to seek help. She ends up seeing a psychiatrist and over the next few months discovers some deeply hidden traumatic experiences she had while growing up.

I was not expecting the twists in this novel! You will have a hard time putting it down, you might as well just plan on losing a weekend over this one. Great debut novel! Can't wait for more from this talented author!

Nora, a high school AP English teacher, is eager to finish her last day of school before the Thanksgiving break so she can start her traditional holiday vacation by the Washington coast with her husband and daughter, Fiona. Just after she releases the class and is getting ready to go she hears a whisper and movement in the empty classroom. Suddenly she sees a child’s face with wild blue eyes appear floating in front of her. A moment later, the child’s face is gone.
Not sure whether she is dreaming or hallucinating Nora meets with neurologists and psychiatrists to help her determine what is going on. Through work with her doctors they discover that there is a very dark and deep secret that she has been hiding all these years, even from herself.
This book has a few trigger warnings for child abuse and sexual violence. I appreciate when I hear trigger warnings for a book, not because I am generally turned off by them, but because it allows me to prepare for the context of what I am about to experience and not be caught off guard. This book has fairly graphic depictions of both of the aforementioned warnings.
The Night Child is a well written and suspenseful debut novel by Anna Quinn. It is dark novel that is sad, disturbing, and hard to read at times, but Quinn did a really good job making it believable and not over the top.
The most impactful parts of the book for me were the flashback because they really make you understand what has happened to Nora, though they were the most difficult parts to read. I rated this book a 4.0/5.0 mostly because the ending seemed a bit abrupt and I found myself wanting a bit more.
The Night Child is a book that will stay on your mind long after you finish. I would recommend it and am looking forward to more from her in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the advanced copy.

This was a quick read (finished in one sitting), but memorable, nonetheless.

The Night Child by Anna Quinn was a heart-wrenching and tragic story. This book definitely needs a trigger warning.

Nora Brown is a High School English teacher. She has a young daughter and husband. Her life is generally normal and uneventful. Until one day, she's teaching her class and she sees a ghostly figure of a young girl in the window. She thinks she is completely going crazy and begins seeing a Psychiatrist. And thus begins a journey into Nora's fractured mind.

The best part about the book is Quinn's writing style. Not only is the writing beautiful and well-flowing, but Quinn's story-telling ability made the story so real. This subject matter is hard to read about but I flew through this book in just under 2 days. I really cared for Nora and liked her relationship with the psychiatrist.

Thank you to Anna Quinn, Blackstone Publishing, and Netgalley for the chance to read this novel in advance! I would highly recommend to people able to handle the subject matter.

For some women and men, sexual abuse as a child was/is a common practice. They can be abused by their husbands, boyfriends/girlfriends. family members, and people who are in authority relationships with the person. For Nora Brown, who feels her world is falling apart, can't understand why she is seeing visions of a young blue eyed child. She is a successful high school English teacher who starts to realize she is hallucinating. Thinking herself to be losing her mind, she finally seeks out help through a psychologist. Nora has an unsympathetic husband and a young daughter she adores. As her experience get more bizarre, she seems to be slipping further and further into insanity.

As the story continues we find out more and more of Nora's relationship with family members. She loves her father and seems to idolize him, but her mother is portrayed as physically abusive. Her brother and she share a care and concern for one another, and it is to him that she is finally able to find the love she searches for in a family setting.

Child abuse leaves emotional scars upon people as they grow and mature. Many repress the images, the times a person abused them, and carry it throughout their lives buried in the psyche. They become alcoholics, drug addicts, and oftentimes develop mental illnesses. How one feels about themselves grows directly from how you were treated as a child. For Nora, as these experiences of a mental breakdown continue, the truth of what happened to her comes to the surface through a second personality, a child named Margaret. As Nora is abused, Margaret helped her cope and comes to the surface in counseling sessions,

This was a sad and horrifying story of how sexual abuse of the young taints their lives, and in many cases destroys the life of a young person. Sad to think that this abuse, often hidden, goes on today.

While the author did write a compelling story, her actual writing at times was somewhat annoying with her repeating set phrases over and over. My issue with this novel was certainly not its content but in the way this author put it forward. Child abuse or abuse of any kind needs to be eradicated. The how to do so is the problem for as we have seen recently in the news from Hollywood, it goes on in all its insidious ways.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC of this book.

Excellent novel. The characters are believable and their emotions are raw. Well-written.

A story filled with marital turmoil, seeing things that MAY all be in your head, and a mystery of what's really happened in a past you can't remember? Sign me up!

While the themes in this book can be a little tough (i.e. sexual abuse, child abuse, etc.) the book does a great job of not glorifying the heinous acts and you can tell that the author took the time to be considerate of people's emotional capacity while reading.

For a debut novel, this one came out swinging and I LOVED it! Great job with writing in a way that grabbed my attention from the start and I can't wait to read more of your novels!

What a wonderful book. Life experiences remain with us, some forever and this was a beautifully told tale of one. Great debut!

A special thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nora Brown is a high school English teacher. She leads a low-key life in Seattle with her husband, Paul, and six-year old daughter, Fiona. After dismissing her class for Thanksgiving weekend, Nora sees the face of a young girl. She is filled with terror and confusion—is she hallucinating or could this be related to the headaches she has been having?

The next day while on vacation, Nora sees the face again and is left shaken and disturbed. She consults with a neurologist and eventually sees a psychiatrist to work through the visions and what they mean. Through these sessions, Quinn moves the narrative. We learn that Nora is the victim of a traumatic childhood and as a result has suffered a psychological breakdown. As the plot unravels so does Nora as she begins to fear that what happened to her could happen to her daughter. The character dissension is sharp and swift and Nora's husband—who has stepped out on their marriage—is less than supportive. He has completely checked out of the relationship and has little patience for her.

As stated, this book is not for the faint of heart—there is sexual violence, child abuse, death, mental illness, and suicide.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Before I launch into why I only gave this book three stars let me preface it by saying for being a debut novel the writing is exceptional. Anna Quinn is able to make you feel a certain emotion by using certain words or writing techniques and that is the tell of an excellent author. I would definitely read another book of hers. BUT this book is very dark and unlike most books with similar themes there is very little "light" in this book to give you a break from the heaviness of the plot. Even in the end you don't really feel any sense of resolution which leaves you feeling disturbed and emotional unsettled. I think this is one of those books you need to be prepared for before you read it.

Great debut but not for the faint of heart or anyone easily triggered.

This book was psychologically intriguing and ultimately very sad.

One normal day, everything changes for Nora. She sees a floating face, a little girl, who tells her to "remember the Valentine's Day dress". From there, Nora continues to see this girl and is forced to piece together her own past to explain this sudden appearance.

This book has a sense of dread, dragging you along into it's delicate story. Nora, a middle age teacher, looks up one day and sees a piercing pair of blue eyes. She's not sure if she's tired, losing her mind or if she's seen a ghost.

This isn't an easy story. There are very unsettling topics discussed, but the story glides along and shows the depth of childhood trauma and pain.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a tough read due to the graphic and descriptive abuse. It was a very good story and well written. It's difficult to say too much without giving the plot away. This is a real page turner albeit gut wrenching, at times.

This book was creepy and chilling which scores points with me. As I try to review this book I am realizing I cant say enough good things about it. This book was a book that made me lose sleep and trust me I like my sleep. Highly recommend