Cover Image: The Winter's Child

The Winter's Child

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Member Reviews

This was a Christmas themed book which I enjoyed reading, i feel like the story took me places I didn’t expect so reading the entire thing was so worth it

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A dark and twisted tale that would be a story to consume during the winter. It's a winter read for winter weather. This was not my favorite and I didn't feel very connected with the characters or story. Other people would probably really enjoy this, it just wasn't for me.

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Welp, they can't all be winners...

The Winter's Child has been in my Netgalley queue since 2018, so it felt like time to get to it. Based on the blurb, I was expecting a fast-paced mystery about a mother seeking her missing son. What I got instead was a slow, awkward mess of a book that never really delivered on what the blurb promises.

I saw the twist ending coming a mile away, which doesn't always bother me, but in the book, there was really nothing else for me to invest in. Susannah is just plain bad as our main character - she's a complete doormat of a human being, yet she's also sneaky and manipulative towards her husband/ex-husband. All of the segments of this book set in the past drove me up a wall; her relationship with her son was super unhealthy and she's completely incapable of communicating with her husband. She's just an awful character, and I felt nothing but annoyance towards her.

And then there's the fact that the plot makes no sense. The author is clearly going for an unreliable narrator thing, but we go from 0 to batshit in no time flat with very little trigger or explanation. It's abrupt and awkward and just made the story feel messy to me. Plus it plays off probably one of my least favourite tropes of "traumatized woman as unreliable narrator because omg aren't women just SO crazy and emotional?!"

So uh...yeah, suffice to say this was not a winner for me. I'm giving it a generous ⭐⭐ simply because it wasn't *quite* as awful as my last 1 star read.

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I had high hopes for this book. It took off then slowed to a snail's pace and left me daydreaming while i read. It was a big let down. I rate this book a 1.4

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I recently bought a new kindle after my old one broke. For some reason I was unable to download this title from the cloud onto my kindle, therefore I will be unable to review this title. I am sorry for any inconvenience caused.

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If the author wanted me to like Susannah, she did not succeed. I felt for this mother, having her son disappear, but she was just not a likable character. This book was okay but I left it feeling unfulfilled.

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An engaging story following the mother of a teenage boy who has disappeared. The journey through coping, dealing with a miscellany of charlatans, seeking affinity with another mother in a similar position and ultimately discovering the truth is engaging, although I predicted the ultimate outcome quite early on.

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I received a reviewer copy of The Winter's Child by Cassandra Perkin from the publisher Legend Times Group in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Susannah's life has fallen apart ever since her son Joel has gone missing. Her husband has left and remarried and she is slowly losing her mind, the book takes us to a day at the fair where a psychic tells her her son will return on Christmas Eve and they will never be separated again. The book interweaves flashbacks from before Joel went missing, when he went missing, and the present day.

What I Loved: I didn't see the twist or the 'what happened' coming which I enjoy in my thrillers.

What I didn’t like so much: This book is a slow build and by that I mean it's really slow. The narrator is quite unlikable and really unreliable. None of the characters seem likeable because of the narrator. For this reason the book dragged a bit and was hard to pull through.

Who Should Read It: People who enjoy unreliable narrators. People who like unlikable narrators. People who like slow build in their mysteries (less thrilling).

General Summary: A slow build what happened with an unreliable narrator.

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An excellent psychological thriller, this book was hard to put down. I love books that make me think and keep guessing, and this one fit the criteria exactly! It’s just the kind of book you want on a long train journey or whilst on holiday, so you can properly delve into it!

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This was a deep, dark, atmospheric thriller, and although it was rather easy to figure out the "whodunit" about 1/4 of the way through, the narrator of the book is a real study in batsh*t crazy. Susannah and Joel are unable to conceive so they adopt; the book is a dual narrative, bouncing between Susannah's POV and a timeline of her blog, which offers advice on coping with the loss of a child/missing children and on why grieving parents shouldn't believe psychic charlatans who will steal your money during periods of vulnerability. Susannah's grip on reality becomes ever more tenuous throughout the book and she is being haunted by visions of what happened to her son Joel 5 years previous but she still doesn't have a clear picture of what truly occurred, she only knows that according to an eerily accurate foretelling from a psychic at Hull fair, he'll return to her by Christmas this year. The closer Christmas draws, the more frequent the visions she's experiencing occur, until a climactic event involving the original investigating detective from her son's case. This is a page turner of a thriller and a not to be missed read!

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Wait, what? What did I just read? I have to say this dark and twisted thriller crept up on me in the most delicious way. I was hooked in initially by the setting and the opening scene at Hull Fair. I live nearby and for me the author's convincing use of familiar locations added an extra degree of authenticity. But this story had me thinking it was one thing - poignant, heart rending, tear-jerking - when in fact it was quite another - sick, twisted, psychotic .... what fun! The slow, inexorable, almost undetectable change from the one to the other is genuinely chilling. And I absolutely loved it! The twist is so subtle that I didn't even suspect one might be coming till 88% as I was just so suckered into Suzanne's story, so invested in her grief and hope. The MC is just so well written, the pacing is spot on and the gobsmack of an ending left me reeling in an unshakeable state of WTF. But the most horrible, chilling, frightening, brilliantly done thing about this book is the way a shocking and unnatural act is made to seem so rational, so reasonable, so loving that my feelings as a mother were just all over the place! Seriously, what DID I just read?!

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Thank you Net Galley and Legend Press for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story starts when our main character Susannah gets a reading from a psychic that she thinks will change her life. Five years earlier, her fifteen-year-old son Joel disappeared, and this psychic that he will return to her by Christmas. We follow Susannah's unravelling as the psychic's predictions seemingly start to come true.

I would describe this book as a gothic thriller. It started a bit slow, with the character building & setting up the back story taking just a little too long for my liking. However, once the pace of this book started to pick up, I couldn't stop until I read over 50% off the book in one day. I would highly reccommend to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, but note that there is a trigger warning for missing children, and some domestic violance.

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This one was just eh for me, mostly because I figured out the plot twist very early on, so nothing was unexpected. With that aside, it is definitely well-written and I appreciated the complex character development. 3 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Legend Press and Cassandra Parkin for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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When Susannah Harper's child disappears so does her life. Unable to function wholly, she spends her days obsessed with finding her son. Consulting psychics and losing her own psyche she begins to lose touch with the world. An excellent psychological thriller, this book was hard to put down.
This book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Highly recommmend.

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Cassandra Parkin describes a parent's worst nightmare - the disappearance of a child - in "The Winter's Child," a gripping psychological thriller about the role parents play in their child's lives.

Susannah still hasn't come to grips with her teenage son's disappearance several years ago. Although she debunks psychics and stuff in a blog, she still finds herself drawn to them in hopes of answers. What happened to her son, and where did he go? Who hurt him? She's slowly losing her grip on reality as she begins to experience hallucinations, more questions about her ex-husband and whether a new acquaintance may have done harm to another boy.

The author captures Susannah's pain in chilling detail, leaving readers to sympathize for victims, yet fear their outcomes.

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This dark tale unravels the narrative of a 15 year old child that has been missing for five years. It explores, grief and hope, as well as psychics and mental health. Unfortunately, many of the characters are not very likable and as a reader I was left with no one to root for. Additionally, relationships amongst these characters often don't make much sense either. However, there is a mystery that propels the story forward and redeems it somewhat. This was an average read for me...not unpleasant, but not particularly compelling either. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital copy of this novel for review.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Legend Times Group for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

Let me preface my review by saying this is not my typical book, and reading it took me way outside of my comfort zone. The preface, which is that a mom is grieving the disappearance of her son, is difficult for me as a mother. And it got darker from there. However, I did request it, so I felt I needed to give it a fair shot. And let me say this: it was creepy as hell, so if you’re up for that kind of book, this is one to pick up! I was seriously so disturbed by some of the things happening in this novel!

Susannah is grieving the loss of her teenaged son Joel, who disappeared 5 years ago without a trace. Susannah and her husband cannot deal with their tragedy and end up divorcing. Of the separation Susannah says: “When we first married, I imagined that losing John would break my heart. When it finally happened, we were both too exhausted to summon more than a weary acceptance.” I thought that was incredibly poignant, and it illustrated Susannah’s state of mind right off the bat.

One of the ways Susannah deals with her grief is by keeping a blog. When Joel first disappeared, she and her husband visited psychics, hoping for any news about their lost boy. Overtime she becomes increasingly embittered about the psychics, calling them frauds and warning others against seeking their guidance.
Over the course of the book, strange things start happening to Susannah, who has never lost hope of Joel returning. But something is clearly happening to her mind; something or someone is playing tricks on her, and she’s seriously starting to lose her grip, not to mention alienating and terrifying the people around her. What’s causing these strange episodes? Will she ever figure out what happened to her beloved child?

The story jumps around in time, and through that the reader gets glimpses into Joel’s childhood and Susannah and John’s marriage, which was quite strained by their constant fighting over their child. You also see the struggles the couple went through to have a child, and why Joel means so much to Susannah. Interspersed throughout are some of her blog posts, which help the reader understand her frame of mind. My biggest annoyance was a relationship between Susannah and another character. It felt unlikely and didn’t add anything to the plot. I don’t think books *need* a love interest to make them whole!

The writing is very good, and the story is tight and gripping. It’s an absolute page turner, and I sped through the first 70% in one sitting, staying up way past my bedtime to do so! The only reason I didn’t finish it that night is my eyes simply would not stay open. I did figure out what happened about halfway through, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment or interest, and I didn’t know how it would play out so I was compelled to keep going. It ended about how I expected, though there were some unexpected twists along the way.
All in all, this was a good, solid thriller, well-written and interesting. If you enjoy that genre and aren’t afraid to go to dark places, I’d recommend it!

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Susannah and John Harper were very much in love and they longed for a child. When they couldn’t conceive, they decided to adopt. Joel, the infant they adopted, was born addicted to drugs. They brought him home on Midwinter’s Day, just before Christmas. They called him their “Winter’s Child”.
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Susannah Harper’s fifteen year-old son Joel went to school one morning, left at lunch-time, and was never seen again. Now, five long years have passed. Susannah’s husband, a doctor, has left her. They were never able to be united in their methods of parenting, and now they are unable to cope with the loss of their son. She finds solace in her household routines, and in her blog. As she has been, and continues to be, plagued by scammers trying to profit from her hope of being reunited with her missing son, she has created a blog called “Life Without Hope” making it her calling to protect others from the spiritualists and frauds who prey upon the traumatized.

While visiting Hull Fair with her sister and her sister’s children, Susannah, against her better judgement, visits a fortune-teller. Skeptical, Susannah does feel that this time it is different. The fortune-teller says that “When the snow falls on Christmas Eve you’ll see his face again, and you’ll know where he’s been, and why he’s been there.”

Shortly after this event, Susannah’s life begins to unravel. She receives a blog comment which she quickly deletes – only to realize after she has done so that it was signed by Joel Moel, her secret affectionate name for her son. She takes her concerns to the police officer in charge of Joel’s case. Then, one day while cleaning Joel’s room, she discovers Joel’s stuffed toy, Scrap-Dog. As she has scrupulously cleaned and tidied his room countless times in the past five years, why is it now that the toy is sitting on Joel’s bed? Susannah begins to doubt herself. Is she hallucinating? The depiction of Susannah’s increasingly manic behaviour is brilliant, though it also causes the reader to believe that something about Joel’s disappearance isn’t quite right…

Susannah’s attraction to the policeman, Nick, a married man, is suspect – yet she seems so solitary – so very alone in her world that it is understandable.

Susannah befriends another woman whose son has also gone missing – but much more recently. She realizes that Jackie is someone she would never have otherwise been friends with yet their shared experience unites them.

As time passes it becomes abundantly clear that Susannah’s grief and loss of Joel has addled her mind. She is mentally unstable. But… the reader wonders… was she also unstable BEFORE Joel disappeared from their lives?

MY THOUGHTS

My first acquaintance with the writing of Cassandra Parkin came about earlier this year when I read her novel “Underwater Breathing“. I was so impressed with that one that I was more than eager to try another by her. After reading this novel I’ve come to realize that I enjoy her writing so much that I will endeavor to read everything she has written – as time permits.

Although ‘missing children’ seems to be an oft used trope in fiction, this author’s spin on the subject was unique enough to make her novel hold my interest. It showed the nasty side of humanity. How social media has enabled malicious and taunting internet trolls. How these trolls prey upon those who are enduring a personal trauma and try to profit from the pain and suffering of others. On the other hand it exploring the awesome power of hope that gets people through times that would devastate them otherwise. Also, it brilliantly described a family dynamic that might be more prevalent that we think. The whole ‘parent being jealous of the child’s place in their spouse’s life” scenario. Parenting when one parent undermines the other parent’s wishes and endeavors.

In spite of the empathy I felt for the protagonist Susannah, I found I just could NOT like her. I found her husband John, and her sister, Melanie, much easier to like and understand.

The ending, which took place on Christmas Eve, was what I expected, though I believe it might surprise some readers. Anyone expecting a nice ‘Christmasy’ read will be disappointed. This is a slow-paced, character-rich, domestic thriller.

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This gripping thriller had me hooked from the first chapter. Susannah’s teenage son Joel has been missing 5 years. After visiting a clairvoyant who tells her he will be back by Christmas, we see her life begin to unravel. She starts to hallucinate and sees haunting visions of water, mud and drowning. She starts to suspect something terrible has happened, but can she trust these visions and her unpredictable memory.

The story offers flashbacks to family life of Susannah, Joel and husband John. We are offered glimpses of what has lead them up to this point. There are two very different styles of parenting. Susannah thinks she’s doing what’s best for her son, but with issues of truancy and drugs, you fear she is making matters worse. This is definitely a case of mother does not always know best. It is a portrait of the fragility of families that start to fracture. It’s Susannah and Joel versus John. Susannah is always taking her sons side and trying to protect him. But does he need protecting?

I could see what was going to happen in the end, but that didn’t deter from my enjoyment of the book. Would recommend.

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The Winter’s Child is the story of a mother looking for her lost son. She holds on for years knowing that someday she will find him. She tries everything to try to find her baby boy and by the end of the book she does but not in the way you would think.

For the most part, I really loved this book. The story was creepy, fascinating, and the character development was great. I really liked most of the characters. The one character that I just couldn’t like was the main character, Suzannah. There was just something about her doting to her child that kind of made me sick to my stomach. Maybe it’s just because I am not a parent, but I can’t believe there are parents that actually feel like Suzannah feels toward their child.

While I thought the book was great. I was able to predict the ending. I will definitely be reading more of Cassandra Parkin's work. I highly recommend this book.
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However some trigger warnings: child abuse, murder, anxiety, depression.

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