This book didn't quite make it for me. The story in itself is good and gripping and was in some places a page turner. For me personally, I got a bit confused with the jumping back and forward from past to present. I like how the characters and situations were detailed though and brought to life but if I put it down and tried to pick the story back up sometimes I found it tricky. I liked the main character, Holly but not the whole Mafia type situation that surrounded her.

Overall this is worth a read, especially if you like thriller, gang, London based books but sadly not as enthralling as the likes of Martina Cole etc.

Thank you Net Galley.

I thought I would love this book but I just couldn’t get into it and the repetitive talk of “Seaview” was a little annoying.

Firstly, I have to say I love Daisy White's Ruby Baker series set in 1960s Brighton so I was thrilled to see her branch out into the psychological thriller genre. Upon reading the synopsis (blurb) for this book, I must say I was incredibly intrigued and excited by the the promising storyline. It was such a unique concept that left many questions as to how it might play out.

The story begins with Holly Kendal driving in the dark and driving rain with her young son Milo in the back, who is lost in the game he is playing that Holly has to keep telling him to turn it down so she could concentrate. Before long a car begins tailgating her at very close proximity with bright headlights blinding her in the rear view mirror. When another car is approaching from the opposite direction, seemingly on her side of the road, Holly must swerve to avoid colliding with him blasting her horn at the same time.

Meanwhile the car behind her is still hot on her tail, if not closer. Suddenly she is shunted from behind and tries to keep her own car on the road when the one behind rams her again. She over-corrects and ends up plummeting down the embankment and into the woods, stopping short of a tree. Both Holly and Milo are unconscious.

When Holly awakes, her first thought is of Milo as she scrambles in the twisted wreck in search of her son. Despite the pain shooting through her body, she climbs out and manages to open the back door to see Milo unconscious but unharmed. But then she sees Milo is not the only one in the backseat. There is a second child, also unconscious...and Holly has no idea who he is or where he has come from.

A passerby has seen the accident and called for emergency services despite not remaining at the scene (that alone is illegal here in Australia), and Holly finds herself and Milo transported to hospital along with the mystery child. She is given the all clear and Milo just has a few cuts and a broken leg, but the other child is not so lucky. He remains in a critical condition in a coma, his identity still unknown.

But things take a surprising turn when DNA taken from the mystery child reveals a familial link to Holly. How can that be? All her family are dead, except for her father and a childless aunt. So who is this mystery child?

And that is where any similarities to the outline for the story ends. What we are given instead is a story surrounding a criminal community and the families involved who thrive on the proceeds of drugs and human trafficking. While the story showed promise at the outset, the synopsis given was very misleading as it didn't really focus on the child at all but more about the seedier side of organised crime. The whole thing felt sordid and grubby, and was a disappointment. I couldn't even finish it so I've no idea how it all ended up or who the child was and how he fit into the story.

The few characters I met up to the point I gave up, I didn't like. Not even Holly. Her ex-husband was a piece of work. He cheats on her, moves in with his teenage bit of fluff and somehow everything that happens is Holly's fault. He is a classic narcissist who thrives on accolades of applause and attention and once he no longer receives that, he looks for it elsewhere. The fact that he was Holly's university lecturer should have been a red flag to her then. He basked in her adoration of him but when that wore off, he traded her in for a younger model. He was vile and I felt I needed a shower after listening to his tirade. Holly's father was once head of a criminal empire on the estate from which she came - something her ex-husband never let her forget. Her aunt still lived on the estate and she was OK, but I still think she had rose coloured glasses when it came to the estate. And I got exhausted listening to Milo.

Much of the book I found hard to follow and slightly convoluted. It chopped and changed from past to present without really much indication, making my head spin. I didn't know where I was half the time.

I was disappointed as I really expected more of a psychological thriller, and THE FORGOTTEN CHILD was more of an action-based story about organised crime. Not my cup of tea at all. It seems THE FORGOTTEN CHILD really was forgotten in this story.

However, reading is a personal thing and what appeals to one may not appeal to another. While I didn't particularly enjoy THE FORGOTTEN CHILD I'm sure there are many others who will. But don't judge by the synopsis as it is very misleading and not really about that at all (a pet peeve of mine). If you think you might enjoy it from what I've outlined, then why not give it a go?

I would like to thank #DEWhite, #NetGalley and #HGDigital for an ARC of #TheForgottenChild in exchange for an honest review.

Last month three books stood out in my mind and, when I grouped them together, I realised that they had a common thread. All three of them had protagonists you don’t often see represented in crime fiction and it was this diversity that pulled me to them (as well as the exceptional stories, of course). In Ali Harper’s The Runaway, we have two Northern , working class women, one of whom is gay and black. In Kia Abdullah’s Take It Back we have a disabled girl and a Muslim female lawyer and in D.E. White’s, The Forgotten Child, the main character Holly is struggling to maintain a distance from her family’s criminal past, whilst coping with a controlling ex-husband and being a single parent.

I would love to hear what reads you loved in September and why. Why not leave a recommendation at the bottom. #Lovebooks #LoveReading!

The Forgotten Child by D.E. White is all about secrets and past events. After Holly has a car accident and finds another child sitting beside her own son in the back seat, she finds herself drawn to the child. From there, secrets from Holly’s past, the return of a familiar face and shocking news all converge as she, with the help of a friend tries to discover the child’s identity whilst being determined not to return to her old life, despite pressure. Gangsters, unidentified children, threats and family secrets make this a must read. This is an explosive read, with enough red herrings and twists to keep you on your toes. Loved it!

I really liked the cover. It is very appealing designed. The writing style is pleasant and very fluently to read. The characters are very well described and look well thought out and consistently interesting. The tension is always present. The descriptions of surroundings, feelings and scenes were also very good. The story is told pleasant and it succeeds from the first pages to dive directly into the story. The storyline as a whole is very coherent and it seems very understandable and authentic. A very fascinating story that you won't like to stop reading.

This book was not something I expected from the synopsis. The synopsis pulled me in and I was so excited to read it. Unfortunately, the dialogues in the book were not organic and had no natural flow to it. It felt forced and stilted. I liked the story, the premise and how the plot progressed. I didn't expect the twists or turns that came in the book. I didn't like Holly's character and at times the author's intention for her character didn't match who she is in the book. The overall enjoyability was heavily affected by the dialogues and the style of it. I gave the book a 3-stars rating.

EXCERPT: Holly cut through the last bit of rope as (he) finished his call. She bunched her legs under her, arranging the rope around her wrists and ankles, ready for a moment when she could attack him. She was fairly confident that if he came close she would be able to tackle him before he pulled a gun. If he had a knife he might have a chance to use it, but she didn't care. She knew she would fight to the death as much as the boys were going to have to, for her son.

This was going to be it, her last fight. Without ropes or referees, without gloves or timers, she was going to fight not just for her life, but for all of them. Her muscles quivered, but she arranged her face into an expression of passive terror and let her old instincts rise.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Holly Kendal is trying to put her painful past and broken marriage behind her and focus on her beloved son, Milo. But while driving him home on a dark February night, Holly loses control on the rain-slicked tarmac, and her car spirals off the road.

When Holly regains consciousness, everything is silent and in the dark, she can’t see Milo. Desperately, she claws her way out of the car and forces the back door open.

To her relief, Milo is where she left him, injured but breathing – but then she sees something that makes her heart stop.

Milo isn't the only child in the car. Next to him is another little boy, unharmed but unconscious.

And Holly has absolutely no idea who he is.

MY THOUGHTS: I was expecting more of a psychological thriller than what I got, which was a very action based story of a family and community who thrive on the proceeds from drug dealing and human trafficking.

There were no characters that I particularly liked, except perhaps Devril, or Devil as Milo calls him. No, not even Holly.

It is, in parts, very repetitive. There were a couple of times that I almost threw in the towel. I felt no suspense, no sense of being thrilled at any point during the read and, on reflection, I am unsure why I bothered to finish it. The whole thing felt sordid and grubby. The cover, which I like, is the most atmospheric thing in the book,

Not my usual reading fare and not an experience that I am planning to repeat.

Reading is a personal and subjective experience, and what appeals to one may not please another. So if you enjoyed the excerpt from The Forgotten Child, and the plot outline appeals, please do go ahead and read it.

😖😖

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Daisy White is the best-selling author of The Ruby Baker Seaside Mysteries, set in 1960’s Brighton and published by Joffe Books.
Her new psychological thriller ‘Remember Me’, published by HQ Digital (HarperCollins), is out Feb 2019, with another, Blindsided’ to follow in July 2019.

She lives on the Sussex coast and has two children, both of whom are bookworms, so it must run in the family!

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to HQ Digital via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Forgotten Child by D.E. White for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

An okay read I wish the book had more to do with the child then the mob but overall it was a fine read with some good moments of suspense and twists just not my favourite

Wow, that was intense! I thoroughly enjoyed it: the writing style, the characters and the plot. Everything came together really well. It was unpredictable, and the best thing was that the main characters were not perfect; they were real and relatable, making it easy to empathise with them.

Holly wakes up after a terrible car crash and discovers another child in the car along with her young son. Hmmm this additional child wasn’t there before the accident, so what’s going on? What could have been a really good psychological thriller veers off into an organized crime story which came as a surprise to me.

The Forgotten Child started out great and was very gripping. It was hard to put down. But after the first couple of chapters it fell very short. It turned into a foul mouthed, very unrealistic, mafia family, slum ride. It just leaves a dirty taste in your mouth. And if I had a dollar for every F-bomb that was dropped (many by the heroine, the young mother the author is trying to get you to like, who has a mouth that would make a sailor blush), I'd be rich.

Sorry but I can't recommend this book to anyone.

I’m glad I read the reviews of this book after I had finished it as I thought I had missed the point of the story going off the blurb whilst in fact I don’t think whoever wrote the blurb had read more than the first chapter or two.
It was gripping at the start and I thought I was going to love it but then some mafia family crime plot took over and I was glad to get to the end.
If you enjoy Martina Cole books I think this would be a great author for you to read and I certainly didn’t guess “ who done it”.

Wow what a ride! From the very start of The Forgotten Child, the reader is pulled into a thrilling who done it type mystery. Holly is driving home with her son and getting vitriolic texts from her ex-husband when she is run off the road. When she comes to, she checks the back seat only to find a second boy is now suddenly in the car with them. How did he get there? Who is he? Who called the ambulance? This is just the start of this book and just one of the mysteries that are unraveled. I will not give out more of the plot because I don't want to spoil the book for other readers. I really loved that the characters and layers in this story were so complex. This was a very intricately woven tale that kept me guessing until the very end. Fantastic book!

*I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. *

First of all I would say to anyone considering buying this book to ignore the early less than favourable reviews that have been posted. There was an original blurb written for this book which I don't think did it any favours. I read the book and expected one type of story but got something quite different, and I think it is this that has led to some lower star reviewers. I understand it has now been amended to a better description for the book. Holly had a difficult start in life, being the daughter of one of the criminal families who ran the Seaview Estate where drugs and crime were rife. After the unsolved death of her mother and then the disappearance of her brother when his girlfriend and baby were murdered, she took her life in a completely different direction and tried to leave the past behind. Although different, ultimately things were not really much better for her, and now she finds herself living nearby and once more trying to make a new life for herself and her young son. One night the are involved in a car accident but on regaining consciousness she finds an extra child in the wrecked car. With no idea who he is or where he came from, she finds herself thrown back into the past she so desperately wanted to forget and has to fight to keep hold of those she cares about whilst never knowing who she can trust anymore. Although the child in the title is important, this is really a story about rival family gangs and the competition between them on a run down drug infested estate, involving some members who want to break free of this lifestyle and others who want to immerse themselves fully and become top dogs. It was sad to read how most of the people who disliked the lifestyle were still not brave enough to try to do something to stop it, preferring to simply accept that's how things are or run away instead. Well written, the book had a slowish start, with a lot of characters to get familiar with, and for a while it was hard to see where the story was going. However the strands did later all start to weave together to reveal the truth, and the action at the end made up for it as all questions were finally answered and things made sense at last!

I hate to write a review that is more negative than positive. Like other reviewers, I would not have chosen this book except for the synopsis about the car wreck and the extra boy in the car. The first few pages of the book were definitely engaging and I didn’t want to put the book down. But then the story took a turn. It was no longer about a mysterious boy in a car. There were pages and pages of dialogue. The story got more and more unrealistic. Definitely not my kind of book. Thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an edge of your seat book. Very different that it was based on drug kingpins and a feud between them. Showed how they are people with problems just like everyone else. Stayed on the edge of my seat trying to figure it all out and guess what was what, but the twist at the end was not something I expected. Very good book.

I’ve read a number of D.E White’s (she’s also published under the name Daisy White) novels over the years so when I hear she has a new book out, it’s always a must read for me.

Holly Kendal is a single mum, trying her hardest to put her ex husband and troubled past behind her. She’s driving home with her son Milo when she skids off the road, crashing her car.

When she wakes up, she finds not only her son but another boy. Who is this child and where did he come from? Unable to rest until Holly knows who the boy is, she must look into her past and confront the secrets that lie there.

The Forgotten Child is a tense and intriguing thriller with a cast of fascinating characters.

Holly is a great character that you really can’t help rooting for. She’s worked hard to escape from her gangland past and built a new life for her and her son, working in call centre for the ambulance services, yet she still has an edge of toughness about her. Ugh and her ex husband, how she deals with him is beyond me!

The book was billed as a psychological thriller but it felt like it was edging more into a gangland thriller territory. This type of novel is not usually my cup of tea but D.E White’s writing draws me in every time!

I did feel that the boy who Holly finds in her car, the whole incident that starts the story, got a little forgotten in the overall story but of course that’s just my opinion.

The Forgotten Child is a gritty and intense read that’s packed with tension from that very first page.

Wow this book really starts with an adrenaline pumping introduction. As Holly is driving in the night she is being bombarded with hateful texts and is being tailgated by a van on a dark lonely road. The inevitable crash knocks her out for a while and when she wakes up there is a strange child in the car with her son. Where did this child come from? How and why is he unconscious in her car?

The mysteries continue to add up as secrets from the past come back to haunt not only Holly but her friends and family.

The characters develop well over the course of the book and I loved getting to know Holly and the other characters. I like how the story and the histories of each character meshed perfectly with the story making this a riveting read that I couldn't put down.

The story itself is intriguing it had me hooked from the beginning and there are numerous twists and turns throughout to keep the reader's interest. I thought I had worked it out several times but then the story twisted again and I had to rethink.

A brilliant book with a lot going on all the way through I loved it. 5 stars from me.

It is late at night and recently separated mom Holly is driving her son home. There is a car following too closely, there are horrible texts coming in on her phone, then a deer jumps out in front of them and the crash is imminent. When Holly wakes up, she is in her car, and looking for her son Milo. She finds him unconscious in the back seat, but he isn't alone. There is another little boy in her back seat as well. But who is he and why is he in her backseat next to her son?

I was intrigued by the blurb and I thought that more of the story would be about the child and finding out who he was. The story took a bit of an odd turn when we found out who the child was fairly early on but Holly's own child was kidnapped from her home. Holly grew up in a crime family and there were no shortage of possible suspects, her ex husband, his new girlfriend, an ex boyfriend of hers, her father, other crime bosses from the area, her "dead but not really" brother, so many choices. I was trying to figure it out and really did not figure it out until I read who it was. So that being said, kudos to the author for making me suspect everyone and then really throwing me for a loop with who it was and why.

My frustration lies in the title and in the blurb. They really have very little to do with the story. The car crash with random child in the car and the title are both very far from the main storyline. They are almost just a side note and not really a part of the story at all.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the book to review. This is my honest review.

A page-turner for sure! Holly is sure she has gotten herself and her son Milo away from her family's illegal dealings in Seaview Estates. Then she gains consciousness after a car accident to find a mysterious unconscious child in the back of her car. She is also getting hateful texts from her ex who insists he isn't sending them. Is this all related? Is the past coming back to haunt her? You will find yourself unwilling to put the book down as your need to know takes over.
My only hesitation with a full five star review is that i found one main idea unrealistic. It is very hard for someone to get away from a mob-connected family. I found it a bit hard to believe that Holly would have stayed so close to her old home if she was trying to start her life over. However, I did not find that this took away from my enjoyment of the story.