4.5 Stars: It has been a looooong time since I was scared to read a book at nighttime, but this book did just that. A story ripped from the headlines, a young woman is 'found' after having gone missing twelve years ago, allegedly kept in captivity along with her two children. But this dark psychological thriller has much more in store for its readers, with a grief-twisted father, a deeply disturbed child, and the victim herself telling the story. Don't even try guessing where this story leads as the rabbit hole is long and twisted, and made me want to lock all my doors as I read the final fifty pages. This debut novel has changed my negative perspective on thrillers; Hausmann does far more than look for a quick twist - she uses brilliant mind games with her readers to keep us obsessively turning pages. I will be on the lookout for her next translated novel. Thanks to Net Galley for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A very good abduction thriller, if that is possibly something to be good at. The synopsis of the book accurately sums up the premise so I won't bother to repeat it here, but I will recommend going into this book blind for the best experience. Being held hostage is one of my ultimate fears (plus intruders into my apartment... which this book also delivers), so this book really disturbed me. It's hard not to imagine the ways you would try to escape... or assimilate. There were a few little plot details that bothered me or felt unfinished, but it does wrap itself up with a satisfying ending. Not sure how memorable of a read this will be in a couple years, but it was fun for the time being!

READ THIS BOOK!

I could not put this book down. There were so many hooks and things that I wanted to know more about and find out what happened. I stayed up until 3am on a Sunday to finish it!

I put off reading "Room" for years because I didn't think I could handle it. Then I said that "Room", being told from the perspective of a child, who didn't know any other life was the absolute only way that story could be told. But this way worked so well too. This story is told from the perspective of a child and a woman who were both held captive by a madman who loved the child and used the woman.

This is the story of Lena, who was abducted 13 years earlier. It's the story of her father who never gave up on finding her. It's the story of her daughter, Hannah, who doesn't know anything but the cabin and thinks her father is God. This story is incredible and without giving anything away, I will say there are twists and turns and things you just NEED to know and understand so you can not put this book down.

Amazing story with several twists and turns. DEAR CHILD takes a familiar concept and turns it on its head at every angle. I loved it.

When I saw this book described as "Gone Girl meets Room" I immediately requested it, as those have been two of my all time favorite thrillers. Dear Child takes place in a windowless shack in the woods, and revolves around Lena and her two children. The three of them are basically held captive in the shack, as Lena's husband and the children's father "protects" them from the outside world. Their days are controlled by him, as he tells them when they can eat meals, shower, and even go to the bathroom. One day, Lena manages to flee, and is also able to rescue the two children, Jonathan and Hannah. But this isn't the end of their story. Not only do the characters have to adjust to life after captivity, but it would seem that their tormentor is still after them. This novel was told in a few different perspectives: Lena, Hannah, and Mathias (Lena's father). Lena and Hannah's perspectives definitely took center stage for me, as they described their captive lives and emotions. Dear Child is extremely dark and disturbing and twisted. As I was reading the story, I felt like I had to know what was going to happen next. There were a few loose ends that I didn't feel were ever resolved, which left me wondering if this was an issue with the translation or the actual writing. I have to admit that the ending did leave me scratching my head a little bit, and there were a few things that I felt like the author did not offer an explanation for. As a reader, I did have questions as the end of the book, and I found myself going back and re-reading a few parts to see if I had maybe missed something. I have seen a few other reviews express this sentiment, so perhaps I am not the only one who felt this way. Overall, though, I felt like this was a solid debut and I would definitely pick up another book from this author in the future. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this digital copy of the book. I will post my review on Instagram @readingmama_reviews in the upcoming week. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 out of 5 stars.

Romy Hausmann's Dear Child is an utterly thrilling, truly creepy that had me staying up way past my bedtime to finish (the first time in a long time!). Reminiscent of Room, the novel starts with the escape of a mother and child who were kept in captivity for an extended period of time. However, that is where the similarities ended for me. Dear Child has multiple perspectives and while it starts out deceptively simple (terrible in it's nature but simple in the scope of the crime), Hausmann take the reader on a completely suspenseful ride and unravels the nature of this crime in spine-tingling and heavy breathing terror. Nothing is as it seems and Hausmann truly has you questioning humanity.

For me, the mood of Dear Child was very reminiscent of a Criminal Minds episode. The crime is complex and I found myself wishing it was the BAU solving this abduction because it seemed like the German police needed fresh eyes. I can't talk too much about this book because the entire thing is SPOILERS - just read it! Hausmann's writing is compelling and you can tell her TV background prepared her for the brilliant pacing and suspense of this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest review.

Told from a number of different points of view, Dear Child is a twisty, suspenseful page-turner that it's well nigh impossible to say much about without spoiling the experience for potential readers. It features many of the elements you expect to find in the psychological thriller genre whilst still seeming fresh and original. This is especially the case with one of the narrators whose voice combines both innocence and a slightly chilling precision.

The storyline encompasses abduction, imprisonment and coercive control but the author chooses to major on the psychological impact of their experiences on those involved. For example, the strains on the relationship of husband and wife, Matthias and Karin, caused by the disappearance of their daughter, Lena, many years ago. It's not just the despair they endure at not knowing what happened to her, or the false hopes that come to nothing but the effect of press intrusion and speculation.

Dear Child is one of those books where you can try to work out the final destination or just sit back and experience the literary equivalent of a mystery ride. In the end, I chose the latter and for a lot of the time I could certainly identify with one of the characters when they observe, "I try to arrange the pieces, but the meaning defeats me". As with a jigsaw, there's always a sense of satisfaction when the final piece is put in place.

After reading this debut novel, I look forward to more books by Romy Hausmann. The topic of the novel is how our genes and our experiences shape our reactions to being held captive. Translated from German, this is the story of Lena and her two children who have been held in a windowless cabin. Their anonymous kidnapper controls every aspect of their life. Lena manages to escape, which on the surface may make the reader take a sigh of relief but the story turns even more sinister. Told from different perspectives, the story is told from different perspectives. The chapters devoted to Hannah, one of the children is very well done.

This was such a great and suspenseful story. I honestly had no idea where it was going. So many unreliable characters that I couldn’t ever pinpoint anything. I loved it! Thank you!

Can I say book hangover?! Wow this book is so good it makes you think & feel, it plays with your psyche - is this realistic, can it happen? This is told in 3 POVs, Lena or the woman who claims to be Lena, Lena’s father, and Lena’s daughter. Which one is telling the truth? It’s a puzzle that’s twisty & suspenseful! Thank you Flatiron Books for a gifted ARC! This is my honest review.

Dear Child is a debut novel from German author, Romy Hausmann.

“A young woman escapes from a cabin where she was held captive. Raped and forced to be a mother to two young children. She thinks her name is Lena. She should feel safe now. But some feeling tells her everything is not over yet...”

There are lots of characters here - the woman escaped from the cabin, the kids, the family with the missing daughter, the police, the friends, the neighbors, the old boyfriend and the bad guy. At times it was difficult to keep up with where everyone was in the story. When the pieces come together at the end it makes sense, but at times it was a bit of a struggle to get there. I had to go back a couple of times to try and remember someone. And I was a little confused when the bad guy was revealed because I thought he had been revealed as someone else. “Wait ... what?” There are lots of secrets and things left unsaid here. If you like messed up characters you’ll love this. The little girl in the cabin has some serious issues 😱 And there were a couple of things that were hinted at but we never get the whole story. I would’ve liked to know more. If you like a story with lots of moving parts try this.

Wow, what a read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Based on the abduction of a woman that was then held against her will, this book is (sadly) very timely. When I began reading it, I thought, "Okay, this is similar to another book that came out a few years ago" (I'm not including the name of that book here, but I'm sure you can guess what it is). However, this book takes an entirely different direction that keeps the reader on their toes. Trust me when I say that this story is very original.
Told in multiple viewpoints, the reader gets to experience things from the perspective of the main character, a child that is important to the story, and the father of the abducted woman. At times I had to re-read certain paragraphs, thinking I missed something, but it ended up being part of the plot. It's hard to explain without giving too much away, but just know that you'll be enthralled, and if you're anything like me, you'll stay up way too late reading it because you cannot put it down.
The writing was great and the author must very intelligent and creative to have come up with a story like this. I loved that it felt as if the story kept going deeper and deeper, and constantly kept me guessing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys psychological thrillers.

What a haunting tale in the same way that "Room" by Emma Donoghue is. Written about similar situations, it follows the escape of mother, Lena, and her daughter, Hannah, who left behind her son as she flees her captor..but it's not that simple. The parents of the missing Lena, who wasn't a mother when she went missing, come to find someone who is not their Lena but are shocked when they see Hannah who is a mirror image of their own missing daughter when she was her age. The story only becomes more twisted. I highly recommended.

“I can fetch the stars from the sky. And one day I know my children won’t just see all of this through my eyes and my stories. That is hope and it’s in my power to ensure it never dies.”

Dear Child is one of the most chilling thrillers I’ve read in a while. The reality of this happening was forefront in my mind the entire time I was reading; it’s been on the news, after all and Lord knows, there’s enough nutjobs in the world to do something like this! The actuality of stories I know combined with the nightmarish fiction from Ms. Hausmann had me on edge throughout the whole book and I loved every second!

When Lena goes missing, her father Matthias never stops looking for her. He counts the days she’s been gone; he follows up non-stop with the police, the newspapers, anything to keep her story relevant and unforgotten. Fourteen years later, he gets a phone call, Lena’s been found and is in the hospital. What follows is a compelling and truly horrifying tale of psychological terror.

Dear Child is strong in both character and plot; the captor, known only as papa, is as chilling as they come, abusive and controlling, and clearly, insane. ‘Lena’ is a victim but she is stronger than she thinks and manages to escape but does she really? Will she escape one tormentor only to torment herself? Is her captor really gone? The children, 13-year-old Hannah especially, have personalities born of such abuse and terror and there’s points in the book when I truly don’t know who to trust anymore. The details are skillfully put together and beautifully well written, everything connects and flows seamlessly between narrators. The plot has some fantastic red-herrings and twists that took me by surprise and the ending? Oh. My.!

This is all I’m going to say besides READ THIS if you enjoy psychological thrillers and suspense! My thanks to Flatiron Books, Romy Hausmann, and NetGalley for providing a DRC of Dear Child in exchange for my review.

Dear Child by Romy Hausmann, is getting rave reviews.

Bustle Best Books of Fall 2020
Publishers Weekly Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers of Fall 2020
She Reads Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2020

If you think this book sounds like a must-read, you’re right! This novel is tense, dark, frightening. Having said all of that, it’s also a book that you will enjoy reading, especially if you liked Room.

Take a look:

A windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare.

She says her name is Lena. Lena, who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior. She fits the profile. She has the distinctive scar. But her family swears that she isn’t their Lena.

The little girl who escaped the woods with her knows things she isn’t sharing, and Lena’s devastated father is trying to piece together details that don’t quite fit. Lena is desperate to begin again, but something tells her that her tormentor still wants to get back what belongs to him…and that she may not be able to truly escape until the whole truth about what happened in the woods finally emerges.

Dear Child is fast-paced, and I kept reading and reading to find out what was going to happen next. Themes of abduction, captivity, trauma, are present in this book so consider yourself warned if you are easily disturbed.

Out on October 6, pre-order here.

Dear Child is a suspenseful, twisty, page turner set in Germany. I was captivated from the beginning and couldn’t stop reading to find out what was going to happen next. Told from different perspectives, more and more of the story is slowly uncovered, with cliff hangers to keep your attention. If you are a fan of dark, suspenseful, psychological thrillers, you will enjoy Dear Child. I am interested to see what Romy Hausmann comes up with next.

A thank you to NetGalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was the cover first that drew me in, but the story itself followed in short order. Comparisons to Room are inevitable (not sure where the Gone Girl comparison stems from though - it's not. Maybe Kubica's The Good Girl, but Gone Girl not so much.) I admit that it was initially a little difficult to not envision Room in my mind, but as the book progressed, it took on a life of it's own - and all the power to it for that. In some ways, I honestly felt more creeped out by Dear Child than I did while reading Dear Child. That whole sudden mother a stranger's strange children - albeit through no fault of their own. Then there's that whole scheduled pee time thing...

Two big thumbs up for the book's dark sense of intrigue, diverse cast of characters, and the foreign German setting. Quite a lot do enjoy here if you like realistic and horrific sans horror thrillers.

I received a digital ARC of Dear Child by Romy Hausmann from the publisher (Quercus). Dear Child is scheduled for release October 6, 2020.

Dear Child begins with a woman escaping from her captor in a cabin in the woods. In the midst of her flight, she is hit by a car and wakes up in the hospital, with the small girl identified as her daughter by her side. The woman says her name is Lena, which matches with the story of a woman who disappeared 14 years ago. From here, we begin to question everything. Where has Lena been? Who is the little girl? Where is their captor?

Hausmann delivered a great unreliable narrator here. We primarily follow the woman from the woods through the novel. The trouble is, she has been captive, her will completely subjugated to the man holding her hostage. As a result, she has come to believe what he wanted her to believe. Even once she’s “free,” she continues to battle with his version of reality, never sure if a thought is her own, or one he gave her. As a reader, we believe that what we are seeing is her truth, but maybe not the real truth. The result is delightful uncertainty for us all the way through the novel.

The only spot I struggled with this unreliability was toward the end of the novel. The woman tells a lie to another character. She knows she is lying, and so does the reader. There is an explanation given for the lie, but I had a hard time buying that this lie would come from the woman at that point in the story. It pulled me out of the story a bit. From here, the last twenty percent of the book felt a bit unraveled, the pieces not quite as tightly woven as I would have liked. I wonder if the ending of the book would have worked better for me if the lie weren’t there.

Overall, Dear Child is a well-written psychological thriller with a unreliable narrator. This is definitely a story that will have you questioning everything you read until the last page.

I loved this book! This is a suspenseful thriller that had me turning pages fast. This is my first book by this author, I look forward to reading more from them in the future. This is a well written story that has details that make you feel as if you are right there with the characters. I had no problems connecting with them. I wont say to much about this book so I don't give anything away but this is a must read. The twist and turns left me with my mouth open and a few times I found my self talking to the characters. This is a fast paced story that is engaging and easy to read. I had different emotions throughout the book regarding Hannah but she made a great character for sure. I like the way the author switched back and forth between the characters, getting all of their views. I highly recommend this book!

This is creepy and dark in all the best ways! The story hooked me from the beginning and I stayed up reading way past my bedtime.

If you love an unreliable narrator and a psychological twist then pick up this book now! I think this will be one of my top 2020 thrillers.

I don’t want to actually review the book because I don’t want to give anything away but the comparison to Gone Girl mixed with Room is spot on!