Well written but I really struggled with this book. Some good twists but overall, not for me - sorry

A little hard to get into and definitely a bit too long. I didn’t see coming some of the twists but didn’t enjoy as much as I thought. No match to Room

This took me a while to get into - I think becasue it jumped around a little and the characters were new to me but I was gripped with confusion over who was who and what had happened. The daughter is an amazing character, who really makes this story so different to others that a similar theme. my heart really went out to the parents and their longing for their daughter to come home safe - and although I didnt like some things the characters did I wasnt judging them for it.

Dear Child was a beautifully written novel that for whatever reason didn't work for me.

Maybe it's due to having read a few similar stories recently, women kept in the woods, a child who has an isolated life at the hands of a father who imprisons the mother- I didn't really feel that this added anything to that theme and I personally found it all quite predictable. 

There is however a lot to recommend it to if this is the kind of novel you love. Hannah, the young girl, has a strong resonant voice and an intriguing way of looking at the world. As I said there is also some quality writing so it wasn't entirely a bad read.

Overall I think this should do very well and is certainly worth a look- it just wasn't quite for me.

A shocking story centred around an abduction and the trauma of those affected. Hausmann has a gripping and intriguing style of writing, with well-developed characters and plenty of twists and turns along the way.

The novel focuses on three characters and I particularly enjoyed how each had a different view of the events and were all affected differently.

However, I did feel the story stalled a little in the middle which caused me to lose interest slightly. Overall, an enjoyable read with a satisfying conclusion.

Thanks to Quercus and Netgalley for the ARC.

The first half of this book was great, engaging and interesting but then it changed tone and I found myself flipping backwards and forwards to re-read sections to understand what was happening.
A young woman and her daughter are taken to hospital via ambulance after escaping from a cabin in the woods where they have been being held captive for the past 4 months. However everything is not as it seems.
The plot was interesting and I felt connected to the characters. Overall I enjoyed the storyline and enjoyed the ending.

Dear Child by Romy Hausmann a chilling five-star read. This is a compelling and chilling story, I finished it a couple of days ago and it has taken me a while to gather what I want to write, and I still don’t know what to put. It’s a story that will challenge you, the author does a great job of showing us the side of childhood trauma that you don’t often see. I also liked how the author used multiple points of view to portray the story, we get to hear their story. If you have nails before this story, you may not have any after as you will be kept on the edge of your seat, as this is a nail-biting story. It has some parts that need a polish, but when you realise this is a debut novel it makes you realise just how good the writing is.

A fantastic start to this novel which had me gripped but sadly it started to meander and lost my interest a third of the way through. However I do feel that this would make a wonderful, taut movie. And more a case of it isn’t you but me.

This is a shocking and gripping story of abduction and captivity which centres on the trauma of those immediately involved - the ‘mother’ and the children but also of those who lost their loved ones.

The author explores the outcome through 3 voices - Matthias (the father of Lena), Jasmin (who escaped) and Hannah (the daughter). Each suffers and are marked differently from the experience. We also follow the police process as the two detectives try to pierce together what happened in the cabin.

The book had a good gripping plot with twists and turns I did not expect.

Thankyou to Quercus and Netgalley for an early copy of Dear Child!

This was great, I really enjoyed it. From the first few pages I was gripped— which is always something you want when you start a new book. I felt that the characters were well-drawn out and the book overall was extremely entertaining and well-written. Would definitely recommend and read more from this author in the future!

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'Dear Child'. From the very beginning, the story had me intrigued and kept me interested as it unfolded. Unfortunately, real-life abductions like this have come to light over the last decade or so - fortunately, this is a work of fiction! Well written and recommended.

A well written book which draws the reader in and keeps the interest right up to the unforeseen end. The story is told between three main characters, Jasmin, Hannah and Mathias and is quite horrifying in how control can breed acceptance. The story has a great many twists and turns, it captivates as well as makes one reflect on the dark horror of human nature when it tries to capture, protect and control. The book flows well and develops pulling the reader in in true thriller style with a lot of mystery which cannot be predicted.

This book has drawn a lot of comparisons to Room, because it’s a story about a woman, Lena, and two children, Hannah and Jonathan, held captive in a windowless shack by a man. But for me it was a very different story. As well as the perspective of one of the children, born and raised in captivity in the middle of a remote wood, we hear from Lena herself and Lena’s father, who has been searching for his daughter since she went missing 14 years before.

The story opens with Lena in hospital, having managed to attack her captor and escape, only to be hit by a car. Hannah is with her, and as the police try to piece together what has happened, it seems that none of the pieces fit. Lena doesn’t seem to be who she says she is, the situation they find when they eventually locate the cabin doesn’t match up with her story, and Hannah’s behaviour is deeply puzzling.

The characters are well drawn and compelling, and the author’s depiction of the impact of trauma is powerful.

Very clever and very well written!! Fully enjoyed this one and was read in one sitting!! Cannot wait to read more from this author !!

I wasn't sure what to expect with Dear Child initially, but it certainly kept me interested. The book dips between three main characters, each who have been very differently affected by the main storyline, The fact that all three of these characters are unreliable really adds to the intrigue of the story, you simply don't know who to trust. I would have been more interested to read more about life in the 'cabin' but overall it was a well-written story with lots of mystery to keep you on your toes.

Well that was a great surprise!! I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. This is what I call a gripping psychological thriller that will definitely leave you on the edge of your seat!

Without giving too much away, the story centres around Lena Beck, a Munich student, going missing after a party fourteen years ago - she basically disappears into thin air. Roll on to the current day, we meet her captor and their two children (Hannah and Jonathan) who have been locked up for all their lives in a cabin with no windows in the middle of nowhere. They don’t seem bothered because that is all they know. There lives are run according to their father’s schedule and they cannot deviate from that or there will be consequences.

The story is told from a few viewpoints including Hannah’s and Lena’s father Mathias.

There are so many twists and turns in this book and while I generally guess with other thrillers – I never saw any of them coming. The author is skilled at leaving the reader hanging at the end of each paragraph. There were a few dark and disturbing moments in this book, so readers beware.

Dear Child, Romy Hausmann

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Mystery and Thrillers,

Well, I didn't know what to expect but was seduced in by the description. I just had to know how things played out.

It was one of those reads where just as I thought I'd got things worked out another facet was thrown in to the mix. It was very complex, very multi dimensional.
It felt very real, I could feel Lena's horror, feel the anguish Lena's parents felt, understand why her dad was so angry. Yet I also got annoyed at him when he kept charging in, on an “ I know best, somebody needs to do something” I guess any loving parent in their situation would get frustrated at what they see as lack of progress.

I could feel Lena's terror, both in the cabin, when she realised just how dire her situation was, and when she escaped. You'd think relief would come from being home, but of course she's got some real PTSD issues going on. She really was in a bad place.
Then there's the children – how on earth do kids ever recover from something like this? On the face of it Hannah seems to have adjusted better, although she's a little strange she is very intelligent, and that caught me out. At the end we could see just how programmed to ignore horror she had become, even when it was right in front of her.
I just wondered what would happen to her, would she ever get past the things she'd seen? I loved seeing so much from her POV, her thoughts, her complex explanations for every little thing, the way she cited statistics and facts so thoroughly, the way everything is black and white to her, her complete obedience, devotion and acceptance of everything Papa said. I felt she'd woven a world in her head that overlapped the real world and she genuinely found it hard to tell what was real. I loved when she talked about whispers – how she described her speech and mouse voice, or when she's really insistent, the Lion voice. I could visualise her doing that. I felt Lena did so much to try to make these poor kids lives happy. I'd say normal, but that was impossible.
I guess what I had in my mind was that terrible story a few years back where some poor girl had been kept like that for 24 years, and she and the kids she had were living underground all that while. I remember then thinking how on earth can anyone pick up life after that? The characters in this book felt real to me and made me have the same feelings, wondering what kind of life they would/could lead after their escape.

Stars: five, a fantastic read, riveting and gave me much to think about.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

Well written and intriguing this was a different style of book. I did find it very difficult to get into unfortunately.

I’ve wanted to read this book for a while and am so glad I did. Incredibly dark, eerie and twisted, the story is bleak and somewhat sad, while also being fresh and utterly gripping throughout. It’s one of those books you can see being made into a movie.

The most compelling thing about the book is how incredibly well-drawn the characters are. The author gets right into the mind and the psychology of both the victim and the perpetrator, as well as does a fascinating job exploring the story from the point of view of Hannah, a child affected by the story.

Much like with Room, the author gives such a beautiful, realistic voice to this child, and I found myself drawn to Hannah’s chapters more than some of the others, as they could get a little over-worked, frantic and confusing at times.

Haunting, atmospheric and sinister, I was gripped from the first page and recommend to readers who like dark thrillers like Room.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Dear Child by Romy Hausmann is an addictive thriller that I read in 2 sittings.
Lena Beck from Munich went to out on a Tuesday night to a student party until 5am. Whilst she was out, she phoned a friend but, after that Lena was never seen again. The police searched everywhere but, she was never found.
Thirteen years later her father got a phone call to say that a woman has been found with Lena’s description but when he gets there it’s not her. But the little girl Hannah who is with her is the splitting image of his daughter Lena. Her father never gave up looking for his daughter and hopes that she is still alive. As the story unfolds, they find that who this woman is and how she escaped going back in time to decipher what happened to Lena. Is she alive or dead?
Dear child is not your normal kidnapped, abductor scenario. It is quite a creepy eerie thriller. Especially the character Hannah, she seems to be very bright but, does not have much feeling for anything. This is cleverly written with lots of turns that kept me at the edge of my seat and a surprising twist at the end that I didn’t see coming.
Thank you NetGalley and Quercus for a copy of this book for an honest review.