This book gave me whiplash. Major whiplash. Is that a bad thing? Not at all, but I've had to sit on this for a little bit since I finished it to decide exactly how I feel. Lol

It started out so strong and the storyline is very unique. I was baffled by the situation that the FMC was going through. So much so to the point where it's almost unbelievable. I think mainly because of being a mom myself I had a hard time wrapping my head around how I would respond to the situation. I instantly want to be like - there is no way, I would have done this, and she can't really be that gullible. So instead I shoved all that aside and just processed what happened to her in the book as a whole.

Again the storyline is super unique and not something that I have read before. Seeing how people can toy with someone else's head is a bit scary. The plot twists were SO good I didn't call any of them. I was super shocked. That alone had me flipping pages and wanting to see what happens next. I didn't care for a lot of the characters, but again that makes the book - you've got to have the villains. The ending kind of flipped a switch on me. I liked how it was wrapping up and then all of a sudden I'm like wait, it can't be over yet, I want more.

Are you seeing the whiplash here? Lol

Here's why I like this book..I like that it made me analyze how I would have treated the situation versus just reading a fictional story for fun. I'm typically a quick reader but I found myself spending time reading sections and then thinking about it. After wrapping the story up it elicited emotions to where I wasn't 100% sure where I stood. To me all that makes for a good book if it can get me in my feels and make me really think.

If you like stories about mind trickery, deceit, and secrets I think you should pick this one up and give it a go. Maybe grab a friend and read together to have someone to bounce thoughts off of. I wish I had done the same lol

Thank you @ajwills_author @netgalley
and Cherry Tree Publishing, for allowing me to read and review this book.

This is one you definitely need to keep reading once you start it becomes very addictive.
Absolutely loved it & this psychological thriller kept my interest from beginning to end.
Quite a twisty plot that held you in suspense and just when you think yes I’ve got this the author throws in a few surprises.
Well written with a clever storyline & well developed characters with some not so likeable, it is a great page turner.
Karina has gone on holiday with husband Ronan & four year old son Jacob to Turkey.
Karina is struggling & so his her marriage so this holiday means a lot.
A chance to reconnect & help them be a family again.
Karina wakes up the next morning after arriving at the villa & can’t believe how late it is.
She never sleeps late as her lovely son Jacob is an early riser.
She gets up quickly to go check on him fearful because the villa has a swimming pool.
Panic sets in when she gets to his room to find his bed looking as though he hasn’t slept in.
She wakes her husband screaming at him their son is missing.
After looking at her blankly he tells her they have no son & doesn't know why she is saying they have.
Absolutely loved this intriguing gripping read.

Karina and her husband, decide to take a trip to a villa in Turkey in order to save their struggling marriage. They bring along their four-year-old son, Jacob. After a tiring journey and a few glasses of wine, Karina falls into a deep sleep. However, when she wakes up the next morning, she discovers that Jacob is missing from his room. It's as if he was never there at all. Panicked, she wakes Ronan, who insists that they never had a child and that Karina is imagining everything. Is her husband telling the truth, or is there something more sinister happening? Is Karina spiraling into madness or did she truly have a child that is now missing? We follow Karina's life for the next decade as she tries to live. Her life is turned upside down when she receives information about Jacob, and she realizes that she wasn't truly insane, but that something more sinister was taking place all these years.

This psychological thriller is filled with shocking revelations. The portrayal of Karina's psychological trauma is exceptionally well-written, and all mothers will empathize wit her. The novel is full of unexpected twists and turns, making it an exciting and captivating read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely loved this book. My first read from this author and I'm very impressed. Keeps you guessing all the way through.

Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this book. The cover and title attracted me to this book. The beginning had me hooked right away. Then in the middle it felt like the plot switched a few different times and expanded to 10 years later within the same chapter. I was a bit confused by that but got back on track and followed along. It did keep my interest but you must suspend belief because it was a bit far fetched how a mother could be convinced for 10 years that her son never existed. There was a final twist at the end that did have me turning the pages. It was just an okay read for me.

So anyone who has been near me over the past couple of days will have heard me raving about a good book I just couldn’t put down. This is it! Wow. What a book!
This is a psychological thriller at its finest
We are introduced to Ronan and Karina holidaying in Turkey. They are with their son Jacob, or so Karina thinks. She wakes up one morning to find Jacob missing. But actually Jacob didn’t exist at all
There were some serious Madeline McCann vibes in this book to begin with. The missing child abroad. No one has seen or experienced them. Karina is determined to prove she isn’t going crazy!
The book took a bit of a sinister turn and then the twist at the end. That was a shock!
The book was the perfect legnth. The speed and tenseness of the book was the right amount. I was thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it and for a while afterward. A easy 5 ⭐️ from me

Thanks to NetGalley, Cherry Tree Publishing, and AJ Wills for the advance copy! All of my below opinions are of my own.

Nicely written psychological thriller that is easy to read and follow. Suspenseful and twisty plot. While in the beginning I found the story hard to believe being a mother...the end makes sense. There are so many layers to this story that even if when I successfully predicted who was doing what, there was still more happening until the last chapter.

AJ Willis has a style of writing that keeps you interested and speed reading through to find the answers to your questions. I highly recommend this book!

Posted on Goodreads and Amazon, not sure how to find the links, sorry

With cracks beginning to show in her marriage, Karina thinks a short break to a luxury villa in Turkey with her husband, Ronan, and their four-year-old-son Jacob is just what the family needs. It'll be a chance to relax, enjoy some good food, and more importantly, to reconnect with the people she loves the most. But on their first morning, Karina is startled to discover she slept late, and not been woken by Jacob. He's an early riser who always comes into their bed, pestering them to make breakfast. So where is he?

Filled with unlikeable characters, this book was hard to put down. The pace is fast and has just the right backdrop. I was quickly emotionally invested in this book. There were plenty of twists and turns. I loved the author's style of writing. The family are staying in a villa in Turkey when Jacob allegedly goes missing. There's so much I want to say about this story, but I would just spoil it for potential readers.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #CherryTreePress and the author #AJWillis for my ARC of #ThePhantomChild in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I just finished this book and I feel like I have no thoughts. I was so mad around 60% thinking how the FMC could do this and once I finished and it all came full circle, I felt like I was the one who was being gaslight. I am really glad I stuck this one out because it ended up being a really good thriller. I enjoyed the writing style and the story was easy to follow. It just felt so frustrating and it felt as though I was living through her. Definitely a book I would recommend.

Karina, her husband Ronan and their four-year-old son, Jacob, head off on what they hope will be a relaxing holiday in an attempt to remedy the cracks that are beginning to show in their marriage. The morning after they arrive, Karina wakes, surprised that she has not been woken by Jacob as this is his habit at home. On going to his room, she is horrified to find that he is not there and, even more worryingly, there is no sign of him anywhere in the villa. After frantically telling her husband what has happened, she is shocked by his response: they don’t have a son and, indeed, they have never had a child…

Every now and then, you read a book that you just can’t put down due to desperately needing to know what happens next – this is one of those books. A J Wills has created a real page turner, full of intrigue and shady characters that have you wondering whether what you are reading is the truth.

Karina is a broken woman, clearly full of grief due to the loss of her son but is it all in her head? I had great sympathy for her from the start and felt the despair that she felt when everyone she turned to for support told her that she was imagining Jacob. I really liked how the author created a character who could be described as an unreliable narrator yet, at the same time, could be speaking the absolute truth.

Obviously, there is much more at play in this book and as the twists and turns arrived, the author kept me gripped, desperate to know the truth. I raced through The Phantom Child and while this is the first book I have read by this author, it certainly won’t be my last.

Karina, Ronan, and their son, Jacob, 4, are vacationing at a villa in Turkey. Karina knows they need a vacation to hopefully her and Ronan closer together. Ronan tends to put her down a lot. They almost missed their flight as, along with all the other chores of preparing for the trip, she forgot their passports necessitating them to return home to get them.

The first morning Karina realizes that they have overslept and she goes looking for Jacob but cannot find him. Frantic, she wakes Ronan who tells her they don’t have a child. She is shocked and doesn’t know why he is saying that. But when she finds Jacob’s room empty of all of his clothes and toys, she wonders if Ronan is right. Even the pictures of Jacob on her phone are no longer there.

Thus begins a wild ride of doctors, medication and trying to convince herself that Jacob never existed. She divorces Ronan and tries to make another life for herself. But as the years pass, she knows that Jacob is truly real and is determined to find him.

This is a book that shows utter cruelty and evil that some can bring to others. It appalled me at times and other times, I was surprised at Karina’s blind acceptance of her fate. However, this is a good read. Enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book- The phantom child
Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Cherry Tree Publishing and NetGalley for sending me an advanced readers copy.

As a reader who doesn't have triggers, I found the author's considerate approach to mentioning the triggers refreshing. The way he address potential triggers at the beginning of the novel is commendable.

I must admit, at first and found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit in the beginning but not in a negative way. (You’ll understand once you read it, I dont want to spoil it) However, it didn't take long for me to become engrossed in the story, I was HOOKED.

This book focuses on the beginning and end of a 10-year time span in a mothers life. The main character Karina is a devoted mother to her son, Jacob. Karina and Jacobs step dad decide to take a family trip to Turkey. I can’t give you anymore than this without spoiling it.

I truly didn’t know what to believe in this book, the author did so good in this aspect. This was a fast read for me, I read it in one sitting. I did not guess the ending at all.

If you want a psychological thriller that you cant put down ans has you questioning even yourself while reading, this book is for YOU.

What a ride I thought I knew what was happening then Mr Wills went in another direction. Grabbed me from the start and didn't let me go. Good plotting and characters lots of twists one of my favourite reads in a long time. Thanks to Cherry Tree Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

What a great book - so many things i didnt expect. Read this book in a day and kept me on the edge of my seat. Characters you just love to hate - some of them. Highly recommended.

This was my first AJ Wills book and it was deliciously addictive! It was fast paced and kept my interest all the way to the end. Did her child go missing or did he never exist!? As a parent myself, I couldn’t even imagine what I would do if I went on holiday and my child went missing then be told I never had a child at all. Karina, the main character, was relatable and I found myself empathizing with her at certain points. I was hooked and read it in one sitting. I had guessed the main plot of the book, but there are some twists I didn’t expect. I will absolutely be picking up another book by this author.
Thank you NetGalley and Cherry Tree Publishing for this ARC!
The Phantom Child
By AJ Wills
Pub date Feb 1 2024

Oh man! A. J. Wills knows how to find your worst fears, and then twist them even more!

Most of the characters in this book are unlikeable. Even as we side with Karina who has experienced the harrowing event of waking up to find her child missing, her gullibility in believing her husband Ronan makes you just want to shake her. But as she searches for her child, lost in a foreign country, with no support and everyone believing she was out of her head, I was on the edge of my seat.

This is a fast paced, suspense filled, quick read that will have you reading into the wee hours and holding your loved ones a little bit tighter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cherry Tree Publishing for an advance reader's copy.

Great book.. I found it hard to put this one down. Imagine if you woke up one day and found your four-year-old son had disappeared, and your husband claimed he never existed. Karina and her husband are on a holiday in Turkey when this happens. There are a lot of twists in this book.

This book was phenomenal! It had me gripped the entire way through and the plot is my worst nightmare. An easy five stars and I will most definitely be reading more from this author. I finished the book in one day as it was such a page turner.
Posted the review to TikTok 4 days prior to release, linked below.
Posted the review to GoodReads 2 days prior to release, linked below.

Thank you to Netgalley and Cherry Tree Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is an enjoyable thriller! I read this in less than a day, as the writing made it easy to go “just one more chapter”. Told from a single POV for the majority of the book, readers are forced to ask the question as to whether or not the narrator that is presenting the story is reliable. The overall plot of this book was unique and not something I have seen in other domestic thrillers. That being said, I did guess one of the big twists before it was revealed, and I found some of the timeline of the story to be a little clunky. Please check any relevant trigger warnings before picking this one up, but I would recommend this for anyone looking to start reading thrillers or would enjoy a quick and twisty read!

I absolutely loved this book , a very interesting and unusual story . I can understand the warning at the beginning that it may cause distress for some people but it did give away hints of the story to come . I did enjoy it nevertheless and it had a great ending . 5 stars from me