I started this book with an open mind and I knew going in it would a little bit twisted. Oh my word. There were points that I didn't want to keep reading because I knew something bad would happen but I had to keep reading. It was a love hate with the story. I liked it overall and it sucked me in but there were times when Christopher was the most annoying character and I couldn't believe how he acted. I thought they would send Janie somewhere sooner but they kind of had this laissez faire attitude about her. I don't know she was a twisted child and at some points I was speechless. I would have given it four stars but the end didn't feel like an end. It was abrupt and just there.

"What the *&%$#!?" That's what I yelled out loud when I finished this book. Oof. ..where to begin? First of all, I hate contrivance and stupid characters for the sake of making a plot work, and this book has both in spades. Christopher has to be one of the dumbest characters I've ever encountered in a book, and he was maddening. I hated the route they ended up taking Hannah's character. Piper was all over the place. The book was way too long for the plot we got, and would have been tighter and more believable if it were shorter. And be forwarned: the book ends with nary a resolution to everything that came before it. Like, it just ends and

Did you want new to finish that sentence? I can't be bothered, like the author couldn't be bothered to finish this book. This only gets two stars because of the ridiculousness Janie serves up. But that's it. Never reading another book by this author again.

The plot, characters and writing were very good but what a dark and depressing story.

Chris and Hannah were an interesting and likable couple at the beginning of the story. As things progressed I found my opinions changing. Chris’ blind eye was part ignorance part ego. Hannah was too trusting and too passive. Even as the situation grew dire neither one of them could get out of their own way.

The way the story is told you know things are going to end badly it’s just the how and who that need to be supplied. Along the way there are some twists but a fair amount of repetition too. Then, with minutes to spare, things unfold. Except they don’t. We learn the reason behind the investigation and other things... and then nothing.

What’s going to happen? Not sure? What was the message I’m supposed to take from this? Again, not sure? The system’s broken? Some people are beyond repair?

I rolled through this quickly. I did find it interesting. I didn’t love the ending but understand that maybe this topic is too complicated to wrap up in a neat bow. I would read more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Thomas & Mercer for a copy in exchange for a review.

The book was particularly difficult to read, and I believe it isn't a book for all. There were instances of child abuse, animal abuse, as well as psychological abuse - all written in such a heartbreaking and riveting way. It made me shocked and kept me at the edge of my seat. Certain instances made me flinch and certain scenes made me want to gag. All these scenes if abuse were so perfectly written, it felt as if out of one's own experience.

The author did a marvellous job in keeping the suspense of the story intact. There was the right amount of thrill and mystery that is enough to keep the reader guessing till the end. Everything was entwined very well in the book. It was crazy, intense and haunting!

What irritated me the most was the ending of the book. It ended so abruptly, without any further explanation. It was almost like the author had forgotten to complete the book and submitted the half written manuscript. I think we needed another chapter or two, some sort of closure. Or maybe an epilogue.

Overall, this book was highly enjoyable and no doubt, an extremely well written book that deals easily with difficult topics. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good thriller and is not a weak hearted one but the abuse scenes in the book might make a lot of readers uncomfortable.

Thanks to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lucinda Berry doesn't not hold back and I like that. She Is a brave and direct author and Is not afraid to explore dark themes. It's just that I couldn't believe it understand so many of the way the characters were acting. The husband was so unbelievable obnoxious and stubborn and one of my most hated characters of all time. I hated the justified abuse. But on the other hand this books like all of the books the thriller books that I read from Lucinda make me to look up for the issues that she Is exploring in their stories and even kind of accurate to reality ( I mean this one was on the extreme though) but still I think the ending was just not right I thought it was going to be a sequel. I will continue to read More about Lucinda because I like her writing but the story dragged a little to my personal taste so this was not one of my favorites.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of this book!

Throughout reading this, several times I was thinking that I would give it 4 stars. It really had a great creep factor and this underlying sense of dread, not knowing what level of craziness was going to happen next. I liked the way everything slowly and subtly unfolded, going from bad to worse in an almost imperceptible way. Like you could see how so many things were rationalized until it was out of control crazy.

However, the parents in the whole book just drove me crazy. Especially the father Christopher. He acted so unreasonably and unrealistically throughout. He refused to listen to his wife and unexplainably kept taking the crazy child's side no matter how crazy her actions were. Also, there were never really any surprises or mysteries. It was creepy and crazy throughout but you pretty much could figure out everything that was going to happen.

So I kept going back and forth between these two opinions, 4 or 3 stars, until I got to the ending which solidly pushed me into 3 stars. It just ends SO abruptly, more like the end of a chapter instead of a book. I definitely don't mind open endings when there's a reason, but to me it seems like one more chapter would have tied a nice tidy bow on this story instead of being so abrupt. It was unnecessary and left me feeling unsatisfied for no reason.

Overall a really creepy and interesting story with some super cringeworthy moments, but nothing spectacular. Glad I read it, but it's nothing to rave over.

Well written & working at a children’s home & finding out how abused children act & can manipulate really hit home.
Christopher & Hannah seem like the perfect couple, all that’s missing is a child in their lives. After IVF & miscarriages, the next step is adoption. First thoughts were of overseas but when little Janie comes into the hospital & bloody & battered. Christopher instantly falls in love with this strong, sweet young child. At first everyone believes that she’s a toddler but come to find out that she’s six years old.

This story tells of how something that started out as a possibility & positive turns into something dark & chilling. While reading, you even get a sense that something’s not quite all right & to see how things turn out in the end...

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry is definitely disturbing. When an abandoned child is found in a parking lot and brought to the hospital where Christopher and Hannah work, the childless couple decide to become foster parents. Based on her size, the hospital staff originally thought Janie was a toddler, but the growth plates of her bones reveal that she's a brutally abused and malnourished six year old.



I was hoping for a chilling read along the lines of Baby Teeth, but I didn't care for this book at all. It keeps you at a distance from the characters (kind of like a badly written true crime drama) and I spent most of the time wanting to strangle both Christopher and Hannah who seemed to think that proper parenting would solve all of Janie's problems. They refuse to tell the parents of her peers about her past because that will excuse her actions...but with the way she's described in the first few pages of the book how could you not explain? Other parents are going to question her size, or her scars. It seems that one surgery fixed all of Janie's old bone breaks and physical problems (even though that surgery was on her elbow.) They never should have left her alone with a kitten, because you don't send a normal young child off to take care of her new pet without any supervision and Janie definitely isn't a normal young child.



I was honestly shocked when I read the author's bio at the end and learned that Lucinda Berry is a researcher in child trauma. The book felt completely unrealistic to me. I read it as a parent with absolutely no experience in the field, but the world does not end when a kid deliberately knocks paper towels off of the shelf at Target. Hannah wasn't equipped to deal with even that.

Wow! One of the best thrillers I’ve read in a while. I hated the character of Christopher and how blind and unsupportive of his wife he was. But I felt so connected with Hannah - I think most moms can relate to many of her struggles coping with a new baby and post-partum hormones. I wish the ending had given just a bit more. I don’t need an ending wrapped up with a bow but a few more details would’ve been nice. Overall, I couldn’t put this down and enjoyed it from start to finish. While the novel touches on some dark issues (child and animal abuse) it doesn’t do so in a way that is graphic, which I appreciated.

A well-written psychological thriller. 4 stars!


Trigger warning: child and animal abuse.

This was a well thought-out, very well-written thriller about a new family. I do wish the issues had been worked out a bit more, I felt like the resolution happened too fast and some things weren't explained enough.

Despite that, I enjoyed this read and would recommend it to others. I'm excited to pick up another book by this author!

Would recommend for: Just thriller readers in general, especially if you like stories involving scary children, lol!

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry is an intense, powerful, and deeply disturbing story and, liking bearing witness to a car accident, I simply could not look away. This novel is unsettling, yes, but undeniably addictive.

Christopher and Hannah Bauer, a surgeon and nurse, respectively, are a married couple who have long struggled with infertility. When a severely abused and damaged child arrives at the hospital in the form of six year old Janie, it seems that all of the stars have aligned. They will take Janie home, with a view to becoming her adoptive parents. The Bauers are advised that Janie is suffering the effects of child abuse syndrome, yet she will test the couple in ways that they could never have imagined. As Janie's shocking behaviour continues to escalate, Hannah is further frustrated by Christopher's blind love of the child, and his total unwillingness to hold her accountable for her actions.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Hannah, Christopher, and social worker Piper Goldstein, whose accounting of events is given while under interrogation by police, this is a fast-paced and suspenseful look at a family pushed to the brink. I could not turn the pages fast enough to discover what fresh hell would transpire next. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this fantastic ARC.

That ending. Enjoyed this book at first it was s bit familiar as if I had read it before but then I got into it & was totally different. First book I’ve read by the author & will look out for more would recommend this to anyone.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher and author for providing me with the ARC for my unbiased review

its hard to say this book was enjoyable as it was so very disturbing but i kept me reading and i was desperate to fond out what would happen, and it left me wanting more in a bad way as i felt it ended so abruptly!!

Are you joking! What the hell kind of ending was that?! *insert crying face* What a fantastic read. They really felt like the "perfect" couple. Reading to have children of their own, only to bite off a little more than they could chew. Had a very authentic feel to it, which after learning about the others other job, now makes sense. I'm not going to lie, I find stories where the author has that experience a tad more believable. It was a very riveting read, with a few twists I didn't see coming. That end though... I don't know whether I love or hate it *laughing* I do know that I didn't want it to end!!

A very disturbing story about adoption. It is told from the perspective of the social worker, adoptive father and mother, A story that makes you question genetics versus environment as to what makes us who we are and how we react to certain situations. When does a person become a psychopath or loose the ability to have emotions or to love? When does the love of a parent blinds one to the behavior of a child.?

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas and Mercer and the author Lucinda Berry for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

I found this book quite disturbing. The child Janie was scary and hard to like. The husband seemed rather naive and ridiculous always taking the child's side over his wifes. I found the animal abuse unsettling and whilst I know that this is often a feature in severely disturbed children's behaviour i really don't like to read about it.
I would say that this is a dark tale which probably is very close to the truth and as a parent was quite upsetting. As others have mentioned the ending was rather abrupt - I must admit to scrolling on thinking "that cannot possibly be the end??"

At first, this story seemed familiar - like a book I had previously read or a tv show. I don't know how the book ended though. When an author includes animal abuse and killing, I'm done. I won't be recommending this book.

Told in three perspectives, husband and wife Christopher and Hannah have experienced infertility and are looking toward adoption; and their social worker Piper. All had the best intentions when young Janie arrives in the hospital severely neglected and abused, her mother murdered. Of course it seems like a perfect fit that the surgeon and his nurse wife would take in this child but life is anything but ideal. This is a dark and disturbing tale which is unfortunately true-to-life. We are left to conclude who killed Janie's mother and the end does drop abruptly. In hindsight, it would seem that this is also true to life as how do you pick up after this?

Shockingly Disturbing ⚠️ ⚠️

A special thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

In a nutshell... A surgeon (Christopher) and his wife (Hannah), who are unable to have children, adopt an abandoned, severely disturbed child brought to the hospital where they both work. They, of course, don’t know just how disturbed the child is. Oops, they’re parents now! Things spiral out of control, and we see this once happy and loving couple utterly destroyed by that decision. A horrifying story that kept me reading. A lot of unresolved situations and a terribly unsatisfying ending. The book just...ends.

Warning: This book is disturbing!

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this arc early.

This book reminded me of “baby teeth”. Which isn’t a bad thing.
The basis of this book is about the couples desire to have a child and then the manipulative child herself. There’s suspense no doubt. I knew I’d like this book when I read the blurb. And I wasn’t wrong. Unique storyline. Interesting characters. And a twist! Get the book.