I was given a copy of Dear Child by Romy Hausmann by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The book as originally written in German then translated into English.
The book is about Lena who has been held captive but finally escapes with her daughter Hannah who has never been outside. The story is told from several different sides Lena, Hannah and Matthias Lena's father. This book was set at great pace from the start, i couldn't put it down. Lots of twist and turns along the way. Will be looking forward to this author in the future.

An excellent new thriller awaits readers in the form of Romy Hausmann’s Dear Child. And fortunately for you, I have an exclusive book review.

So settle down, grab a tea and prepare for a profound psychological battering.

Focussing on memory loss, tricks of the mind and damaging/traumatic events, Dear Child keeps you guessing right up to the final moments.

Memory loss is nothing new in the genre, but when done well, it can be an excellent trope. As I stated in my review of Before I Go to Sleep when the outcome is more apparent, it becomes a redundant trope, but here it is executed to a T.

Following Lena around feels like a constant nightmare. She’s jumpy, on edge, and afraid of anyone who knocks on her apartment door, or of her returning captor.

Let’s back up a moment.

Lena is hit by a car one evening and rushed to hospital alongside her daughter Hannah. As Lena is in the hospital bed unable to speak, Hannah begins to reveal details to the nurse that suggest things at home aren’t quite what they seem.

Firstly, that they live in a cabin in the middle of the woods, with no direct access or interaction with the outside world.

Secondly, her brother Jonathan will be wondering where they are once he finishes cleaning up the blood.

What blood?

Oh, and coinciding with the crash is the two parents, Matthias and Karin, whose daughter went missing fourteen years prior.

They hear news of the accident and are informed that this just might be their baby girl, found after all this time. The markings and scar on her forehead match her description, and she is roughly the same age. But it can’t be, can it?

Romy Hausmann
Dear Child is the debut novel of German writer Romy Hausmann. Due to great success in her homeland, the book Liebes Kind has been translated and released worldwide.

To coincide with this release, Romy also has a new book; Marta is Sleeping, due to be released in April 2020.

Her style is informal, flowing and easy to read.

There are a few German words that remain, which are to be expected and can be easily looked up on a Kindle.

The characters are well written, divisive and follow simple characteristics. For a book based around trauma, this isn’t a bad thing.

At times the book gives off similar vibes to Stephen King’s novel, Gerald’s Game. Isolation, fear of the unknown, and the sense that something harmful lingers in the shadows just out of sight.

The only downside to Dear Child is some of the interactions with Hannah, although mental instability and illness are hinted at, which would explain her choice of words and lack of empathy.

They can become a little tiresome as she continuously corrects everyone around her inside of her own head.

Closing Thoughts
Dear Child is a fantastic thriller that will have you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Confusion, fear, suspense and second-guessing, this book has it all. Go and check it out if you require a new thriller.

While I did really enjoy Dear Child, as I come to write my review I realise it wasn’t very memorable. It gave off the same vibes as Room in the sense that there is a captor, a female wanting to escape and children born into captivity that know no different and struggle to adapt to the outside world. However, I read Room some years ago and remember the storyline of that better than Dear Child. The plot twist towards the end was definitely unexpected but I found the character of Lenas father to be really draining and I imagine rather unrealistic in terms of how he continually jeopardised the search for his daughter and then became obsessed with his granddaughter but not his grandson. At the time of reading I was hooked but it’s just not something that’s stuck in my memory since unfortunately

I was hooked when I first started reading this one, it's so intriguing and you just want to keep reading!

However, as I started to read more and about 40% in I just wasn't gripped and I felt like the story dragged a bit but I did find the start and end really captivating and I couldn't read fast enough and that definitely made up for the slowly parts.

The translation was really good but I was confused all the time with all the characters names for some reason and then the twist at the end I had to remind myself who was who to understand 😅

Overall, it was a good read but slow in parts, I feel like the story could have been condensed a tad. I would recommend this one due to the fact the story line is original and there are so really gripping moments!

Thank you to Quercus Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for a honest review.

Lena was just a teenager when she went missing on her way home and the case has remained open with no new leads for 13 years, but when a young woman runs out of the woods into the path of a car, the police need to confirm if this stranger is the missing Lena.
The hit and run victim also has a young child with her who is the image of Lena. Investigations start raising questions on who the lady is and where she came from.

When "Lena" is released from hospital, she returns to a flat that her real previous self rented with a friend. She suffers paranoia and is suspicious of everybody around her..... but does she have reason to be?

The story flips between the young lady, the child (Hannah) and Lena's father. You start to feel the pressures and years of frustrations of Lena's family and not knowing what has happened to their daughter, this is amplified at the thought she has possibly been found and they might have a grandchild. You have to feel for both Lena and Hannah as their story unfolds but also realise they are both hiding something from the doctors and the police.

There is not always a clear separation between the timeline in character changes so can be a little confusing at times.

A good storyline that will have your emotions flipping from sympathy, empathy and suspicion.

A good thriller which is one of my favourite genres. Fast paced, suspension and gripping with a twist to the end. A satisfying read of my first book from this author.

Loved this book.such a gripping story it pulls you in from the start. It's a really good story is this woman the person who disappeared all those years ago or isn't not. Who is the father. There are so many twist to this book I kept thinking it could of been every character who was guilty.

Dear Child had me hooked from the beginning - Lena and her two children are kept captive in a cabin in the woods by the children’s father, or rather their captor! Whilst this premise has been used for books before, I loved the twists that we encounter along the way (especially the start!!) and finding out who Lena really is.

There is something strangely fascinating about this type of book and it makes you want to read more. Imagining it happen through the victims point of view really opens you eyes and makes it feel almost real at times. Hausmann writes this brilliantly and the scenes where they are running through the wood are so vivid and real!

It is very well written and you really feel all the emotions that the main characters feel. Hausmann has written this perfectly, creating suspense and creepiness, whilst also exploring loss and trauma in a delicate way. I love books with different character points of view and this book is no exception. As you delve deeper, you find yourself believing and doubting characters constantly and the ending is just the biggest shocker!

I devoured this book, which feels weird to say as it explores such an awful scenario, but I think it is also very reflective of how brilliantly Roman Hausmann has written this and how perfectly on point the whole story is!

Dear Child is an addictive, tense and intriguing thriller which tells the story from three perspectives: “Lena”, the daughter Hannah, and Lena’s father Matthias. It switches between them to give us an extra insight into the terrifying world of Lena’s as she’s held captive by this man. I love stories that switch between narrators and Dear Child is no exception. It’s a brilliant example of using this technique to make the reader slowly realise that no one is completely honest…

Obviously there are a lot of deep and very dark themes in this novel. It starts off in a rather haphazard way, as we wonder what on earth is going on. This adds to the novel’s sense of confusion and makes it even more of a tense read – then as the story continues, it becomes clear that everyone is not who they seem to be at first.

The victims of this tragic case all have very different reactions to the trauma, and demonstrates that there isn’t one uniform way to try to ‘get over’ something like this. I loved that there was an added sense of mystery in what happened to Lena and what connection there is (or isn’t) to the people currently involved. I don’t want to give much else anyway, but can just say that this is a really intriguing, exciting debut from Romy Hausmann and I’m really excited to read more by her in the future.

A book which caused me to sigh at the end of reading.

An abducted woman Lena with her children got an opportunity to escape. Now it was upto the cops and her parents to decide if she was who she was and what had happened to her in the interim years.

The story was twisted and not for the faint hearted. Some parts got to me. Not something I should have read with world crisis. It was heart wrenching to hear what had happened to her and some parts shocked me completely. I could have never guessed who was her abductor.

Overall, a mind blowing read, tough in some parts.

Lena lives in a shack in the woods with her two children and her husband. Life is regimented, lived totally indoors and captive. Then one day Lena has an opportunity to escape - is that the end of her captivity & nightmare or only the beginning?
As I began this book I thought it would be an average sort of abduction story with overtones of the "Room". However, this book is better than just a mishmash of other works. Although it shares some ideas with other books - very few stories are unique - it does take its own path making for an interesting and enjoyable read.
The characters in this book are interesting. How would you react if your daughter went missing 13 years ago? How would you react to the sudden appearance of a woman who may be Lena? Her parents react in very different ways. The characters have a lot of depth. There is Lena struggling to cope following her captivity. Then there are the children Hannah & Jonathan who have very differing attitudes to the outside world and the events that have led them there.
I am not going to say too much about the story - you need to discover things as they unfold. It is an intricate plot which is well constructed with a good ending. In places there is an unusual style of writing which took a while to get used to but actually adds to the book.
A good book with suspense and complexity.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Brilliant book, though make sure you're in the right mind to read it especially now during the pandemic! It's a well-written story about a woman who flees from the man who abducted her. However, her family and the police are trying to piece together what happened and whether she is really who she thinks she is. This book will keep you guessing and because of that it's also hard to put down.

Massive thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher, #Quercus for my ARC version of the book.

Thanks to Net Galley and Quercus for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
This is an addictive read, once started I found I needed to keep reading.
Lena Beck has been missing for 13 years, what happened to her, her parents are desperate for closure, so when they get a phone call informing them that a woman has been found and there is a strong possibility it is their daughter, they rush to the hospital to identify her.
Is it Lena, has she been alive all this time and who is the child who looks so like her.?
The story unfolds, the girl and her brother have been living in a cabin in the woods, with this unidentified woman, who according to the girl is called Lena, and their Papa. There is no daylight, windows are boarded up, they have never been outside, they have a strict daily routine which includes specific times to use the toilet.
It isn’t however Lena Beck who has been found, its Jasmine who has been missing for four months, she has endured a harrowing traumatic four months.
The story definitely keeps you guessing throughout, it is very cleverly written, several twists and turns and a good ending.

Dear Child is the third novel by best-selling German author, Romy Hausmann. It’s a hit-and-run car accident that brings unconscious Lena and her daughter, Hannah, to the hospital emergency department in Cham. As Lena is treated, Sister Ruth talks to Hannah. What she learns from this poised, controlled young girl sets off alarm bells: within a short time, a late-night call is made to parents in Munich.

Matthias Beck and his wife, Karin immediately set out for Cham, near the Czech border: even waiting until morning is too long to find out if the woman is their daughter, their Lena, missing for almost fourteen years. Police are searching for an isolated cabin in the woods, and a boy called Jonathan: Hannah’s brother. Will Matthias and Karin finally have an answer?

There are three narrative strands: Matthias gives the perspective of the heart-broken father who has never stopped searching; Jasmin’s is a second-person narrative addressed to Lena and details some of her ordeal; Hannah’s words, with dictionary definitions, encyclopaedic facts, rules and schedules, but also glimpses of violence, succinctly illustrates the conditions under which Lena and her children lived in the cabin in the woods.

Of course, it quickly becomes apparent that Hannah is an unreliable narrator, including what are clearly fantasies, and not revealing all she knows. Some of what she says will leave the reader gasping. Nor can Matthias be completely relied upon, while Jasmin’s mental state after her escape also affects her perceptions.

What a brilliantly-plotted, twisty tale Hausmann gives the reader! There are plenty of red herrings keep the reader guessing until the final chapters, and even after the dramatic denouement, there are more surprises in store. Hausmann describes the power of the media to colour the public perception of an incident by questioning the virtue of the victim, and also demonstrates how powerlessness can drastically influence the choices one makes. A gripping and thought-provoking read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Quercus

'Dear Child' is a really fascinating thriller and so well written. The characters were fascinating, and the twists were deft, unexpected and incredibly well-wrought. The pacing was perfect, and I did find myself thinking about the book while I wasn't reading it.

Shout out to the translator too: the English was impeccable and very well done, without losing the flavour of the original German.

A dark twisted story. Thirteen years ago a young girl Lena goes missing without a trace, with no clues the case is never solved until in present times a woman belived to be Lena is admitted into hospital following an accident. This is a disturbing story about how a lady and her children live their lives imprisoned in a cabin deep in the woods. I flew through this book as I was intrigued to find out how it was to end. A great read.

A German bestseller, this tells the story of Lena who has apparently managed to escape a windowless shack where she has been held captive along with two children, whose mother would appear to be the previous prisoner. The story is told from multiple points of view, and the story becomes more and more complicated as the police investigate. Extremely dark and twisting, this is a story that really grips.

I didn’t chose this novel to review, it was sent to me by the publisher due to me having reviewed another one of their books, and boy, I’m glad they did!!
I absolutely loved it and would have read it in one sitting had I not needed to feed the children and actually get some sleep!! The story is quite dark, Lena escapes from a cabin in the woods where she’s been held captive with two children. She’s finally free, but something doesn’t feel right and as we go through the story we slowly find what actually happened that night.
A breathtaking book which I would highly recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for letting me review this book.

Such a dark.tale, thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't see.the.ending coming, thought I'd worked.it.out but was thrown a curve ball.. I enjoyed that it was told from.three points of.view, Jasmine,.Hannah and Matthias.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

This is a story of abduction and captivity , in a cabin in the woods. Very dark story that I found very disturbing and struggled with at times