’m not going to deny that Baby Teeth got its hooks in me fast and never really let go. Alternating between the perspective of a lonely, isolated mother and her increasingly unsettling young daughter, Zoje Stage’s debut novel moves like an absolute rocket, one that will have you constantly saying to yourself, “Well, one more chapter couldn’t hurt.” That alternating chapter structure works like gangbusters, letting us see both the intense, vicious mind of little Hanna and the effects it all has on mom Suzanne, constantly shifting our reads of the situation. We know when Hanna is bluffing, or when she’s every bit as dangerous as Suzanne fears; we also know how Hanna’s actions are exacerbating Suzanne’s fears both as a mother and as a woman trying to figure out how to define herself now that she has a child.

And trust me, this is a nasty little novel in terms of making your sympathies hard to pin down. Do you prefer little Hanna, whose devotion to her father has her wondering if the best plan would be to kill her mother, and who acts out against the world – and other children – in increasingly disturbing, amoral ways? Or do you side with Suzanne, a woman whose sense of self is almost non-existent, driving her to need more and more time to herself and away from her child in an effort to figure out who she is? Sure, that’s a feeling that almost any parent understands – but Suzanne has a way of making it really, really hard to really like her, even as we understand how hard it would be to deal with Hanna.

Really, Hanna is the novel’s best feature, in so many ways; a truly unsettling, focused, amoral creation, Hanna takes a page from The Bad Seed and absolutely runs with it. Even Damien from The Omen might be a little freaked out by Hanna’s icy approach to the world and indifference for anyone who doesn’t understand her, doesn’t let her live as she wants, and isn’t her father. By the time we’re watching Hanna’s chilling interactions with some special needs children, we are all too aware that this isn’t just a case of a child acting out – this is something far more disturbing.

So, yes, Stage does a fantastic job alternating between these two, playing them off of each other in incredible ways, ratcheting up the tension throughout the novel as we see how far the two of them can push each other. It’s twisted, compulsively readable, and gleefully nasty…

…so why did it leave me so unsatisfied by the end?

Part of it comes from the book’s absolute whimper of an ending, which feels not so much as like a great climax so much as a great beginning to a final act that we never see. Stage’s tension all just sort of peters out, ending in a set of scenes that feel pretty unsatisfying on almost any level. (There’s a little bit of interesting subtext to the final chapter, but not enough.) More than that, though, Baby Teeth feels incredibly fun while you’re reading it, but ends up feeling like empty calories when you’re done. Sure, it’s a fun, nasty little story, but is there any “there” to it? It doesn’t feel like it, when you’re done, and it has a way of making the book feel pretty unsatisfying and even a bit irritating in how it squanders all of the tension and momentum it has going.

When Baby Teeth comes out, later this summer, I guarantee that there will be a lot of Gone Girl comparisons made – it’s twisty, dark, twisted, and has a dark humor to it. But trust me when I tell you that it doesn’t compare to Gillian Flynn’s sick masterpiece – not with an ending that leaves you unsatisfied and a general feeling of “there’s nothing here” that begins to sink in as you hit the book’s final chapters.

A final side note: After I finished this review, I ended up reading Leïla Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny, which I feel like is a better version of this book in so many ways, despite the numerous differences; both are books that grapple with the disconnect between parenting and being an individual, particularly for women, and both use the guise of a psychological thriller to get to those issues. That being said, Baby Teeth is a far pulpier novel, if that’s more your speed, while The Perfect Nanny is far more oblique and literary, for lack of a better word, to say nothing of getting to a much darker place in some ways.

What do you do when your own child hates you? What if no one believes you? How do you handle the judgment and fearing for your safety. This book is scary but realistic and will grip you through to the end. I think everyone will walk away with a different attitude toward it but it is a wonderful psychological read.

I love dark and suspenseful, but Zoje Stage pushes those dimensions with this Baby Teeth. I would almost have to say this is on the edge of horror. Either way, it will stay with you long after you have finished reading!

Suzette is homeschooling her seven-year-old daughter Hanna. She is out of options after Hanna is expelled from numerous schools. Her daughter is highly intelligent but has severe behavioral issues and rarely speaks. Her behavior is uneven with most of the volatility directed towards her mother. When her father is around she is well behaved and loving.

Hanna adores her father and doesn't want to share his attention. She devises calculated attacks against her mother which slowly wreak havoc on her health and emotions. This also weighs on Alex since he works long hours and then returns to an unhappy home. Alex never witnesses any extreme behavior and wonders who is really at fault. Suzette is in a constant battle to convince her husband that something is terribly wrong with Hanna. At the same time, she braces herself for Hanna’s newest scheme.

As a reader, I love books with an edge and Baby Teeth hit my sweet spot. The family dynamics were well written and the guilt and anguish felt by the parents came through clearly. I found the book hard to put down and delighted as I squirmed through the building tension. This is a debut novel by Zoje Stage.

A very, very disturbing read, Baby Teeth tells the story of Suzette and her daughter Hanna. They lead a comfortable life in a beautiful house and with no money issues. What could possibly be wrong with their lives? I’ve read many books about domestic abuse, but it’s always in the hands of the husband or an older brother. I had never read about a little girl inflicting the damage, which is the case here. Hanna doesn’t talk at all, not because she can’t but because she doesn’t want to. Suzette, whose own mother was far from exemplary, is doing her best to help and love her daughter, but nothing works. Quite the opposite in fact, Hanna has an irrational dislike for her mother, probably based on a very creepy jealousy over her father’s love and attention. Hanna is also very smart, so poor Suzette starts by being framed as a bad mother, and ends up fearing for her life. The story is told from both, Suzette and Hanna’s points of view, alternating from one chapter to the next. This makes for a fascinating story, since you see what happens from the eyes of a mature woman, and then read about what’s going on in Hanna’s head and how she justifies her actions. I’ve read about many bad kids, some even possessed by the devil, but I had never come across such a bad seed. And yet, when you see things from Hanna’s perspective, they make sense and I felt my loyalty wavering from one character to the other, based on their stories. A very compelling book.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ St. Martin's Press!

I generally like psychological thrillers but this book was just too.....weird.
There was little character development, and the characters were shallow and not believable.
I felt the author trying harder to be as bizarre as possible than to tell a plausible story about a troubled child.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Hanna is seven years old and the apple of her father's eye. In his mind, she is his perfect little girl, his "lilla gumman". Suzette is Hanna's mother and she does all she can for Hanna, by home schooling her. But Hanna refuses to speak and has gotten kicked out of a few schools for her bad behavior. Is she not speaking because something is wrong or because she chooses not to? After countless doctor's visits, Suzette and Alex are at their wits end to find out what is wrong with their daughter. Hanna does not like her mother and will stop at nothing until it's just her and Daddy.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.


First, I want to say that I enjoyed this book and the story was very interesting. So, I don't know if it was me in a slump or the layout of the ARC, but I didn't find myself wanting to grab this book as soon as I could. Instead I found myself crushing candies and binge watching The Big Bang Theory.

What would you do if you had a non-verbal child who hated you? Her not speaking can not be explained by doctors, therapists or teachers. You know she has sound cause he makes weird noises and hums. But Hanna is determined to get her point across one way or another and that point is, Mommy must go. Her father is blinded by all her bad behavior since Hanna turns into an angel when he is around. When a series of events seriously harms Suzette, Alex can no longer be blinded by his daughter's niceness. Will they be able to get Hanna the help she needs or will Suzette live in fear of her own daughter for the rest of her life?


I really enjoyed this book. I don't think I have read anything quite like this about kids and their relationship with their parents. I'm thankful I don't have a child with behavioral problems, cause this book would have me watching my back all of the time. I think everyone who reads this will be able to sympathize with Suzette. Most mothers always try to do their best for their kids and at times it's seems it's never enough. But trying to survive your kid is a whole other story. I hope you will pick up this book and enjoy it like I did.


I'd like to extend a special thank you to Zoje Stage, for taking a few minutes out of her day to answer a few questions for this review.

WCR: Where is your favorite place to write?
ZS: I am a creature of habit and I always write at my desk - which also doubles as my kitchen table (which is convenient, you know, for snacks).
WCR: What from your life inspired Baby Teeth?
ZS: Many things really: Seeing how my women friends, once they became mothers, were subject to society's harsh judgments about everything they did or didn't do; feeling as a child like I could never make myself understood; and of course, Suzette's chronic illness is based on some of my own experiences.
WCR: What is your favorite book?
ZS: I'm going with a three-way tie because these were all influential at the moment I read them: My Antonia (by Willa Cather); The Dispossessed (by Ursula Le Guin); The Road (by Cormac McCarthy)

Gah!

Absolutely riveting and juicy.

'Baby Teeth' (such a chilling title) is a stunner of a novel, about an uncertain mother and a rapacious child, intent on destroying her matriarch in order to seek the prize: dear old Daddy. Hanna - the daughter - is absolutely, without a doubt, the kind of kid that horror movies have been written about. A silent, perfect angel in the eyes of her father, Hanna is devoid of emotion behind the scenes, scheming to remove her Mom by any means possible. I mean, why won't she just DIE already, amirite?

Suzette, Hanna's long-suffering mom, is desperate for someone - anyone - to believe her when she says this just isn't normal behaviour. Her husband is a moron, believing everything that comes from Hanna's butter-wouldn't-melt-mouth, and it takes some seriously sick actions on the part of his daughter for him to come to terms with the fact that he sired a monster.

'Baby Teeth' portrays Hanna as a little too sophisticated at times in her thinking, but all in all, this is delightfully campy (Suzette glorying in the free-and-clear sex she gets to have once Hanna's out of the picture suggests that perhaps her daughter wasn't too far off the mark after all), frightening and has enough thrills to keep anyone up at night. Recommended!

I was given a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Wow! This book scared the crap out of me! I don't usually get literally scared from reading books but this one did it for me. This is the story of a little girl, Hanna, and her parents. Hanna loves her Daddy. She's his little angel. But when Daddy isn't around Hanna is completely different for her Mom. It amazed me how clever and dark little Hanna is. I would definitely recommend this book.

I did not enjoy this book. I had a hard time believing a child could be that cold and calculating. The mother was too self absorbed.

This was an exciting book with a great premise. Seven year old girl who is mute, loves her father and plotting to kill her mother. I think the author did a great job delving into the thought process of someone who is mentally ill as well as their caregivers. Yes it’s a thriller, but it’s also very realistic. Great character development. I just with there was more. More education about why Hanna was so driven, more on her early development, more on the treatment process. I don’t know if the author purposely left the story open for a sequel, but I was so angry at the ending! I feel there is so much more story to tell!

I LOVE reading about evil children. Why? I don't know. I think they're probably the creepiest around. And there's the argument between nurture versus nature and no one ever really knows for sure as arguments to both make sense ... some of the time. I used to SCOUR true crime and the kids section were always the most fascinating to me. So when presented with this book, YES PLEASE!

Have you ever seen the movies Bad Seed and the Good Son? No? You should! Especially if you like stories such as these. Meet Hanna - phew, this precocious 7 year old is SMART, DEVIOUS, MANIPULATIVE and MUTE. As this book goes back and forth between her mind and the mind of her mother, Suzette, we really get right into the psychology of Hanna's mind and how she sees the world and it is FASCINATING.

Now, I'll admit, I was a bit into the book and was hemming and hawing. Like, ok, she's evil clearly, but when is she going to really do something BAD? I was a bit bored and .. just... waiting for it. Like, DO SOMETHING already. I could see what the author was doing though - building her mental state and her progression as her ideas and plans become more and more convoluted. So when I put aside the want of more action on her part, I found the psychological aspect intriguing and needed to know what was going to happen.

I can see this being a bit divisive in readers. As someone who loves the psychological mind, I appreciated where the author took this at the end and how the parents reacted. Not being a parent myself (and certainly not wanting to be after this read....), I can only imagine how hard it is to deal with loving your child simultaneously while being afraid of her.

This dark thriller is a page-turner. Suzette is a stay-at-home mother trying to connect with her mute daughter, Hanna. Initially, it seems that Hanna prefers her father, and perhaps Suzette is merely overreacting to a naturally mischievous child who behaves better for her preferred parent. However, as the story progresses and Hanna's manipulation of her parents becomes more apparent, it is clear that there is a darkness to her. Will her father Alex ever see the Hanna that Suzette has to live with day after day? How far will Hanna go to get what she wants?
The characters are fleshed out, and although the reader can benefit from having the whole story they can also see the dysfunctional reasoning behind Hanna's actions. Suzette's self-doubt is affected by the fact that she alone sees Hanna's different personalities, and as a parent she cannot merely walk away from the broken relationship she has with her daughter. The complicated psychological factors of the story are compelling and intriguing, and I think the author handles them with enough sensitivity that it does not come across as an indictment of all people with maladaptive personalities or other disorders.

It's not my usual genre but I was curious to try something out of my comfort zone, I've read mixed reviews, sadly I only managed one chapter I just couldn't connect with this book. I found the characters unlikable and just couldn't connect with the characters, thank you to netgalley for my copy in exchange for my honest opinions,

If you liked We Need to Talk About Kevin but thought, “gee, I wish I could be inside this kid’s head,” this book is perfect for you. It really freaked me out in the best possible way.

Hanna is not your typical seven year old girl. She does not speak but can write notes in French, Swedish, and very colorful English, can imagine creating a friend that lives under her bed, is home-schooled by her mother, and is completely devoted to her daddy, so much so that she wants to get rid of mommy. By any means necessary.

I really did not know what I was getting myself into when I started reading this novel. At first I thought it might be a story about a family's struggles to understand their daughter's behavior, but as Hanna's behavior became more creepy, more sinister, more manipulative, and downright violent, the tension tightened, and I could not stop reading. Maybe it is because I have my own little mischievous daughter that I was so wrapped up in this story (hopefully mine does not grow up to be anything close to Hanna.) I also found the mother, Suzanne, interesting because she has Crohn's disease, and this is not something that I have experienced in a main character. Stage does a really good job depicting the battles a person with Crohn's fights on a daily basis, and I think that for this angle alone, "Baby Teeth" is worthy of a wider amount of attention. I wouldn't wish Crohn's disease on my worst enemy, and I find it refreshing that a main character has something that not everyone knows about and Stage uses her novel really as a way to educate people while telling a tense, thrilling story. This will be the novel that I recommend to everyone this year.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I will however be picking up a hard copy for my personal collection.

*I received this book from NetGally in exchange for an honest review.

Holy Moly! Stage writes a gripping psychological thriller that will leave you wondering “Is this really happening??” Seven year old Hanna, to her father (Alex), seems to be a normal mischievous little girl. To her mother (Suzette), she’s anything but. Go out and get this book! I thought I could see what the twist was, but Stage had me fooled in the best way! You won’t be disappointed if you like mystery, horror, thrillers, or fast reads! It even has a touch of romance-esque between Suzette (the mom) and her husband Alex.

Your child doesn't talk. She won't talk to you or anyone else. Until the day she does....and it's terrifying. Would you rather you child remain silent or tell you she's possessed? This book was slightly creepy in a very good way!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read Baby Teetch by Zoje Stage. This book is an introspective look at mother/daughter dynamics at an early stage of a child's life. But this takes it to a new level - is Suzette's child a little demon or just the normal actings out of a child.. The child, Hanna, loves her Daddy and he only see the lovely child he and his wife have brought into the world.
BUT>>>>things are not likely to be as they seem to Daddy, and Suzette believes Hanna is just not normal and maybe EVIL. What's a mother to do.
Good read.

I really thought this book would be right up my alley and that I would fall in love and recommend it to all my "weird" friends. Boy was I wrong.

This "physiological" thriller is about a highly dysfunctional family and their disturbing child named Hanna. Hanna acts like an angel around her father, leading him to believe there is nothing wrong mentally or emotionally with his daughter. Hanna's behavior, when around her mother, is another story.

Suzette, Hanna's mom, is homeschooling her daughter while also dealing with her own health issues. She is also the target of Hanna's disturbing mental issues that cause bad behaviors, mostly aimed at her mother.

This story is told in the alternating perspectives of Hanna and Suzette. As a reader it was interesting to get into the mind of each character.

This book seemed to be more about "shock value" in the actions and thought of a deranged Hanna than about character building. Hanna is 7 years old but acts like a much older child, which I just couldn't believe. I was also very appalled at the way Suzette spoke to her child. As a special needs mother myself, I can't imagine saying such things to my son. The lack of connection between Suzette and her husband on "what is wrong" with Hannah was also a stretch. Two parents living in the same house raising a child cannot possibly be that disconnected in how they view the child's behaviors and needs.

Overall this book was a bust for me. From other reviews I have seen, there seems to be a mixed consensus of how readers felt about the book. While I appreciate the "hard topic" nature of the book, I just found it all so unbelievable I couldn't full immerse myself in the story being told. Very quickly I ended up hating every single character and simply read to see how it ends.

"Baby Teeth" is due to be released July 17, 2018 here in the USA. Pre-order it now if the premise sounds like a book you'd like. I am interested to see what everyone thinks, as I said before there have been such mixed reviews!

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for allowing me the egalley to read and give my honest review.

This was a 2 star read for me.

Happy Reading!