This seems to be the second (possibly third) book in the series. I had no idea since it wasn't mentioned in the description or the title. The first book of the series, "Where She Lies" lets the reader know it's book one, but I can't tell how many books have come before "The Child Before" nor could I find it anywhere by researching. That being said, I could only get about half way through the book. It began well, with a mystery of a woman in 1954 and her missing baby. The time jumped back and forth to what I'm assuming is present day versus 1954. Kelly's Forge seems like an interesting place, and I'd love to know more about it. Unfortunately, Scanlon doesn't really go into that much which is disappointing.

After forcing myself to read 1/3 of the book, I pushed on, hoping it would get better, but I felt like there were a ton of different characters who I couldn't keep track of along with their thoughts and side stories. The book didn't "gel" for lack of a better work. It felt disjointed and the dialog seemed like it was forced through most of the conversations. Nothing was fluid and I had a hard time keeping up with what was going on. The scenes broke abruptly rather than seamlessly going to the next.

While the plot was interesting, it just wasn't enough for me to keep going. I'm only giving this two stars as opposed to one because I feel like with a TON of work, the book could be great. The plot fascinates me, but that was about all this book had going for it.