Choosing to read an A.J. McDine, a fairly new author to me, was quite a gamble, one that paid off well.

Lucy, a thirty-something housewife is an alcoholic, who wakes up most days with a raging hangover. This day is no different either, except for the infant in her living room. Did she steal the baby, give birth to it or did someone deliberately leave him with Lucy - she has no recollection. Desperately longing to be a mother and having lost all hope of ever being one, Lucy battles with the ramifications of keeping the baby for herself or handing it over to the police. And then there's the teeny inconvenience of explaining the presence of the child to her husband, Miles, who is due home in a few days from his off-shore job.

The main character in a drunken haze/ unreliable narrator literary device is one of my least favourite. Little wonder then that it took me quite some time to warm up to this plot and its main character. The first 40% of the book moves at a sluggish pace, much like the protagonist Lucy, as she tries to piece together her hazy memory of the night before. Her inner monolgue is often interjected with key memories from the distant past that have shaped her life so far.

The second half of the novel picks up in pace and intensity, with the introduction of more characters. The plot becomes predictable, but continues to be engaging once Lucy is successful in picking apart and putting together her fragmented memories. She stops being the victim and begins to take back control of her life that had been manipulated out of track a decade ago. The only part about the plot that doesn't make sense to me is Miles - his character doesn't have enough background information to explain why he is the way he is.

Overall, a slowburn thriller that transitions to intense and delivers a very satisfactory end. Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a fast-paced domestic thriller!! From Lucy's blackouts to her husband's lies, I was trying to piece everything together. and answer the main question jumping around in my head: whose baby is this??
I loved Lucy because she was such an unreliable narrator. Unreliable narrators are my favorite since they keep me guessing!! AJ McDine's writing is so addictive!

Looking forward to what the author writes next!

4.25 ⭐️

This one took me by surprise! This was my first book by A.J. McDine. I had assumed the book would be more of a creepy/horror book judging by the cover (I guess I have been reading too many books with sinister children/babies - haha), but it ended up being a good domestic thriller/mystery!

Lucy wakes up one morning, goes downstairs in her home, and discovers a baby in her living room! Lucy cannot remember yesterday's events. Everything goes blank after she had drinks with a classmate at a local pub the day before. Lucy has a drinking problem and for years, she has over-drank, making a fool of herself, and sometimes blacking out and losing periods of time. How did the baby get in her house? Did Lucy steal the baby, as she so desperately dreams of being a mother? Does she phone the police? Her husband, who is away for work, will freak if he comes home to a baby (he has been adamant about them not having a family).

The book continues as Lucy tries to remember that night and how the baby ended up in her possession. Lucy begins to develop an attachment to the sweet newborn and tries to convince herself that the baby is better off with her. Things progress. Lucy begins to remember a little more and more. Things get dark and violent. I don't want to say anything further and spoil it.

** My opinions **

I was very interested in finding out where the baby came from and the secret was kept close to the end of the book. There were some twists that I did see coming, but it was still fun reading how things unraveled. I felt like everything was wrapped up well by the ending. I did wish more for Rae, but as explained, there wasn't much more that could be done. Overall, really enjoyed this one! I haven't read a thriller in a while and it was a pleasant surprise and ride! I will be checking out the author's other books now!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for access to the ARC. I greatly appreciate the opportunity!

Thrown straight into the action
This is a rollercoasrer of a read. Totally binge worthy full of twists and turns. Hooked on every word. The ending bkew my mind and i can so see a sequel.
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author.

A digital copy of this book was provided to me by the author through NetGalley. The opinions are my own and freely given.

Lucy awakens after what must be a night of blackout drinking to discover a baby in a drawer downstairs. It isn't her baby and she has recollection of how it got in her house. Instead of phoning the police immediately, she starts combing news reports for a missing or abducted child, because she must have stolen him.

Lucy's husband, Miles, works on an oil rig, 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off. He drives to Aberdeen to catch a helicopter to take him to the boat. She has to figure out what to do with the baby, because Miles never children. To me, Miles seems overbearing but to Lucy he is a concerned, caring husband.

Part of this story takes place in Lucy's granddad's cottage near Chilham on Kent Downs and another part in Cairngorms in Scotland.

Lucy is contacted by Shona, the sister of Rea who is missing and was a work colleague of Miles. Lucy meets Shona and together they start to search for Rea. Shona has raised Lucy's suspicions of Miles.

This was an easy read and kept me guessing where the baby came from. Miles was on my radar from the beginning, I just couldn't figure out if I could trust him or not - until everything came together.

I didn't want to put this down. The Baby is my new favorite book by this author. They just keep getting better and better.

I was instantly gripped by The Baby. It’s full of tension and wtf moments. I did guess the main twists, but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all. The chapters are well-written short and snappy. Admittedly the ending wasn’t quite what I hoped for, as it felt a little too far-fetched, for me. But, again it's so well written and paced that didn’t stop me coming away looking up the author’s backlist and recommending this book to my thriller-loving reviewer friends.

I absolutely loved this brilliant fast paced, twisty psychological thriller.
So well written the story just flows off the pages & was easy to get into.
This is definitely one that’s hard to put down once you start as it really holds you as it’s so addictive.
A compelling intriguing read with so many twists & secrets spilling out.
Lucy who the story revolves around, as yet again woken up in a drunken stupor.
She has no memory of where she’s been or how she got home.
This loss of memory is happening all too often after she has spent the night drinking.
It started the day the doctors told her she would never have a child.
She manages to contain the drinking a little when her husband Miles is home from the oil rig.
She drinks to forget the heartbreak of never having a child & the fact she is not happy with her life or her husband Miles either..
This morning feels different though she was woken by a noise downstairs & she knows it’s not Miles as he is on the oil rig.
Was that a babies cries she heard or is her imagination playing tricks on her.
Going downstairs to investigate she can’t believe what she is seeing.
In the middle of the living room is the most gorgeous baby lying in one of her wooden drawers.
Her jaw drops as her first thoughts are what have I done now.
Thoroughly enjoyed this excellent read it was a definite page turner for me.

The Baby by A J McDine is such a twisted and engaging thriller!
Well written, fast flowing, just a joy to read! I'd say it's perfect for a lazy afternoon if it wasn’t for the perfect amount of tension keeping your core muscles engaged?

Thank You NetGalley and Bookouture for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

All Lucy wants is a baby, but when her husband Miles tells her it’s something he never wants, can Lucy be truly happy?

Miles works away a lot, and to help keep herself sane, Lucy turns to drink, she often blacks out and looses hours of her memory. But when one morning she wakes up to find a baby in a drawer, could she really have taken a baby without knowing?

How can she explain to Miles that she thinks she’s stolen a baby? What is he going to think to the news?

Absolutely gripping, page turning thriller that keeps you guessing. Lucy is such a likeable character that you just want to love, and Miles, he’s definitely a character that gets your back up. Highly recommended, the twist is amazing!

Imagine waking up after a heavy night of drinking to find a baby in your house. A baby you don't know and that can't possibly be yours. You've obviously stolen this baby and you need to pick through the hazy memories of the night before to unravel the mystery. But what if, whilst doing so, you start to get attached to the baby? And what will happen to you if you hand yourself into the police? And what if your husband that works away on an oil rig, and definitely doesn't want children, suddenly returns home early? What would you do?

A truly gripping and twisting thriller that will have you guessing and second guessing your way to the end. The pace was spot on and I whizzed through it in a couple of days, enjoying every page.
I particularly liked the flashbacks and the way we slowly learn about Lucy and Miles' marriage and their true characters. I also enjoyed all the local Kent detail, as someone from the area it was easy to picture the scenes unfolding.
I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys a domestic thriller full of secrets, lies and mystery.

Lucy wakes up one morning, after one of many hangovers, to discover a baby in her home. She has no recollection of the night before and fears she has stolen someone's child. She has always longed to be a mother, but her husband, Miles, does not want children. Has she done something crazy? She knows she should go to the police, but when there is nothing in the news about a missing child, she convinces herself that the baby was meant to be hers. It doesn't help matters when Miles comes home and agrees with her. Whose baby is this and why is nobody looking for him?

I had the plot figured out pretty quickly, but that didn't ruin the story for me. I was excited to see how it all played out and it definitely kept my interest. This was my first book by this author but I look forward to reading more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Imagine waking with a huge hangover and a baby - that isn't yours! You know it's not yours but what happened? And so begins this psychological thriller with all kinds of twists and turns that will keep you glued to the page!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

"There’s a baby in your house. It isn’t yours…" That hooked me in straight away. I had so many questions when I read that line.
Lucy is the main character in The Baby and the story is told from her point of view. Now, Lucy isn't a very reliable character. Which is a trope that I absolutely love. Why? Well it makes me read between the lines of the narrative. I try and pick up on little clues that the character says or does. It keeps me more engaged. And because it is from a first person point of view, I feel that I am personally being told the story and feel invested in Lucy's life.

As soon as the story starts to develop its quite clear that there is a darker undertone to this story. I would advice people to check out trigger warnings as I feel there may be parts that could be triggering.

Miles. Oh Jesus right from the first point of meeting Lucy's husband. I had his cards marked. But, was I right to blacklist him?

I really enjoyed this story. Uncovering the mysteries of how the baby came to be in Lucy's house. And, finding out secrets and lies. I am quite pleased in myself, I did figure out many of the twists and plotlines. I think this was purely because I had my radar on full alert.

AJ McDine is becoming an auto buy author for me. And, I will be searching out for future books.

★★★★ 4.5 stars

There's a baby in her house...but she hasn't got a baby...

This is a deliciously devious domestic thriller that I devoured in one sitting! My first foray with Ms McDine, I was captivated from the very start despite its obvious predictability in part but that certainly didn't deter my enjoyment of this twisted thrill ride.

Lucy and Miles have been married for some ten years or so, him having rescued her from one man's over zealous attentions on a night out before sweeping her off her feet and up the aisle. Before she knows it, she is living the high life in Dubai where Miles has been seconded as an engineer on a oil rig. They make a life for themselves there before a decade later, Miles receives a transfer to a rig in the North Sea off the coast of Aberdeen. Coinciding with the sudden death of her grandfather, Lucy flies home to make the arrangements before Miles joins her. And together, they set up home in the sleepy village where her grandfather lived in the cottage he bequeathed Lucy.

One morning, with Miles offshore for four weeks, Lucy awakes from yet another blackout drunken stupor with the hangover from hell and a baby in her living room. A baby? But she doesn't have a baby!

What ensues is a whole lot of craziness that is a little far fetched but somehow makes perfect sense to Lucy. She scours the news sites, watches the news, anything to throw some light on what the hell is happening. But no one has come forward to claim their baby is missing. So where did he come from? Did she steal it from someone and not remember?

Lucy's to-ing and fro-ing over what to do for the best ties her up in all sorts of knots. All she has ever wanted was to be a mother but Miles made it perfectly clear that children were not in his plan...something he neglected to tell her before they were married, despite him saying he had done so. Lucy would never have married him had she known his aversion to becoming a father. So what does she do? It's clear the baby is cared for and has come from somewhere...but where? And where is his mother?

Lucy knows she should call the police...but something is stopping her. The all encompassing feeling of a little life trusting her, his eyes locked on hers as she feeds him, bathes him, changes him. After twenty four hours Lucy knows she can't give him up. This child needs her.

And then she has another problem. Miles. What to tell him. And how will he react? He's offshore for another few weeks so she has time, and by then she will have found the baby's mother. But then she hears the crunch of gravel on the drive...No, it can't be. Miles is home. How is she going to explain a baby?

This was such a fun and entertaining thriller from start to finish. It's obvious from the start that Lucy has a problem with alcohol but I detect an even bigger problem with Miles. How could she not see him for what he is? A manipulative, controlling man who could sulk for England if he doesn't get his way. Everything he did I could see through a much clearer lens than Lucy could and I did not like what I saw from the very first moment he opened his mouth. Every phone call, ever text, every conversation, every action...it is all about him and what he wants. So what does this mean for her now that there's a baby to consider? Nothing he does surprises me.

The story unfolds primarily through Lucy's eyes - sometimes vodka or wine induced while at other times, clear as day. There is the brief narrative from one other closer to the end as everything begins to fall into place.

It is very hard to say what I want to say without revealing any spoilers so needless to say, You'll just have to go out and check it out for yourself. You won't be sorry!

An almost 5 star read, there were a couple of things I felt could have been tied up/explained more to be clearer by the end though I guess I just made my own mind up as to how they played out...even if they were not explained in the end, I still have my suspicions.

A fantastic read! I'll be sure to check out her other thrillers.

I would like to thank #AJMcDine, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheBaby in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

A J McDine delivers yet another insane psychological thriller.
I am a huge huge fan of this author and knew that this was going to be a great read, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much of a great read.
in this book, we meet Lucy, who wakes up from a drunken night, to find a baby in her house. It’s not her baby. What is her husband Miles going to say when he gets home
Oh my god. I hated Miles!
The book was very fast paced, packed with plenty of action and making it almost impossible for the reader to put down until the truth was uncovered The book is original and is a very compelling and satisfying plot
The book did not disappoint and AJ McDine remains one of my favourite go to authors
The book is highly recommended from me

Lucy is married to Miles, lives near Canterbury, and is, what she describes herself as, a heavy social drinker. They met and married very quickly and just before leaving for Dubai as he had a job there. Life was fun but then Miles told her they were going home and he was transferring to a rig off the Scottish coast leaving her on her own 4 weeks in every 6. Almost entirely told from Lucy’s POV and in dual timelines, and you can imagine what an unreliable narrator she is.

Briefly, one morning Lucy wakes up in her house, hearing a noise downstairs. Investigating she discovers a baby lying in a drawer. She has no idea how it got there and no recollection of anything since she had a “few” drinks the day before! Where did the baby come from and what is she going to do about it? Having had a miscarriage and told she can’t have any children she finds herself drawn to the baby and doesn’t report it. Then Miles returns home unexpectedly…

A superb psychological thriller with as many twists and turns as you could wish for. Chock full of suspense with an almighty twist at the end this was an unputdownable read! A very good read, well paced and tense, I really enjoyed it.

This was actually a jaw dropping, fast paced psychological thriller that will definitely keep you up all night.

The book starts off with Lucy who has moved back to her grandfather's cottage in Kent. Her husband, Miles is working in an oil rig in Aberdeen. Lucy seems to be an alcoholic and one day, she happened to come across a baby lying in front of her house. Lucy was clueless as to who have left the baby behind but Lucy had always wanted a baby and so she decided to take the baby, even though Lucy knew that it was wrong. Lucy promised herself that she would go over to the police. And as the story goes on, Lucy finds that someone else must have left the baby behind...

The entire story is told in Lucy's POV although in the last few pages, another character named Rae's POV was also present. I like the suspense that is in the story--whose baby was it? Who left the baby at the doorstep? As you go on reading this book, you find so many deceit, lies as well as many unexpected twists and turns that you did not see it coming. The ending was OK though it wasn't the ending that I actually expected. Reading this, you can see the mental state of Lucy. There is some sensitive content in the book such domestic abuse and sexual assault. Overall, this is a book that is a guaranteed page turner and an unputdownable thriller--worth four stars.

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

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Baby was a wonderful thriller, laid out in a clever way and paced just perfectly both with its reveals and twists.

Lucy is struggling after a miscarriage years ago, drinking herself into many blackouts and living a life seemingly paused. So when she wakes up one morning to discover a baby in her home and no recollection of how he got there, she’s both in shock at how this happened and a little bit in love with the little fellow. The plot thickens further when her husband, Miles, comes home and actually encourages her to keep this mystery baby. Lucy starts to realize she definitely does have a problem with drinking but this may not have been her doing, as her husband’s controlling behavior is fully revealed to her along with a mystery of a women gone missing a year before.

It’s hard to describe the plot without revealing too much but suffice to say this was entertaining, both with the plot and the character Lucy. Well written and truly shocking at different points, I’d recommend this to thriller and mystery lovers!

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. I managed to 40 percent and stopped. It was so boring reading about how much alcohol she consumes and I was not too thrilled about the language that was used.

Wow! My first AJ McDine book but definitely not my last! This was deliciously dark and creepy. And the characters were to die for! (Maybe literally?)
I got so invested in the story and stayed up way past my bedtime flipping pages. Packed with tension, lies and so many secrets.
Thank you NetGalley, AJ McDine and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book.