The final line is the real clincher. And I also took the time to write down the book's key idea: "Because a child sees and a child heard, and all the great and menacing world pours into them unmediated." Well-put.

3 1/2 stars: I feel like people are going to like The Unheard by Nikki French. It keeps you guessing with a lot of clues. I just really struggled with the main character—she was annoying and whiney up until the very end. There really weren’t any characters I liked in the book.

3.75 stars

The Unheard by Nicci French is an emotion-packed novel of psychological suspense by the best-selling writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French.

The story is told in the first person POV by Tess, a school teacher and single mother living with her precocious 3 year-old daughter Poppy, the center of Tess’ world. Poppy’s father Jason is now married to Emily, but still resides in the same home where he and Tess had enjoyed several happy years as a couple. Tess is remarkably tolerant of this constant reminder of her old life, because she believes it is best for Poppy. After a weekend at her father’s house, Poppy comes home with unexplained anxiety, night terrors, and a disturbingly violent crayon drawing she has made.

After this impactful beginning, Poppy’s behavior drives the story, and there is a hint of clairvoyance thrown in. Tess’ actions are intensely focused on keeping her daughter close and trying to figure out what traumatized Poppy. There is murder, deception and secrets to be exposed. Along the way, Tess finds she has lost trust in all the men in her life, as she observes “sadness spread through me like a stain,” and she ultimately becomes a stronger, more self-sufficient individual by the end. I liked the growth in Tess’ character, but struggled to enjoy any of the other characters. Even Poppy was mildly annoying, with her odd turns of phrase and manner of speaking. The plot itself unwinds slowly, but becomes compelling by the last quarter of the book, and the denouement.

I have always enjoyed novels written by Nicci French, and was excited to read this book. It seemed a bit long (over 400 pages) for the strength of the story. However, it very nicely gives the reader an opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a mother who is fiercely protective of her daughter and committed to that child’s safety and happiness, a worthy insight indeed.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest review.

This book was okay, but not great. It follows a single mother who has just recently split up wirh her ex and moved out of the house that they had picked together. She and her ex (who has moved on - he got married and his wife is pregnant) are trying to coparent without involving lawyers or the courts - but after the events of this book, I don't know that they'll be able to much longer...

The story was okay but not good and DEFINITELY not great. I don't think I really liked a single person in this story! It seemed like everyone was made into a character of who they were actually supposed to be. I definitely think that Tess cracked and involved the police WAYYY too soon. Can you imagine how seriously she would have been taken if she had just waited for some damn evidence?! Come on! All in all 3 stars. Not a great book, but not horrible either.

Tess is separated from her daughter Poppy’s father, Jason and they share custody. They have kept things amicable until Poppy returns home to Tess after a weekend at Jason’s. Poppy is suddenly a different child, as she begins swearing, drawing questionable pictures and wetting the bed. Tess is worried and starts ‘investigating’. Ugh.
The found Tess to be exhausting, especially after she made poor decision after poor decision. And why did she have to suspect every male character?? Her ex-partner, her boyfriend, the creepy neighbor, her friends husband, on and on. Although the tension was high and the pages kept turning, I was bummed by the conclusion. I would still try another novel by this husband/wife author team but this was ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital arc of this book.

Thank you, NetGalley, Nicci French, and William Morrow Paperbacks for the opportunity to read this book. It will be released October 26th, 2021.


Trigger Warnings: Emotional Abuse, Suicide, Murder

The Unheard by Nicci French is quite the brew of psychological thriller, horror, and crime mystery. This is my first Nicci French read. Tess has a three-year-old daughter, Poppy with her ex-boyfriend Jason. Just because they have split up doesn’t mean they can’t co-parent in a healthy way that is best for Poppy. Tess also just started seeing Aiden and loves where her life is at. That is…until Poppy shows her a drawing of a strange woman. Poppy also starts spouting off strange words, talks about death, and acts out at school. When she tries to confront Jason about this, he blows her off. But Tess is unnerved. A woman confronts her in a restaurant and later discovers that this same woman fell to her death. She knows it is all linked…but how? She takes the case to the police but they don’t take her seriously. But Poppy is only getting worse and Tess is sure that she is acting out due to some trauma, but how can she prove it with no evidence?

Well, then. That was a ride. This book is almost 500 pages and I had to know how it ended. I could not put it down. But the problem is THESE CHARACTERS. I am sorry, but if I were those detectives, I would have told Tess to back off a long time ago. This lady really calls the police for every single thing, lies, and tries to justify it. She takes a three-year-old’s picture to a police station as PROOF something happened and then was mad when they couldn’t act on her “evidence.” What did you expect, lady?! This is not how this works. It would have been fine if it were the one time. But she keeps doing it, then she sneaks into houses, steals evidence!! So this is what kept me glued to the page…wondering when the police were going to tell Tess to back off and stop obstructing an investigation!! Lord, have mercy, I was going to lose my mind.

Oh, I lied. I didn’t hate all the characters. Even though they only make a small appearance, her friends were honest and straightforward with her. They are the type of friends that have your back. I really appreciated how they show her that she was in an abusive relationship, but they don’t talk down to her–and she is open to what they are saying. I love when a book highlights what toxic relationships look like but more importantly, what healthy relationships look like. So overall, it is a compelling read with some positives, if you can get over the characters who make stupid decisions. 3 out of 5 stars.

The story of a breakup that leads to the uncovering of the more seedy side of many people. It makes one wonder who you can really trust…. Including yourself. Tess is in summary a bit of a mess, but is she wrong? You gotta read it to find out. What I can say is that at times I found her antics a bit ridiculous and that is what lead me to a three star rating. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

I'm really sad to say I didn't care for this one. This is your typical "little girl starts acting out and drawing weird pictures while the mother is freaking out and no  one believes her" story.

The main character got on my nerves a lot during this. I know she is a mother trying to protect her daughter but she went off the handle so quickly and suspected literally everyone at some point. Her decisions were all made impulsively and then she wondered why everyone thought she was crazy. 🙄

Some of the plot lines were super far-fetched and hard to believe and I really didn't care what happened to any of the characters. The first half was so slow and repetitive I wanted to put it down and not pick it up again but I finished it simply because it was an ARC from netgalley.

I did like the ending, even though it wasn't that much of a surprise really and you could really tell how much she loved her daughter and what she would do to keep her protected.

This is really a typical domestic thriller. I tend to like my books a bit darker and that might be why this wasn't my favorite. If you like single POV "whodunit" stories, this one might be for you!

Thanks to #netgalley and William Morrow and Custom House for providing me with this arc for an honest review!

This is a psychological thriller similar in scope to The Push and The Woman in the Window. Tess is appears to be a hysterical mother who no one believes. Was a crime even committed? Did her daughter see something? Tess starts to put blame on every man around her. It was an interesting book and I never lost interest. My only complaint is that there are so many books out now using hysterical women as a plot device. Most women would not act this way in real life, even when they have some mental health issue.

What a crazy, wild story. I was not expecting that ending. I absolutely love Poppy! But boy, she has gone through so much for a girl her age. Tess, I will be honest, annoyed me. A lot. But not so much that it pushed me away from the story. All in all, great read and wicked mystery!

Either 2 or a 2.5. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't giving me what I thought it was? The pacing felt off, it felt repetitive, and I didn't find myself particularly caring for the characters. This felt like a rough draft for an author to later go through and actually fluff out and revise. I know arcs aren't the final copy, but this felt like three steps before you even get to the arc. With that being said, I would love to see this story written and paced better because I think it has the potential to be outstanding.

This book in 3 words: Mind-boggling. Inquisitive. Dark.

The Unheard focuses on an amicable split between parents, Tess and Jason, for the sake of 3-year old, Poppy. After Poppy returns from a visit with her dad and his new wife, she starts behaving strangely. Tess is very concerned that her daughter witnessed a murder or tragic event, due to some vulgar language and dark drawings. Tess tries to uncover what Poppy saw/heard and gets herself involved in tangled web and investigation.

My first book by the combo of writers that make up Nicci French and I think the writing is well done. The plot was detailed, intricate, and kept me guessing the entire time. Our main character makes us feel all sorts of things throughout the pages and I loved that!

I think this is a solid thriller, besides the ending. I felt the pull to really finish this in 1 sitting and found the last chapters to be anticlimactic and pretty flat. The build up was so good and I felt kind of letdown and like it wasn't "enough".

The unheard

The Unheard by Nikki French was a wild ride for sure. I’ve wanted to fight some characters, but at this point, every man in this book deserves Ted Danson to fire up the ole penis flattener. (Any Good Place fans?)

At first, I felt just going through the motions of listening. Poppy, Tess’s daughter, has a drawing of a murder, and Tess is determined to figure out how and why Poppy knows this, if it’s even true. Tess is hell bent on protecting her child, but who is she protecting her from? There’s so many rabbit holes and red herrings, Tess doesn’t know who to trust. Worse, the police laugh at her suggestion of Poppy’s drawings and dismiss her.

I honestly felt bad for Tess. She was gaslighted into thinking she was the issue in almost every relationship we encountered. Tess was frustrated and I was frustrated for her. She’s just trying to be a mom and everyone thinks she’s literally crazy. It was so sad.

There’s a lot of buildup that left a very ominous tone, but the end left a quick one/two punch that left me satisfied. This was my first audiobook read by Olivia Vinall, and I really liked it. Their voice had me on pins to figure out the story.

Overall, pretty decent read. Thank you so much HarperAudio for the gifted copy! The Unheard is out 10/26!

When Tess and Jason ended their relationship they decided to keep it amicable so that their three year old daughter Poppy would always feel loved. When Poppy returns to Jess after a weekend with Jason and his new wife she seems changed. She had drawn a dark picture of a tower with a figure at the top. When Tess questioned Poppy she told her that he killed her, but who is she? Jason swears that nothing unusual happened over the weekend, but Poppy is now wetting her bed, striking out and using words that no child should know. A visit with a psychologist suggests that her break-up with Jason maybe to blame, but Tess believes that her behavior indicates something darker that Poppy may have seen or heard.

Tess becomes determined to find answers and her desperation leads to anxiety and desperate acts. She calls on the police for help, but no crime has been committed. She presses Jason to the point that he threatens to take Poppy away from her. She had just started a relationship with Aiden, who offers his support, but now she is pushing him away as she becomes suspicious of all of the men in her life. Then she discovers that a young woman has fallen to her death and Tess begins drawing connections.

Nicci French begins her story with the picture of a broken family that is doing its’ best for their child. The drawing introduces questions about their relationships and the tension grows as Poppy changes and Tess discovers how far she will go to protect her child. French ends with a confrontation that shows how far a mother will go when her family is in danger. This is a story that will definitely keep you awake, reading well into the night. I thank NetGalley and William Morrow/Custom House for providing this book for my review.

I truly loved this one! The book engages the reader in the first chapter and leads you through to the end! Always listen to a child, even though they don’t clearly convey what they trying to say. Children hear and see everything. The police did not want to listen to Tess when she tried to tell them her daughter Poppy had seen Skye Nolan killed. They could not believe a child who could not articulate the crime scene to them, had seen anything. I had my doubts as well, and even suspected others, but Poppy was the one that came through and handed the police the resolution in the end. And I still have questions in the end. I believe this is the best book I have read by Nicci French. I love her books! Highly recommend.
I was gifted this book through Net Galley for an honest opinion.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Unheard by Nicci French is for people who enjoy single perspective suspense novels. This book, however, helped clinch it for me that I am not one of those readers. I found the book to be repetitive in that we are there for the main character's experiences, her revisiting those experiences in her thoughts, and her retelling the same experiences to the police and other characters. These experiences are at times interesting, but most do not feel realistic, and her ruminations are dry and lack true exploration of thought. The most authentic part is that Tess becomes concerned that a drawing by and subsequent conversation with her pre-school daughter Poppy points toward criminal behavior by someone in or adjacent to their lives. Most interactions subsequent to this initial conflict are melodramatic in that her approach, others' responses, and resulting next steps as she engages in her quest to find answers, are almost universally one dimensional.

My thanks to William Morrow and Custom House, William Morrow Paperbacks, Netgalley and the author for early access to this novel.

The Unheard by Nicci French is a psychological thriller. Tess and her ex boyfriend Jason broke up about a year ago and share custody of Poppy their young daughter. Poppy comes home from her fathers acting strange , talking vulgar and drawing a picture of a girl falling from a building and saying “He did kill her”. Tess questions her but Poppy won’t tell her anything else. Tess believes her daughter heard or saw something that terrorized her but everybody thinks she’s a overprotective mother. Tess doesn’t know who she can trust including the police , Jason and even her current boyfriend. This was a great book with lots of twists and turns. Thanks Netgalley for this arc.

A twisty, turny thriller to the very end. Wow! French hits it out of the park with their latest novel. A great psychological mystery.

Tess’s 3 year old daughter Poppy has always been her number one priority. Tess and Jason had split up earlier on and now divide their time with Poppy. One day after Tess has picked Poppy up from her scheduled time with Jason, she notices Poppy acting very strangely. She is saying vulgar words and drawing dark menacing pictures which has Tess convinced that her daughter has witnessed something terrible while away with her father. With no more than just a child’s drawing it is hard for anyone, even the police to take her seriously. Tess spirals into an investigation to find the truth but when she doesn’t even know who she is protecting her daughter from, who can she really trust?

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This was my first read from Nicci French which is actually the pseudonym for the married duo Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. The story itself was very interesting and even though I had a good handle on who the culprit was, there is a great effort and many situations that made me second guess at times. Tess’s character really got under my skin throughout the entire book, I understand she wants to protect her daughter but I just felt that many of her decisions were rash and not though through at all. She grows upset that the police won’t believe her but in my opinion she put herself in that position and I felt like she should have tried to gather as much evidence as possible before heading to police. There were some parts during the reveal that I feel can get a little confusing so I suggest reading carefully and not skim any of the details. This was more slow burn in the beginning but defiantly picked up near the end and the reasoning and explanation was well explained and not rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This title will be released on October 26th.