I was intrigued by the plot when I was browsing books through NetGalley. The story revolves around twin sisters, Sarah and Evie. Sarah is an agoraphobic who suffers from delusions and when her child goes missing, questions arise as to whether she even had a child.

Jane Renshaw hit the ground running with a fast paced first chapter and you could feel Sarah’s terror and confusion. I was immediately drawn in and wanted to find out more. I felt like the author’s writing style mirrored the frantic and sometimes confused thoughts in Sarah’s mind and the last half of the book really took off as you figured out what happened and why.
#thechildwhoneverwas

An enjoyable read but very weird and creepy! I really didn't like either of the twins and found them equally irritable. That said, I think this story needed that kind of weirdness to make it work.

When I saw this book on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to grab a copy in return for my honest review. This book should have been right up my street as it was a twisting, physiological thriller which I love. The prologue sucked me in straight away and I settled down for a great read. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit the spot. The story of twin sisters, a missing baby and never knowing which character you believed or trusted was very well done, but there was something about the two characters that I didn’t engage with. As the book developed, I found myself skimming to get to the end. Good but not great.

Total wow, an amazing book to read, a bond between twins is amazing. The ending of this book was totally not expected defo a must read thumbs up to this author.

I am sorry, I don't very often give up on a book but I found this one so disjointed and depressing with unlikeable characters and I couldn't carry on reading.

Even though the prologue hooked me on the story, the first couple of chapters were a slight struggle to get through. The prose was very frantic to reflect Sarah's mindset but I was relieved when it calmed down for chapter three onwards. Up until then, I found the author's choice of grammar and language to be quite odd.
Beyond that, I was able to read the story quite quickly.
I always enjoy unreliable narrators and the story was structured well. The plotline itself was a little (if not wildly) far fetched and I didn't particularly like either of the main characters. But the author leans into the drama so you go with it.
One thing that made me really cringe was every time fat was used as an insult and in Sarah's head, she liked to use it a lot. I understand she has an immature mind and she hated the nurses but "fat nurses" and "you fat f*cking b*tches" were repeated too often.
I would be open to reading another book by this author as this was my first.
Thank you to #netgalley for providing me with this ARC for #thechildwhoneverwas.

#TheChildWhoNeverWas #NetGalley
What a fabulous plot; it had me hooked right from the start and kept me guessing until the very last page. The deceit, manipulation and cruelty was slowly revealed as the story unfolded and left my emotions in tatters; I’m still not sure which of the twins I should be feeling sorry for ! Oh what a tangled web they weaved ... disturbing, unnerving and a thoroughly enjoyable read. I will definitely be reading more by #JaneRenshaw.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Inkubator Books for the ARC.

Overall this is a good psychological thriller with some unexpected twists, although some a little more predictable as the story unfolds.

Sarah and Evie are identical twin sisters - mirror twins, the rarest of all. They are award-winning architects with their own firm based in a small coastal community in Scotland. Sarah lives in her award-winning Roman Villa style house just outside the village and Evie in their grandmother's old cottage near the harbour. Sarah suffers from anxiety and agoraphobia so she designs at home and Evie deals with clients and contractors.
One stormy night Sarah discovers her 18 month-old son Oliver is missing from his cot. In desperation she searches in the village for Evie and, not finding her, goes to her GP Dr Lewis Gibson for him to call the police. However, Lewis tells them Sarah doesn't have a child - that Evie is the one with a son - James - and Sarah is Sectioned.
Evie will know what to do - Evie has always been there for her - but has she? According to the doctors and Evie, Sarah is delusional, has conjured up false memories of Oliver's conception, his birth, and how Evie helped her out by taking him to his playgroups and appointments.
Even though she's full of drugs to suppress the delusions Sarah is convinced that Evie has stolen her child and is out to prove it - overcoming her agoraphobia as best she can.

Evie has always supported her, helped her - but had she? as Sarah muses over the past she begins to realise that Evie was always manipulative in getting her own way.

Is this a case of gaslighting or is Sarah truly mentally unstable?

I would say that I did find myself having to skim-read a lot of narrative which gave Sarah's thoughts and feelings, her musings, because it was tedious and extremely repetitive. Nevertheless it remains a twisty and at times a nailbiting thriller.

I’d like to thank Inkubator Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Child Who Never Was’ by Jane Renshaw in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Sarah’s eighteen-month-old son Oliver has disappeared from his cot and she’s convinced her twin sister Evie has taken him. Her GP, Dr Lewis Gibson, says Sarah needs help and has her detained under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act. When Evie visits Sarah she says that Oliver is a figment of her imagination and that the boy is her own son called James. But she’s sure it isn’t her mind playing tricks on her as she remembers giving birth to Oliver and she can’t have dreamt the love she felt for him?

‘The Child Who Never Was’ is a well-written though deeply disturbing thriller about Sarah who has mental health problems and Evie who has no other option than to give her more love and attention than anyone else as that’s what twins do. I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Renshaw’s previous novel ‘Watch Over Me’ and expected to be able to enthuse over this one but I can’t warm to the characters and the mental health aspect, though written with sensitivity, makes for depressing reading. I’m sorry to say this isn’t the kind of novel I enjoy but nevertheless I’ll still look forward to the next one by this author.

I thought this book had a lot of promise but it was a little disjointed. I thought it would have been more engrossing and interesting but I found myself almost skipping pages sometime to get through parts of it. It didn’t help that I didn’t like either of the twins characters.

3 stars

I loved this book, I couldn't put it down! I thought is was just going to be another story about a missing kid... But it was so much more. Definitely a must read.

This was a clever story.
A child missing? But is he!
A complex story of twins and their complex relationship, with each other and their parents. Mental health issues explored.
I found it disturbing in places, but was completely hooked

Sarah's toddler son Oliver is missing but no one believes her story. Everyone including her twin sister Evie tell her that she never had a son and that "James" is Evie's son that Sarah wishes was her own.
A clever fast paced plot told mainly from Sarah's point of view leaves you wondering who is actually deceiving who and is Sarah crazy or is James her son that was taken from her.

Interesting details about the lives of twins and mental illness keeps you reading this book all night long. Is Sarah crazy and does she belong in an institution or is Evie the evil twin who keeps Sarah wondering if her memories are real or not. The book flashes back to some past incidents that help explain the relationships between the sisters and who is the "good twin" and who is "evil".

I really must have enjoyed this book as I planned on only reading half of it in a day,,, Instead, I finished it!

Yes, mental health problems do get scrutiny in today's world. However, this read portrays an angle that is well explained and superbly worked out by the author.

We find that Sarah believes her identical (mirror) twin, Evie, has "stolen" her 18 month old son, Oliver. The reader is allowed to get a view into the mind of Sarah. We find out that "Oliver" is really Evie's son, James.

Isn't he???

Wow! This is a "not to be missed" read. The plotline is superb and the reader is constantly left in suspense at each turn.

Many Thanks to Inkubator Books and NetGalley for a great thriller.

Thank you so much NetGalley and inkubator books for my copy of this amazing story!
From the start I was hooked and I managed to finish it in a few hours! The storyline was fab and I liked how Jane made you question yourself throughout - Evie or sarah, Evie or sarah ?

The topic of mental health was portrayed really well and I liked how throughout, sarah was shown as a ‘nice person’ despite her flaws. It was nice to see mental health shown as an illness rather than something scary!

Overall it was a Really enjoyable read! Perfect for thriller lovers like me :) would highly recommend!

This was a quick read and well written, though I found it rather sad.

The book did succeed in sucking me in to Sarah's viewpoint and making me want her to succeed, even as it became clear that she was capable of some pretty terrible things. The slow reveal of just what she could do, and had done, was handled well. Yet in some ways Evie was no better. So while the ending was probably the best outcome there could have been, I didn't get a great deal of satisfaction out of it.

One thing I found really jarring was the baby talk (Rah-Bee, Vee-Bee, Mummin). It set my teeth on edge every time and distracted me from the story.

Still, a well-handled (albeit depressing) plot and I would read another book by this author.

The first book that I’ve read by this author.
The prologue immediately piqued my interest. It is a fast paced engrossing read. I really enjoyed it.
Poignantly told so that I really engaged with Sarah.
A Clever devious plot, quite disturbing.
The mental health issues were well depicted and the over dependent twin relationship portrayed well.
Through out you are left wondering who is mad, who is bad or are they both mad and bad. I liked the way that the reveal was handled at the end.
Thanks for allowing Me to read this book

Ooh, I just love unreliable narrators and Renshaw just has done a wonderful job with keeping me on the edge of my seat! The amount of stress and second-guessing that I experienced was well worth it.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

Such a creepy read! I’ve always been fascinated by identical twins and their dynamic and this book did not disappoint

Thank you NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the eARC.
Unfortunately I found this book disturbingly creepy and therefore couldn't enjoy it.
The twins were definitely not likeable...to me one was as bad as the other and I felt sorry for Oliver/James, the disputed baby. The mental illness aspect was well described, although I thought anxiety/panic attacks/agoraphobia did not cause a person to harm others. The stints in the hospital were depressing; altogether not my kind of read. Sorry!