3.5 stars. This is the second in this series and I had not read the first one. This story can stand alone. A mother is murdered and her baby missing which is the current day mystery. There is also a storyline from 1954 relevant to one of the characters relating to the disappearance of his baby sister. That part did not feel like it fit in well and the resolution felt unsatisfactory to me. Otherwise a fairly typical police procedural with cops and staff with many personal issues somewhat randomly thrown in there. It is a solid book but not overly engaging.

The Child Before by author Michael Scanlon is a fast paced thriller with heart wrenching turns! I base a book a lot on how I feel while reading.. Bored or disappointed was never a feeling reading The Child Before! I went from heartbroken to angry to scared!! What a perfect combination for a thriller!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Child Before in exchange for an honest review. I would absolutely recommend this book!

The Child Before by Michael Scanlon is a fast-paced thriller centred on Detective Finnegan Beck. This is the first book that I have read in this series but, I believe, it works quite well as a stand alone work.

When the body of a woman is found in a car near the village of Kelly's Forge, the case becomes twofold after an empty infant seat is discovered in the back of the vehicle. But where is the child? The case of the missing infant is reminiscent of another child who had gone missing decades earlier in the same village. Despite a fifty year gap, is a link between the two cases possible?

Full of twists and dark turns, the author keeps the reader guessing up until the very last page. I would definitely make a return visit to the village of Kelly's Forge to uncover more of the mysteries that are held within.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

This seems to be the second (possibly third) book in the series. I had no idea since it wasn't mentioned in the description or the title. The first book of the series, "Where She Lies" lets the reader know it's book one, but I can't tell how many books have come before "The Child Before" nor could I find it anywhere by researching. That being said, I could only get about half way through the book. It began well, with a mystery of a woman in 1954 and her missing baby. The time jumped back and forth to what I'm assuming is present day versus 1954. Kelly's Forge seems like an interesting place, and I'd love to know more about it. Unfortunately, Scanlon doesn't really go into that much which is disappointing.

After forcing myself to read 1/3 of the book, I pushed on, hoping it would get better, but I felt like there were a ton of different characters who I couldn't keep track of along with their thoughts and side stories. The book didn't "gel" for lack of a better work. It felt disjointed and the dialog seemed like it was forced through most of the conversations. Nothing was fluid and I had a hard time keeping up with what was going on. The scenes broke abruptly rather than seamlessly going to the next.

While the plot was interesting, it just wasn't enough for me to keep going. I'm only giving this two stars as opposed to one because I feel like with a TON of work, the book could be great. The plot fascinates me, but that was about all this book had going for it.