A fascinating, compelling book about a young woman abducted and held in captivity along with two children who call her their mother, this book is full of twists and keeps you guessing until the end. It is beautifully written and expertly translated from the original German. It does keep some of the peculiarities I've noticed before in German novels--for example, referring to characters by their first name and last initial--but I thought this only added to the charm. The characters are well developed and the ones meant to be likable are, so you feel fully invested in their fates. Highly recommended, and I very much look forward to her forthcoming book. Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book.

I seem to be in the minority here based on the number of high ratings, but I was just not impressed with this one. The plot concept was interesting but the execution and writing didn't capture my attention. The pacing was slow and I didn't care for any of the characters. Overall a disappointing read that I wouldn't recommend.

As someone who loves mysteries and thrillers above all other genres, I was so excited to read Dear Child. Especially because it was said to be a combo of Gone Girl meets Room, which are two of my all time favorite thrillers and they couldn't be more accurate. I really, really loved how even while escaping, the mom still is on the run and struggles to escape. I ended up reading Dear Child in a single day--I could not put it down. I also really loved the cover of the book and felt like it was appropriate because it actually reminded me of the colorful, child-drawn cover of Room. Thank you so much for allowing me to read this advanced review copy!

Dear Child is an addictive, tense and intriguing thriller which tells the story from three perspectives: “Lena”, the daughter Hannah, and Lena’s father Matthias. It switches between them to give us an extra insight into the terrifying world of Lena’s as she’s held captive by this man. I love stories that switch between narrators and Dear Child is no exception. It’s a brilliant example of using this technique to make the reader slowly realise that no one is completely honest…

Obviously there are a lot of deep and very dark themes in this novel. It starts off in a rather haphazard way, as we wonder what on earth is going on. This adds to the novel’s sense of confusion and makes it even more of a tense read – then as the story continues, it becomes clear that everyone is not who they seem to be at first.

The victims of this tragic case all have very different reactions to the trauma, and demonstrates that there isn’t one uniform way to try to ‘get over’ something like this. I loved that there was an added sense of mystery in what happened to Lena and what connection there is (or isn’t) to the people currently involved. I don’t want to give much else anyway, but can just say that this is a really intriguing, exciting debut from Romy Hausmann and I’m really excited to read more by her in the future.

When I saw this book being compared to Room and Gone Girl, I knew I had to read it. It definitely had some aspects of those 2 books, but in many ways it was so different. I loved the different point of views this was told in, especially from Hannah, the child. There were some slow parts in the middle of the book, but the ending took a twist I wasn’t expecting. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me an ARC of this book. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book. I really thought I was going to love this book but I ended up not really enjoying it. You might enjoy it though.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy that I was lucky enough to be able to read! It's hard to review a book and not give anything away. It's especially hard to read a book as unpredictable as this and write a review that doesn't give anything away. Here goes.

Many people will go into this book expecting something similar to Room by Emma Donoghue, they will be wrong. I will admit that I had similar expectations and was blown away by Romy Hausmann's ability to take the reader's expectation and twist it into something completely different. I was thoroughly engrossed by this book and didn't want to stop reading, even to go to sleep. Every time that I got comfortable with the idea that I knew what would happen next, BAM, plot twist.

For fans of twisty-turny suspense thrillers and international thrillers, this book is a perfect read from start to finish, never letting up until the very end. This is a book so good that when you've finished you'll wish you had never read it so that you read it again. Bravo, Romy Haussman!

Upon hearing that Dear Child was a mix of Room and Gone Girl I was curious because those are two of my favorite psychological thrillers. I feel like the book industry is currently saturated in stories like this so I found myself experiencing deja vu like I read this story before especially drawing obvious comparisons with Room. Throughout reading, I found myself wondering what really happened and what events led to the current state of affairs. Because of the Gone Girl connection, I was constantly turning over in my mind who was deceiving who. So many things were just not adding up for me, and I was frustrated at the pace in which we received any answers or clarification to what transpired. By the end I was eager to keep reading to finally get some answers. When they finally came, I found myself going back rereading to look for clues that I missed from the start. This one left me underwhelmed, perhaps I wasn't in the right mood to read it or I just need to take a break from abduction and held captive novels for the time being.

This was a very intriguing book. It was very reminiscent of the book Room. I enjoy hearing each characters sides of the story and remained in the dark until the end.

This book captivated my attention from the first word and only got stronger as I progressed. It was written though a child's eyes which I always find interesting and the subject matter was such an innocent view of such a dark matter that it really reminded me of my favourite book "Room" by Emma Donoghue. The books starts our with a woman being brought into the hospital after an accident with her child (Hannah) beside her. Her child is gives the woman's name, Lena, and explains how they lived in the woods the whole time and slowly but surely begins to describe some of the terrible and neglectful things that she has had to live through her whole life. It then gets shared that the woman Lena, was abducted from a party thirteen years earlier and this is the first time that she has been seen or heard from since. What started off as an innocent story went dark
fast and really pulled the reader in. I had to find out what happened to Lena, who did this to her, and also if anything happened to Hannah. I found it really interesting how calmly Hanna described all the violence that she had to live through what made others flinch she talked about like it was nothing at all. It gave the book such a push that you as a reader had to try to figure out what actually happened to her to make her the way she was. I really enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. The story line was one that just wouldn't let me go and made me keep reading and the characters themselves even the ones that I didn't like were so well written that I loved them or I loved to hate them, and either way they jumped off the page. Very compelling read and I'm very glad that I got the chance to check it out. The only thing I didn't like was all of the
perspective changes it made the story a little hard to follow, however as a reader I understand why they were important to the novel.. Good read and I'm very glad I got the chance to check out this story.

I haven't read many German books so the setting was interesting to me right off the bat. The concept was interesting too--a missing girl returned. It was rather action-packed and switched between the three perspectives deftly. Unlike some books with similar storylines, I felt like it was a well-done and well-placed plot-wise and didn't try too hard to have red herrings or odd plot devices.

I felt like there were some translation issues that might need be to be tightened, the verb tense was incorrect in a few passages and was a little confusing since there are some time jumps in the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Dear Child.

The premise reminded me of Room, which I enjoyed, so I was excited when my request was approved.

This was a difficult book to read with painful triggers that include sexual abuse, physical violence and abduction, but it was intriguing and suspenseful, which I didn't expect.

When a young woman is injured in a car accident, investigators discover she might be the same woman who went missing 13 years ago.

The missing woman's father, Matthias, knows this woman is not his beloved daughter, but he also knows this stranger knows more than she's telling.

The young woman, Jasmin, was accompanied by a young girl, Hannah, who detectives discover is not her biological child, but carries far more secrets than they can ever know.

As the troubling story unfolds from these three diverse POVs, readers realize that all is not what it seems. And Jasmin's ordeal is far from over.

Telling a story from three perspectives, including a young girl, is no easy task, not even for seasoned authors but Ms. Hausmann does a capable job.

I enjoyed Matthias' perspective the most because I empathized with him, his grief and guilt, his anger over his failure to protect his only child and his determination to uncover the truth.

Jasmin was a realistic character, suffering from PTSD and trying to regain what her abductor took from her; her safety, her sanity and her hope. Though I didn't like her much (and Jasmin knows this because she knows she's not a likable person), the author crafted an honest person, a survivor made stronger after her trauma.

It took me some time to warm up to Hannah, but that's because the author did a good job creating a young girl with something to hide. I knew something was wrong every time Hannah spoke but I wasn't sure what that could be.

There are a few twists, which required a bit of disbelief suspension, including the identity of the villain, but I was able to give the author the benefit of the doubt.

Overall, a good read and one I think some readers will enjoy.

Wow! What a gripping story! I found myself reading til late into the night. This book had me hooked. Intriguing, riveting, and unputdownable. This story has haunted me long after I stopped reading. Such great writing and storytelling!!

Jasmin is abducted and her abductor makes her transform down to the scar on her forehead into Lena, a girl she doesn't know, but obviously is special to the man and his two children, to whom she is now to be the mother of. They all live in a windowless cabin out in the woods, and the man controls everything including bathroom times. But Jasmin is not Lena and wants out, but she isn't sure how since the man locks everything and he has the only keys.

This book is so thrilling I read it in two sittings, Romy Hausmann definitely has a hit on her hands. This book is action packed and very suspenseful, and it will certainly tug at many emotions as you move through the book. It has a web of darkness, lies, captivation, and unpredictability. The story and characters all come together in a way you will never see until the end. This is one of those books that will have you reading past your bedtime and than up the rest of the night with every light on.

This will appear on my blog on Oct 6th 2020

If you liked Room, you have to read this! I liked how it kept me guessing the whole time. When I thought I knew what was happening it took me in another direction. Great read!

The first few pages had me worried that this was just another version of Room. Stick with it, because it's not that at all. This is so much else going on here, but it takes a while for that to sink in. The story is told by the woman who escaped the cabin, and the daughter, and Lena's father. The details don't add up at first, but it's always clear which character's head the reader is in and whether it's in the past or the present and the more things start to click together and make sense, the more chilling the story gets. I absolutely loved this one and can't recommend it enough.

Although I am typically a bit wary of books in translation, I must admit that the plot of this German thriller caught my attention from its description. It opens up a bit jumbled across multiple perspectives - there's a young girl in the hospital, who has arrived in an ambulance along with a woman who had been struck by a car. And there's also a father, Matthias, racing to get to the hospital to identify the woman struck, hoping that it's his daughter who went missing nearly fourteen years earlier. Some of the past/present gets a bit garbled, and I think that translator is British and not American, but still that doesn't really detract from the plot.

While at times the characters feel so very sinister, and others just so self-destructive, it makes the plot twist in unexpected ways. The ending, for the most part, genuinely surprised me! And while I saw one of the big twists coming, there still is plenty of action and things that kept me gasping as I read. It's a definite page-turner! I certainly couldn't put it down, and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more from Hausmann in the future! While this is her thriller debut, it does sound like she has other books, and though this definitely is a bit remiscent of Room, the twisting plot and varied narrators kept this feeling fresh!

A dark chilling read.A book so well written characters come alive and drew you in. A story that drew me in so many twists and turns.Will be recommending .#netgalley#flatiron

I was sent this book from the publisher/publicity team. My ratings and reviews will be my own personal opinions and are in no way influenced by publishers or authors who may have sent me books to review.

This one is not for me, but sounded really interesting. I still wanted to give it a try and was really excited, but it did not capture my attention like I wanted too. This is just a personal preference. I know others will love it.

This does not allow for (DNF) no rating. I rate three stars as it I normally will not rate a story I did not finish. I do not feel it fair to give one star or five stars as I was not able to fully rate the story if I did not finish it.

We’ve all heard the horror stories of women kept captive in basements, bearing children to madmen, only to escape after years of torture into a world they no longer remember and a public filled with fascination at their stories. “Dear Daughter” features two such missing women, both victims of the same abductor, but who suffer two very different fates. It is also the story of men who love too hard, in both the right ways and the wrong ways. And at its heart it is the story of family, of what we will do to find those we’ve lost, how we love and show that love, and finally how we survive and come to peace with grief and guilt.