I gave "Playing Nice" five stars. The reality is it's probably a 4.5 star book, but because it was so different from every other thriller/mystery story I've read in the last three years I'm bumping it up.

JP Delaney tackles a new kind of story. He has great character development and keeps the reader in suspense until the final few pages. He does a good job leading us down one trail and then diverting us to another road. The book is cleverly written, keeps the reader entertained the entire trip, and never disappoints.

I congratulate JP for taking a suspense story into a whole new direction. He succeeds heartily.

I loved this book !!! The plot was moving - finding out your two-year old child was accidentally swapped with another baby in the nursery. Miles' character was a little over the top but the story moved so fast, I didn't mind. This is a quick read - you can't wait to see what happens next. I would definitely recommend this to my friends.,


Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy!!!

I am becoming a huge fan of JP Delaney. This was a fascinating look at sociopathic behavior and how easy it is to get caught up in someone who is really good at being nasty. The whole "switched at birth" storyline would have been more than enough to keep me engrossed in this book until the bitter end, but the extra twists and turns that were expertly interwoven in just created that much more intrigue and "couldn't put it down" -ness. Amazing character development for all four of the main characters, and again, with perfect pieces of personality traits I wasn't expecting to find, all the way to the very end. This book was a great example of being able to keep your readers completely hooked from beginning to end.

Playing Nice by JP Delaney is a terrific novel that revolves around two babies in the NICU at a hospital in England. The two mothers both give birth prematurely and then their babies are sent to another hospital that can meet the babies’ intense health needs. Both babies survive and go home with their parents. From their the drama intensifies. What happened to these babies when they were in the NICU? As the reader experiences the babies’ journeys along with their parents the story begins taking twists and turns. We’re the babies changed at birth and if so what was the motivation? Did the parents know that a switch occurred? Why would it take two years for this to be found out. ? Why would anyone want this to happen? What about the nature versus nurture concept and how it effects the two year old toddlers? The parents have vastly different personalities and their interactions are both interesting and, at times, a bit scary! I still had not figured out what exactly took place and what the motivation was until the very end of the novel! I do not give five star ratings very often. Play Nice definitely deserves to be five stars! I would like to thank Ballantine Book Publishers and netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! This is the story of Pete and Maddie and how their life gets flipped upside down when they discover that their child is not the biological son due to a mix-up in the hospital. My stomach was in knots while I read this! It was highly readable and tense all the way through. I've also read The Perfect Wife, Believe Me, and The Girl Before by the same author. All of them have been well written psychological thrillers. I expect to see this book a lot over the summer at the beach.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was able to read Playing Nice by JP Delaney for free from Netgalley for providing me with an advanced ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Most of us would do anything for our family, especially our children.  Imagine finding out your 2-year-old isn’t your biological child? That during an emergency in the NICU there was a mix-up at birth? Maddie and Pete face this dilemma.  In the beginning, everyone is playing nice as they attempt to work out an amicable arrangement.  Both sets of parents appear to want what’s best for the children.  Without giving too much, there are ulterior motives and not everything is as it seems.  How far would you go to protect YOUR child?To make matters more complicated, one family is wealthy while the other is not.   One family has a healthy child, while the other child has significant developmental delays.  Parenting styles are different and the age old question of nature vs nurture is explored.  As you read you are intrigued and you want to know Who to trust when everyone involved is keeping secrets?  You just need to read it, to know the ending! Ah, Don’t forget to read the author’s note in the afterword.

JP Delaney is another author (one of a very few) that can change the tone and plot of each subsequent book released and still amaze me.
Playing Nice has a simply devastating premise (which you can read in the books description). What if the someone shows up one day to claim your child as their own. As a parent that was once a very loved child, that is a situation of which nightmares are made.
This book is so well written, well paced and filled with characterizations that make me wish I had half the talent this writer has.
Will be recommending this highly to all my book reading friends! And I cannot wait for what JP Delaney does next.

I loved this story of two families whose children were switched at birth, but it was also really stressful! I will definitely keep reading and recommending this author!

I loved this book!! It is so good!! Read it...but it is best not knowing anything about it! Definitely put it on your radar! This book is not coming out until July, but get on the list, because you do not want to miss it!!

J.P.Delaney has written several psychological thrillers. I have read all of them, and this one is the best! I was impressed with how the story progressed and the style of writing. I don't really want to give anything away, so really...just read it!!

2.5 stars, rounded down!

Ugh, I am so disappointed this book turned out the way it did.

What an interesting concept - two children, switched at birth, the parents find out when their children are two. Do they swap back, or try to make it work? What's the right choice?

I mean commmmeeeeeeee onnnnnnnnn, this should have been awesome.

And I was really enjoying it at first. During that time, I kept thinking to myself, "ok so this really isn't a thriller, this is more of a contemporary fiction book, a story about two families dealing with this impossible situation."

BUT THEN...

At about 60% of the way through, the author decided to throw such a predictable twist in to make it a thriller that it just turned into a major eye-roll. So predictable and so disappointing that it turned into THAT.

This could have been such a great read, it was certainly thought-provoking until it went off the rails.

The saving grace is that the writing was good, the story just took a bad turn.

A big thanks to Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine/

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgally for review purposes.


Ooofff this book was a lot. I love books that really get under your skin and make you feel something when reading them and this definitely was one of those books. It made my skin crawl.

I've read all of J.P Delaneys books so I was fairly certain I had some idea of what I was getting into when this one started. It doesn't waste any time either, which I appreciate. It takes off fast and keeps the same pace the whole book.

All the characters had some type of issue that made me dislike them but overall the really bad ones stood out and made me so mad lmao. The whole plot was fantastic and up til the end I really loved it. Did it irritate me at times? Soo much. But overall this book held up for me...I've never disliked a book by this author so I'm excited for what's next.

Would highly recommend. If it gave me this reaction as someone without children I could see it really bad emotional for a parent.

I will read anything that JP Delaney writes and this one was great. It really kept me wondering and I love how he subtly reveals major plot lines.

They are done playing nice......I love that line! While this sounds like a well worn plot that has been done many, many times, it's really a knock your socks off original!!!! When two parents are notified that their son may have been switched at the hospital, they must quickly make decisions that would be considered heroic. Trying to form a reasonable relationship with the family of the switched baby becomes difficult when an overbearing father's demands become anything but reasonable.
This is a really good book. JP Delaney has built these families so well that you think you'd recognize them on the street. He has then set them into a community where even the best intentions are never going to make everybody happy. So when the lines are crossed and one couple decides there is more wrong with the story than just hospital error....well, you are just going to have to read the book for yourself!!!

Boy am I glad I started this early in the day so I wouldn’t be up all night FINDING OUT WHAT HAPPENS! It’s one of those books that sucks you in and doesn’t let go until finished. What an interesting dilemma and plot. Really enjoyed going back and forth between Maddie and Pete and understanding their actions in this drama.

A parents worse nightmare. Finding out the child you've been raising for the past two years was switched at birth with another child. After reading the premise I thought I pretty much knew how this story would play out, but boy was I wrong. This was so much more than just a simple switched at birth story! A terrific character driven story with more surprises than a pinata! I can't wait to recommend it Thank you so much!

This book plays with all your emotions. Toward the end I couldn't put it down. The beginning is great, but the suspense started getting to me and I had to know what happened. I recommend this book on the ease of reading and keeping your attention. I actually had to look up to see if it were a true story, it was so well written. Definitely check this one out!

I absolutely loved this book--one of the best I've read in a long time! All the characters are well developed and I love how the layers of Miles' personality are peeled back so gradually and expertly that you only slowly realize what's happening, at which point it all accelerates in a way that makes you not want to stop reading. The behavior of the one child, Theo, and his parents' interaction with him ring absolutely true and make the book even richer. I found I cared about (or, in one case, hated) each of the major characters and felt very invested in the outcome. This was such a wonderful, multi-faceted plot that the book never lost my attention. It also seems the author did exemplary research so that all the medical, psychological and legal discussions felt very authentic and were fascinating. I thought the information about psychopathic behavior was particularly illuminating in view of some national discussions, and found it interesting that the acknowledgment section mentions that the author was heavily influenced by what was happening in the political world at the time and expressed the hope that by the time the book was being read, the world had become a more settled place and that aspect would have less resonance. Since I read it just as the response to George Floyd's murder was accelerating, I was stricken by how that hope seems further away than ever. I've read several JP Delaney books and enjoyed them all, but this one was by far my favorite. Highly, highly recommended. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read the e-ARC of this wonderful book.

Playing nice is not something Miles Lambert has ever even tried to be good at. Mid-way through the book we will find out just how manipulating and forceful he can be.

Pete and Maggie have been raising a son, Theo, for two years, loving him, teaching him to learn and to “play nice” with his friends. Theo is a great little boy, energetic and intelligent but has been having trouble at nursery school with sharing and learning how to play with others. He was very premature and so there was a long period when Pete and Maggie had to stay in the hospital while Theo was in the NICU. This was very difficult for both of them, although Pete seemed to handle it very well. He quickly learned how to comfort and love Theo. Maggie had more problems, especially when Pete was away. They were just getting to feel confident in how things were going with their relationship and with their son.

It was “just an ordinary day in Willesden Green, north London” and Pete was dropping Theo off at his nursery school. Pete noticed a “ trio of people, a woman and two men, on the other side of the road watching us.” By their dress he assumed that they were possibly looking in the area for child care sites. Back home while Pete was making some coffee and spending time online with fellow “stay at home dads”, the doorbell rang.

This would be the changing point of the entire book and the story of two sets of parents and two little boys who it becomes known were allegedly switched at birth. Miles Lambert is the person on Pete’s doorstep and he has come to tell him that Theo is actually his son and that Pete’s son has been living with Miles and his wife Lucy. There is a third person involved, Don Maguire, the Lambert’s lawyer, because they have already begun proceedings to sue the hospital for the mix-up and had taken a cup used by Theo and tested his DNA, he is definitely Miles’ son.

What begins as a “civil” decision to make it possible for the parents and children to get to know each other quickly escalates into an impossible situation.

Miles Lambert will settle for only one thing, getting Theo back. He begins to show up at Pete’s house at all hours insisting on seeing Theo. He gives him gifts which are usually inappropriate and even goes so far as to offer up a scholarship to the college he attended.

Lucy and Maggie quickly become concerned at what will happen next. Lucy knows how volatile and demanding Miles is and Maggie has her own way of “reading” him and knows that the solution to this situation will not be an easy one.

This is the third book I have read by this author and definitely my favorite. I enjoyed the character development and how the atmosphere in the book changed from amicable to diabolical by the end of the book. What really wrapped this up for me was the great ending, of which I won’t speak a word!!

If you enjoy a great character driven thriller, this is the book for you. This novel will publish on July 28,2020.

I will post review to Amazon upon publication

So the swapped baby cliche story is not so cliche this time. Pete and his partner Maddie have an adorable and precocious (get into everything) son named Theo. Pete is a stay at home dad after his job as a freelance reporter disappears. Miles and Lucy Lambert are the wealthy parents of little David, not precocious, in fact barely aware of his surroundings. When Miles insists that the children were switched at birth at the NHS hospital, Pete can’t believe it, until they visit the Lamberts and meet David. Thus, the couples form an alliance against the evil hospital that gave them the wrong children. Unfortunately, all is not as it seems and it may not be the hospital that is the evil entity here. Pete and Maddie may not be a traditional family, but they will have to unite in order to defeat the evil that they have welcomed into their lives, unsuspecting of how nefarious the Lamberts may actually be. I loved the spider web feeling of this book. The deeper I got into the plot, the more intricate it became, with layer upon layer of deception. The characters were no one that I would want to meet, ever, except maybe Pete, who seemed to be a happy-go-lucky man who just wanted the best for his son. But even Pete, I kept waiting for another shoe to drop and for me to find out something dark about him, too. Starting as a slow pace, the pace picked up quickly for me and this book was a thoroughly enjoyable psychological thriller. Fans of Delaney and thrillers will enjoy this book, but be prepared for some really unexpected twists.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

What a book! It’s been a long time since I’ve finished a book in just 1-2 sittings. Theo and David were swapped at birth. No one knows what exactly happened, but initially, it seems that the two sets of parents may be able to work out an amicable situation. But that’s only until the masks come off and it’s time to stop playing nice...

I’ve read JP Delaney’s books before, but this one is my favorite by far for the plot, writing, and the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.