The Hidden Child by Rebecca Griffiths is a strong 4 star read, but it is the audio delivery that raises it to a 5 star read for me! Read by Sarah Durham and Richard Burnip, they expertly capture the many different intonations of the English language, especially as portrayed in the rougher classes. This added immeasurably to my enjoyment of this story.

The author has skillfully set her own fictional story to play out alongside the true story of a well know pair of British killers responsible for what are known as the "Moor Murders", Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. When Connie's young daughter Kathy disappears from a parked car while she and her partner are in a bar, she has to come to a reckoning that she has been a bad mother. It's in all the papers that children have been disappearing, and she left Kathy unattended while meeting with her good friend Myna, and her new and unlikable boyfriend, Ian.

Meanwhile, over on the moors, quiet and unsociable farmer Ronald has his own problems to contend with. A young couple has been coming on his land uninvited, and frankly, the pair of them frighten him. Then two of his ewes are found shot and left to die. Ronald knows he should call the police, but he has secrets of his own he wants to keep buried. Ronald tends to the farm while his brother Thomas keeps the house and cooks. It is a quiet arrangement that has suited them both, but something happens that totally upends their lives and gives them what could be happiness, if they can just figure it all out.

Eventually these two lives will intersect: Ronald and Connie will find they have something in common. I really enjoyed listening to this story. The writing is very good and captures the personalities of the characters. I really felt I was back in Manchester in 1965. The narrators also helped with this. It was interesting to see this fictional mystery play out against the inevitable conclusion of the real-life mystery, a pair of murderers still infamous fifty years after their crimes were committed.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Bookouture for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A blend of fact and fiction that will keep you turning the pages! I was not familiar with the Moors Murders so I ddi a bit of additional poking around after finishing tis novel based in part on that horrible tale. Here Griffiths as used Connie, who is struggling a bit with motherhood, and the disappearance of her daughter Kathy, who she left alone in the car, as a lever. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a fast paced and well written read,

Well, this was an interesting read.

It is the second book I have read by Rebecca Griffiths and her style is completely different to anything I have read before. She takes historical serial killer cases and bases a fictional story around them. This one centred around Ian Brady and Myra Hindley - the infamous 'Moors Murderers'. From doing some of my own research, it seems as though a lot of this book is based upon fact, for example, the childrens' names, locations and many of the couples' characteristics. The fictional element is the story of a young girl called Kathy, who goes missing and the efforts to find her - dead or alive.

Generally, I liked the book. I found the characters fascinating with the pure evil of Brady and Hindley so apparent. However, I found myself a little disappointed with the ending. I was at what felt like a pretty crucial part of the story, when the time then skipped three years ahead and we never got to see it play out. What followed was a conversation between two characters who just talked about what had happened. If I'm honest, it felt like a bit of a cop out, which was such a shame and I felt it spoiled the end of the book for me.

Overall though, I did enjoy it and I've learned something about an important, but very grisly, part of history.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review.

Inspired by a true story. I had not heard of the Moor Murders prior to reading this book and had to head over to Wikipedia to learn more.

There is a lot going on in this book so pay attention as the author blends fact with fiction. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, July 1963, and October 1965, killed 5 children.

Black Fell Farm, Saddleworth Moor Robert and his brother have grown up here. They know the Moors. When a young woman and man begin acting strangely, Robert knows something isn't right. Then a little one shows up on his door and his brother wants to bring her in and keep her. only makes him feel more unease. Plus, he has another secret that prays will never be exposed.


There are a few characters in this book, but I found it easy to keep track of them. They are not that likeable which made it harder for me to feel too connected with them. Plus, I was quite annoyed that a character would leave a child alone in a car.

I enjoyed the blending of fact and fiction. I also enjoyed the narrator.

With this subject matter, there a few triggers.

While I enjoyed this book and audiobook, others enjoyed it more, so search out their reviews as well.

Thank you to Bookouture, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book captured me by the title because I have read a lot about the Moor Murderer’s. This book is part fiction, part true story and I loved how the story of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley was woven into this fiction story. I enjoyed Kathy as a character and how her story unfolded and some moments, I was holding my breath dying to find out what happened next. This was such a great book and I think if you enjoy true crime and crime fiction you will love how this book combines them both into an addictive read.
Manchester, England 1965: Little Kathy Openshaw is waiting in the car with only her toy doll for company. Whilst her mother Connie visits close friends Myra and Ian, Kathy gazes out at the surrounding moorland and dreams of a happier life. But when Connie returns to the car, Kathy has vanished. Instantly she thinks of the news reports of the children who have gone missing from the area. Parents everywhere are worried sick. Connie is struck with terror: what kind of mother leaves their child alone when a kidnapper is on the loose? Black Fell Farm, Saddleworth Moor: no one has visited Ronald’s farm in decades. But when a young couple start acting suspiciously on his land and a mysterious visitor arrives on his doorstep. Ronald feels instantly threatened. He doesn’t want any unwanted attention directed towards his farm.
Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this amazing book before its publication date on the 24th February 2022.

4.5★s
The Body On The Moor is the sixth novel by British author, Rebecca Griffiths. At fifty-three, sheep farmer Ronald Cappleman is happiest out on the moor, in the open space. Hikers don’t bother him, but the young couple who keep turning up in their turquoise Mini unsettle him: they seem a strange pair, dressed too fancy for the moor, shooting bottles for target practice, upsetting his ewes, and when he confronts them, it doesn’t go well.

Ronald has also seen them with a bundle and a spade, one evening, but alerting the police is not an option: he couldn’t have them on the moor, maybe stumbling on his long-held secret.

When Connie Openshaw goes into the Waggon and Horses for a few drinks with her boyfriend, Fred, she’s sure her seven-year-old daughter Kathy will be fine in the car for a while. But some hours later, having seen off her childhood friend, Myra and Myra’s rather creepy boyfriend, Ian, she and Fred find that Kathy is no longer in the car. They are frantic with worry, but the police seem more focussed on Fred and his juvenile theft record than on searching for Kathy.

While Kathy’s grandmother posts leaflets begging for information about the child, Connie and Fred face community criticism and condemnation, accusations and threats. When a police DCI suggests that Kathy’s disappearance may be linked to other children who have gone missing over the past few years, Connie is even more distraught. But at no time does she suspect her friend Myra might be involved.

The story is set in the last month before the world learns about what become known as The Moors Murders, and the fictional protagonist’s lives credibly intersect with those of the notorious real-life murderers, Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. Hindley and Brady are chillingly portrayed. Griffiths’s depiction of the era is faultless, and she captures the attitude of the police, the media and the public exceptionally well.

Griffiths conveys with skill the ordeal of the parents and extended family of a missing child. The reader is privy, early on, to Kathy’s fate and whereabouts, and while this blend of fact and fiction is quite effective, the twist is not so unpredictable that the astute reader will not twig. Nonetheless, a real page-turner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Bookouture.

A gripping thriller that merges a family drama with the backdrop of a dark period in Manchester’s history.
High up on Saddleworth Moor Ron lives with his brother, isolated and desperate to keep hidden the truth of what happened to their father. Ron is unsettled when he keeps seeing a young couple out and about in the moorland. He fears they might discover something he’d prefer remains hidden, but his few interactions with them are beyond unsettling.
Alongside this we have the focus on young Kathy, who disappears from her mother’s car one night. Kathy doesn’t come from the best of family backgrounds, but when her mother reports her missing there are fears that she might be linked to the recent disappearances of children in and around Manchester.
To people of a certain age the names Ian Brady and Myra Hindley mean only one thing.
In this book, we’re offered a chance to see the couple who’ve become synonymous with cruelty in a different context. We see them as people, though every interaction highlights the oddity of this couple and their callous disregard for anyone they come into contact with.
An unsettling read, with a bleakness permeating every page. I don’t know to what extent the story is based on truth, but it was certainly a difficult book to put down. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this prior to publication in exchange for my thoughts.

I was intrigued when I read the blurb, and as I dove into this story, with every turn of the page, the intrigue continued to grow. I was completely enthralled with each character and their individual stories. I couldn’t wait to find out how they all connected.

I liked the fact that this included characters of every nature. Some I connected with and my heart ached for them to find a measure of happiness, others were flat out evil even before the author shined a light on their actions, and then there were those that I found myself judging, wondering, and switching from one opinion to another as the story progressed. It all added to the overall feel and texture of this story.

There were several times I found myself heartbroken, near tears, and anxious and then with only a turn of the page I’d find myself ranting and raving. To say this pulled me into the story and kept me engaged doesn’t give the full effect this story had on me.

While it isn’t necessary to have any knowledge of the Moor murders this story is written around, this author pulls at that mystery enough to make you want more of it after you turn the last page.

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Body On The Moor’ written by Rebecca Griffiths in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

‘The Body on The Moor’ is inspired by a true story, that of the Moors murderers and the real-life children who disappeared. At the same time as Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are making headlines, seven-year-old Kathy, or Maggot as her mother Connie calls her, has disappeared from the back seat of a car while she and her boyfriend Fred are drinking in the pub with Brady and Hindley. Meanwhile, Ronald Cappleman and his brother Thomas live at Black Fell Farm on Saddleworth Moor and Ronald feels threatened when a man and woman acting suspiciously hold a gun to his head. Ronald doesn’t report them to the police as he can’t risk drawing attention to the farm but when a stranger turns up unexpectedly Ronald doesn’t know what to do.

This is a well-written fictional story that fits in so well with the true facts of the Moors murders that it’s like reading a true account of what happened in the 1960s. The events in the story interweave between the solitary lives of the Cappleman brothers at Black Fell Farm and the disappearance of Kathy some fifteen miles away. I found the characters interesting, especially Ronald and Thomas, and although I felt compassion for Connie as she struggles to cope with the loss of her daughter I didn’t like the way she mistreated the child she admits she’d never wanted. The author’s descriptions of Brady and Hindley are very good as they come across as evil as I’ve always imagined them to be and although it was hard to read some of the story it was worth spending time on.

I found this book hard to read because I didn't like a single character in the book and therefore found myself not caring what happened with any of them. I wasn't familiar with the Moors murders before reading this book and I found the story to be too predictable for my liking. I needed more suspense and intrigue to carry me through the book. I had high hopes for this one, but it was a miss for me.
Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

A chilling thriller that was hard to put down!

This book has some intertwining plots that come together nicely. I like how the death if Ronald's father has him on edge a lot of the story and really makes the reader worried for him throughout. At first I really didn't like Connie's character due to her treatment of her daughter and her unsavory friends. A glimpse of good came out of her once her daughter Kathy went missing and she really discovered how much she really cared.

It took a little bit to sort out the timelines between characters, but the sequence of events were well written in alternating between Connie and Ronald.

The outcome wasn't surprising, but the journey to get there kept me on edge due to ultimately liking some of the main characters.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

Set in 1965, Rebecca Griffiths interweaves the real characters of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady with a fictitious story of a friend of Myra’s and her daughter. The author deals with the horrific real-life events delicately but by including references to children who were missing during this time, it was difficult for me to read, as I always returned to the thought – how would their families feel reading a story that they had to live through?

Told in a dual narrative, this story centres around the story of Myra's friend Connie and her daughter, Kathy (who goes missing) and an aged farmer Ronnie, who lives on Saddleworth Moor. Events and their lives intertwine, and historic events have impacts on the present day. I enjoyed these characters and would have liked to read about them in isolation away from the references to the real missing children.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Although fiction, story was inspired by a true crime ~ Trigger warning ~child neglect/abuse, as well as child abduction by a serial brutal murderer. The true story is of two murderers who tortured and killed children.

It is 1965 in Manchester, England ~ young seven year old Kathy Openshaw is waiting unattended in her mother Connie’s car. She has her little baby doll for company as her mother visits friends Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. While waiting in the car, Kathy notices the surrounding moorland and starts day dreaming about a happier life so gets out of the car and starts to explore.
When her mother returns, she discovered that Kathy has vanished.

Kathy’s disappearance has authorities hunt for her as well others who have disappeared in the moors.

Black Fell Farm on the Saddleworth Moor holds dark secrets.
Story is told in time periods as well as areas between urban Manchester and the moors.

I have recently read 3 novels with young children being abducted. So my timing was off on choosing this to read right now. It wasn’t enjoyable read but a tough one for me ~ which doesn’t mean it isn’t good and that the author is really a great writer.

Want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for February 24. 2022.

This book had me curious when I read the blurb about it being inspired by the true crime story of the Moors murders,
I did feel at times as if they were using the infamous case of the Moors Murders to pull people in, it felt uncomfortable reading the real names of their victims and I didn’t feel they had a place in a fiction novel.
The story itself was interesting, Ronald had a secret he was trying hard to keep, he also met up again with his first true love and the way that developed was very heart-warming. I would have liked for Ronald to have had more of the main storyline, I think his story was more interesting than some of the other characters and he really was one of the few likeable characters in here
Overall it was a good read, the story moved along at a nice pace and kept me interested, but the ending seemed very abrupt and for me too neat. If it hadn’t used the names of real people, it would have got a higher rating
Thank you to NetGalley, and the author for the chance to review.

Fantastic book. An 8-year-old girl, the fictional god-daughter of the unfortunately real Myra Hindley, goes missing in the middle of the infamous Moors Murderer's murderous spree in the mid 1960's, nearly 60 years ago - was she one of their victims?

Rebecca Griffiths has done a splendid job of weaving her fictional characters into the real life horror that was Brady and Hindley. She portrayed the grimness of 1960's Manchester and the bleakness and remoteness of the moors very well. She has also made those horrible specimens Hindley and Brady appear less palatable than I thought possible - my skin actually crawled every time he was featured. She's also done an excellent job of making the reader feel sorry for the anguish of the god-daughter's god-awful mother who was actually at fault for the child's disappearance.

Rebecca shows great respect to the real life victims and their families whom this book could not possibly not feature and has done a great job of writing fact and fiction together.

It's not particularly fast-paced (except for the ending which was very abrupt) and it's not thrilling or exciting or sensationalist but the writing flows well and the author tells a good tale and kept me interested throughout.

1965 Manchester and the towns around Saddleworth Moor are full of the news of missing children.
Kathy Openshaw is left in a car in a pub car park while her mother goes in for a drink with her boyfriend. When her mother returns a few hours later Kathy has gone. Is her disappearance connected with the other missing children or is there another reason?
Ronald and his brother Thomas live a solitary existence at Black Fell Farm on the bleak moorland. When Ronald discovers a young couple behaving weirdly he is tempted to call the police but the last thing he needs is for the police to be poking around and unearthing long kept secrets that really should stay buried.
Mixing fact and fiction this is compelling and well written with strong characters in an atmospheric and tense setting.

This is fiction based on the story of the Moors murders, children and young people were killed by a couple in Manchester and some were buried on Saddleworth Moor. It was an extremely nasty case which gripped the British public for many years. That definitely comes across in this book. The book is set in the 60s and the language and attitudes which were prevalent at the times were fairly well portrayed.
There is a build up of suspense because the brothers who farm the land where the bodies were found have dealings with Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and also have their own secrets. The landscape and areas of Manchester are well described .
I had difficulty with this book at first, because being British and having grown up with this case , the further searches for bodies in the 80s and followed media stories of the perpetrators, I knew how terrible these crimes were. Fortunately the crimes are dealt with sensitively . There are other issues which do not always make easy reading. Not entirely convinced by the ending, read it and you will perhaps see what I mean .
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4506760372

The title and the plot was intriguing to me and so I requested this book through the Netgalley.

The story is set during the 1965 when Kathy Oppenshaw was in the car playing with the doll while her mother Connie was visiting friends. When she returned back to the car, her daughter, Kathy is missing. Connie had heard of the kidnapping of young children in the area and blames herself for leaving her daughter behind. Meanwhile, Ronald returns back to the moorland where a couple start acting suspiciously. Ronald do not want anyone to be near the moor as he had buried the secret many years ago.

This was a good thriller though not very fast paced and not much of twists and turns you would usually expect in a thriller. However, I do like the 1965 setting, slightly different from the normal thrillers that I usually based which is based on the present day. But anyway, it was enjoyable, the author's writing style was good and the ending was really good.

Overall, this is a good thriller and worth three stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

As I read the premise of this book I noticed that it references true events that the story Rebecca Griffiths weaves is based upon. I didn't have any knowledge of the events that transpired in the 60s in regards to the Moors murders, so it was nice to have read this book before I began researching more information on the characters within the book.

The story centers around a child that has been kidnapped. As the mother, Connie Openshaw wrestles with how the child was taken and how great a mother she is for the act to be committed, she finds solace in her friend Myra Hindley. Unfortunately, Myra has become obsessed with her current beau, Ian Brady, who Connie hasn't quite taken a liking to and reasonably so. Ian is a bit over the top with his opinions and becomes violent with the slightest prodding. As Connie continues to try and find her daughter with the help of her mother and her boyfriend, other stories seem to unravel from her past that muddies the waters.

Rebecca Griffiths did an excellent job of creating other characters to tell the true story of the horrific murders that Myra Hindley and Ian Brady responsible for. The writing flowed very well and had me turning each page faster than the next to discover what other things would transpire. The only issue that I had with the book was that I felt the ending was wrapped up a bit too neatly given the circumstances of how everything came about. I also felt that it ended way too quickly and didn't tie up many things that really could have been explained a bit further. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more from the author

A mixture of true crime and fiction and OMG WHAT A READ!!!!
I literally devoured this book in one sitting. Emotional, heartbraking and chilling all in equal measures. A new author for me and what a talent. This book had me reading late into the night and tapping my kindle like a demented wood pecker. I loved everything about this book, the way this author tells a story and how she melds these two genres so seamlessly. Yes this book is that good!!!! This author has just been added to my MUST READ pile and I can't wait to read more from this very talented author. A very happy reader.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.