Holly Kendal left her husband when she discovered he was cheating, but Tom is furious that Holly took their son Milo with her. One rainy evening, Holly and Milo are involved in a car accident in which Holly blacks out. When she comes to, her relief that Milo is okay turns to confusion when she notices another young boy she has never seen before sitting in the back seat next to her son. This event is just the beginning of the danger Holly faces, but she will do whatever it takes to keep her son safe.

The premise of this book is so intriguing. Unfortunately, the mystery of the boy in Holly's car is answered early on. The book mainly focuses on Holly's secrets and her past and present dealings with organized crime. There are too many "bad guys" to keep track of and the story is full of violence and strong language and is not the domestic thriller I was hoping for. However, I read all types of mysteries and may have enjoyed it more if the story had been told differently. Except for the conversations between Holly and her best friend Cathryn, much of the dialogue is stilted and the narrative is often confusing. The book also includes letters written by an unknown boy to his father that further detract from the story.

The book starts strong, gets really slow in the middle, and has a tense, violent showdown between the main players in this drama towards the end. I was pleasantly surprised when things wrap up on a hopeful note at the very end. I wish I had known what this book was really like before I had begun so I wouldn't have been disappointed by the direction the story took. Holly is a memorable character, but this book wasn't really for me.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of HQ Digital. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books where the synopsis is nothing at all like the actual book. It wasn’t a psychological thriller, it was more of a crime book about gangs in the local area. It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t what I expected. Personally I’m not a big crime fan, and I only requested it as I thought it was a psychological thriller. So it wasn’t for me as it’s a genre I don’t really enjoy that often. A prime example of a book that isn’t bad necessarily, but was just badly marketed and missold, meaning it reached an audience that maybe wasn’t its target.

Protagonist gets into a wreck and wakes up with an extra kid in her car. She only has one son, so who is this other child? It didn't stick to blurb like I thought it would, it had more to do with local smallish organized crime and less to do with the mystery of the child. Still held my interest, although I thought it could be substantially shorter as parts of it - especially the struggle with the cocaine addicted ex husband - dragged on and got lost in itself. Still a worthy and entertaining read.

Marketed as a psychological thriller this was more of a gang/organised crime book familiar to readers of Martina Cole and the like. There were a lot of characters to unpick from the different gangs and I often found my attention wandering. I think my reaction to the book would have been more positive if it had been marketed more logically. Sometimes this book felt over complicated and confusing. I may give this another read when I'm in the mood for this type of book and see whether or not mg opinion of it changes.

Like a number of other readers, I found this to be entirely different from the way it was advertised, and not in a good way. It started out really strongly and I was engaged completely for the first quarter of the book, despite the fact that the focus never really lay where the blurb led you to believe it would - with the child and his mysterious circumstances. But from then on, references to the eponymous child became even fewer and farther between and the focus was entirely on an organized crime family battle between a series of odious characters, and that's when it lost me in earnest. From then on I struggled to stay with it and eventually had to admit that this was not what I'd signed up for and put it down for good... It's too bad, because I really did enjoy the beginning, but then the storytelling (style and substance) shifted into a realm I just couldn't find compelling. If I had known that was what the story was primarily about, I would not have requested it - I'm just not this book's audience...

This was not at all what I expected from the blurb that was given but having said that I found it a fantastic read which was gripping from the very start. So many Mob references and their very nasty turf wars and money making projectsadd ed to the readability. The characters were so well developed and all were given interesting aspects. At no point was it obvious as to what was going on or indeed what would happen next. Towards the end suspicions that I had did unravel but no way did I get anywhere near the reasoning.
A very well written book that highlights a great author.
My only question is what happened to Ruby eventually?

Disappointed. I was immediately interested in this book once I read the description but it turned out to be completely missing. The story is actually focused on the main characters past and her families involvement with the mob. I DNF this one because I was quite upset about the fact that it was basically a completely different story than advertised plus the story was just flat, hard to get invested into and I couldn't make a connection with the main character.

I liked this book . The story line was well thought out and well written, the characters were developed and realate-able. This book takes us into a drug/gang related story line that parallels with a current life outside of this lifestyle. When Holly is run off the road a child is found in her vehicle that was not there prior to the accident. But this child is not the stranger she thinks he is. Holly must journey into her past to find out who this child is and why he was found in her vehicle. When her own son turns up missing finding these answers becomes urgent. Who is doing this and why?
Most of this book was fast paced and suspenseful but there was a period in the middle of the book where nothing new really happened and it dragged on a bit to much, for that reason it lost a star from my review.

This book was different to what I expected I was a bit disappointed as I had high expectations. It was worth a read though & would read more by the author in the future.

I like the concept of this book, but couldn’t quite sink my teeth into it. It was at times far fetched and mostly centred on the criminal family as opposed to the child. In May be some people’s cup of tea, but it fell flat for me.

Unfortunately this book leaves a lot to be desired and is very disjointed in the characters. It did not grab my attention and draw me in as promised.

The Forgotten Child by D. E. White drew me in with an incredibly interesting premise. Holly is driving down a back road one evening in wet February weather when she loses control of her car and crashes. When she wakes up and goes to check on her young son in the back seat, she find another little boy sitting next to him who she doesn’t recognize, and who wasn’t in the car before the accident. Unfortunately, within the first few chapters I quickly began to stall out on this one. The beginning of the book throws way too many references to Holly’s past at you at once, and I found myself floundering trying to keep track of them all. While you eventually get answers to all the questions you are given in the beginning, it is very overwhelming at the start.

Another complaint I have surrounds the misleading blurb and title of the book. One would hope that a book with a title like “The Forgotten Child” and a blurb about waking up after an accident with a mysterious child in your backseat you could expect the majority of the book to be about this child, but instead the plot focuses more on Holly’s family and their various criminal lifestyles, only coming back to the child towards the end of the book.

All of that being said, this was not a bad book. The characters were interesting and the book itself was well written. I wonder if I would have liked it better with a different title and description. As it was, there was strong cognitive dissonance that I think contributed to my dislike of the book.

I enjoyed this book, was hooked early on and on the edge of my seat in parts, a great read full of surprises. I haven't read anything by this author before but I will be looking out for more.

Holly crashes her car with her young son Milo on board, when she comes round, she is shaken and scared and panicking about Milo, managing to free herself from the car, she is relieved to see Milo, albeit unconscious but ok from what she can tell, however, what she doesn't expect is an extra child strapped into the back of her, unconscious, where did this boy come from, who is he?

From the off and after reading the blurb, I thought the book was about this mysterious boy that Holly seems to have "inherited" but this was really only a side line story, there was so much more to this book, organised crime being at the forefront, lies, family.... a good mystery with elements of surprise, I enjoyed it for the most part and it all came together at the end. A solid 3***

After reading the blurb for this book I could wait to start reading. A confusing read, unbelievable and at times I did ask myself why I was bothering. I did finish this book, hoping that all my efforts would be rewarded. Not. This is my own personal opinion and I am sure other readers will enjoy it more just not for me.
I would like to thank the author, HQ Digital and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Holly, driving in the dark and rain with her young son Milo in the back of the car, gets run off the road and ends up wounded... and with an extra child in the car. Luckily, Holly and Milo are more or less ok, but the second child is not.
How this child came to be in the car, by whom he was put there and why, makes up for the biggest part of this story. However, although it is a big part of the story, it is not the whole story. The Forgotten Child is a story about a young woman, born and raised on an infamous housing estate in a criminal family, who desperately wants to escape her life and become someone different. How she does this is not by moving to the other part of the country or some such thing, it is by marrying a nice man, a cultured and well-off teacher, and having his child. This, sadly, is not the right way because the nice man turns out not to be so nice. So Holly is alone again, trying to hold on to stressfull job (which she loves) and fighting off family members who want her to come back and be a part of criminal activities.
The book starts of allright but quite soon I was a little lost between all the comings and goings of the family. There are three families but not all members of these families are the same sort of criminal. Some are trying to escape to a 'better' life, as Holly does, but not all succeed. Others turn the other parts and become even more entangled in very, very bad things.
There are some very likable characters though, and once you get the idea of who is who and who did what in the past (and why), it becomes clear that things could get very nasty for Holly - or very good.
Which one it is, you have to find out for yourself.

Thanks to NetGalley for this digital review copy.

This book was very different to what I had expected. Truthfully I wasn't sure about it, because of the content,but I persevered and wanted to know the outcome for Holly,who I felt drawn to .I found the violence in the book unpleasant and it was hard to understand where it was going at timesi and to follow the unwritten rules of the estate. Overall it is a readable story and reaches its conclusion with answers.

Thrilling story with a great plot, highly recommend to fans of this genre. A must read!! Great characters that keep you guessing til the end.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

The Forgotten Child by D.E. White
The title and the blurb of the book caught my attention and I approached it with much anticipation. A new book with a supposedly new premise always excites me. But I was met with disappointment.
Holly Kendall is driving home one rainy night with her son Milo when she notices a car following them. The car hits her bumper causing her to lose control of her vehicle and roll down a hill. They lose consciousness. When Holly finally wakes, she finds not only Milo but another unconscious boy who she has never seen before. Her search for answers about this mysterious child, who refuses to speak, generates more questions creating more chaos and confusion. The story starts digressing and the plot takes a totally different path with organised crime and Holly’s estranged father who has a connection with the mafia. Her constant struggle with her cheating ex husband and her past love is a torment for her.
The synopsis was a bit misleading and the fact that the protagonist finds a mysterious child in her car was intriguing but when the focus diverts to mafia and organised crime from the unknown boy who was the main premise from the beginning, the story loses its edge.
There are moments of suspense which are thrilling but the weak story arc and confusing characterization make these moments seem damp. Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC to review.