TW: abuse, autism, substance abuse, psychiatric hospitalization, parental rejection

I received this eGalley for review. Lucinda Berry’s experience as a child psychologist is always apparent in her writing. As a fellow mental health provider, I find her writing to be largely accurate and very informative. Her writing style is clinical and educational while also managing to be entertaining which I can appreciate. I did predict one of the twists from almost the very beginning but that might just be because I work in the field. I did have to suspend my disbelief that the MC who is a mental health professional took so long to figure it out. Regardless, I still enjoyed the plot twists; there are several. This is definitely a page turner. I loved the pacing and found my heart racing at several points in the story. Without spoiling it, , I did take off a star because I did not understand the motivation behind the biggest twist. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and Lucinda Berry’s storytelling.

okay what!!! This is my very first book about autism and for me it felt really well researched! I also like that there was (view spoiler). This book was creepy, interesting and overall 100% not expected which was crazy refreshing. You have psychologists, beauty queens, medical histories, law enforcement, CPS and more all involved and you never get to the point where you know the real answer until the very last sentence.. what a trip! 100% rec this book! (psych thriller)

As usual, don't think you've got this solved until you turn the let people! Another good one from Lucinda Berry! I also appreciate the focus on autism in this one...let's normalize it!

This is my first Lucinda Berry. I’ve been meaning to read her books for a while and I’m so glad I got this opportunity to do so through Netgalley.

This was so good! I liked the writing style. It was simple and to the point, no fillers. It was super fast paced and hooked me from the beginning. I read it in one go.
You get the perspective of Casey who is an autism expert they bring on to the case. Genevieve, the mom of the accused boy. And Mason, the accused boy.
I was so enthralled in the story I didn’t even have time to try and guess what the reveal would be.
The ending got crazy! And had a few twists.
I can’t wait to read more from this author.

I've read other Lucina Berry books and really enjoyed them. This one, however, felt like it was written quickly without much editing or completely thought out. I'm not that familiar with autism, so I don't have a strong opinion on that part of the book. I can see why people who know a lot about autism would have a problem with this book and characters though - the son, Mason; the mom, Genevieve; the sister, Savannah; the psychiatrist, Casey, and even the detective.

I would definitely recommend her other books. This one, not so much.

This book, Under Her Care, follows two southern girls, Casey and Genevieve as they navigate their life after being tangled up in a murder that involves Genevieve’s autistic son, Mason. It’s a psychological thriller story of two mothers and the lengths they would go to for their children and themselves.

This book started strong. I enjoyed getting into it, but as I progressed, I found myself just wanting everything to end. As I continued reading, the story became more and more absurd. I understand that this is a work of fiction and I have to suspend disbelief, but… it’s too much. I honestly, for the life of me, can’t accept that there’s a detective that… naive?

Honestly, the main reason the story set into motion didn’t make sense. Detective whatshisname needed Casey to talk to Mason… and then she proceeds to do everything else except interacting with the kid. We barely even get much of a look at Mason. But I get it, I really do, it just didn’t work for me.

The writing felt all over the place for me. I did appreciate all the information about autism. It’s something I’d love to learn more about, but there were parts where it’s complete information overload. I felt like I was reading a textbook at some point.

However, I do love how the psychological aspect of the book came into play. The manipulation, gaslighting, and confusion were all done well! I enjoyed that part. I wasn’t very shocked to find out that the author is a former clinical psychologist.

Sadly, the ending wasn’t it for me. I appreciate the cliffhanger but it just wasn’t exciting at all. I’m a little disappointed that some holes in the story weren’t patched up, but I guess it’s part of the book’s charm.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher/author for the eARC. I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

This book started off slow but once it got going I couldn’t put it down. Everytime the author revealed any type of clue I would make a bunch of different theories in my head. It was educating on ASD and had a captivating ending. I rated it four stars because I would’ve liked to hear more about what happened to some of the characters at the end but other than that it was a great read.

A solid 3 and a half stars. My first book by this Author and I loved her style and already downloaded two more that sounded great. I can’t wait to continue reading more by her. This book was a bit twisted and took some unexpected turns with a surprise finish. It had me hooked and engaged while trying to be a master detective to find who was the real bad guy in all this… can’t wait to read more.

I thought this book was absolutely amazing. I loved the twists and turns, and the ending was nothing that I would have guessed.

What a twist! Once I started this book I could not put it down. I love Lucinda Berry and this story didn't disappoint. We are taught that our mothers are supposed to love us and protect us but some times... that just isn't how it works out.

wow! I was not disappointed at all by the end of this book! I wasn’t sure when I requested it, how good it would be in terms of twists and keeping me emotionally invested but this pulled the air out of my lungs! I had such back and forth hatred for the main characters and a constant hatred for the detective. Everything was written so well. The characters felt real and in turn made me feel such in depth emotion toward them.. I was taken aback. The story itself, incredible. I loved the plot, the twists and surprises were absolutely fantastic! I don’t think I have a single bad thing to say about this book! Thank you for allowing me to read it!

Under Her Care, by Lucinda Berry
Published:
Rating: 5/5
Berry delivers yet another thriller that keeps you right on the edge of your seat. Genevieve is everything that a mother ought to be – caring, attentive and always putting the needs of her child first. Behind closed doors, however, she is a monster that will stop at nothing to maintain control and her polished public image. I devoured this book in one day, because it really is a page-turner. Genevieve is one of the best villains that I’ve loved to hate. You can really see Berry’s background in psychology when reading her too. She is the type of sociopath that we have nightmares about, and I loved how unpredictable she was. She was practically demonic, whilst never crossing into the domain of the unbelievable. I can only commend Berry for her sensitive handling of autism too. We rarely see characters with autism in fiction, and it’s something we should see more of.
Under her Care is an excellent story, and that twist at the end is brutal (but no spoilers!)

Lucinda Berry draws on her expertise as a child psychologist in Under Her Care.

When the mayor's wife is murdered and nearby is the 14 year old austic son of a well known wealthy woman in town (covered in blood no less). It seems like a slam dunk. The detectives have their hands full however, and call in a local expert in children with autism - Casey Walker. Casey acts as a consultant but she has her suspicions....

If you like complicated family dynamics, thrillers with a dash of psychology, and of course a "who done it?" then Under Her Care is for you #thomasmercer #netgalley #Underhercare

I love Lucinda Berrys books but this one disappointed. It wasn’t a page turner like the others. I felt the characters were underdeveloped and the story wasn’t very interesting. It was easy to see where the story was going and there were few surprises.

This one was just ok for me. I enjoyed the writing style and the discussion about autism. I had some issues with the pacing of the story but overall 3 star read.

This was my first read by Lucinda Berry and while this wasn’t my #1 thriller read of the year, I’ll be happy to try out the Perfect Child sometime soon.

You’ll love this read if you enjoy psychological thrillers!

Former Miss USA Genevieve Hill annoyed the living heck out of me and I suppose that’s a testament to the author’s writing.

There were two things that made me knock off one star:
1. I have people in my life that I love that have autism, but not in my immediate family. I do think the way certain aspects of autism are portrayed could be considered as insensitive or misrepresented by people who have a much more direct experience with autism. I understood where the narrative was going, but the way it is interpreted may feel different for other readers.

2. I wanted a little more from the ending! I needed to know just a little bit more to have closure.

Overall, this book did not disappoint! I’ll be thinking about the truths revealed for days to come.

3.75 stars!

Under Her Care follows Casey Walker, an child autism expert who is called in to assist in a police case when they find Mason Hill, the autistic son of former Miss USA Genevieve Hill, over the body of the mayor's wife.

This is my first Lucinda Berry book and I have to say I was slightly underwhelmed. I can not speak for the autism representation in this book, but unfortunately it had a trope that I'm a bit tired of reading in books. It was also a very small cast and so I wasn't really surprised by any of the twists. I will say Lucinda Berry is a very great writer, and I will definitely pick up some of her earlier books (The Perfect Child for sure!)

✨BOOK REVIEW✨

Under Her Care
By Lucinda Berry

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

•Brutald Murder, Dark Secrets, Miss USA, Multiple POV’s, and so many questions…

•I have read a lot of great reviews about this author and that’s why I decided to pick up this book. After reading about the author and realizing that she was a psychologist before switching her careers to being an author of…you guessed it psychological thrillers. I was so interested in her writing after hearing that.

I loved the way the author wrote and used her words on paper. I did however feel like there was a lot of unanswered questions after some crazy twist towards the end of the book. I wish to have heard more interesting conversations between characters, I felt like I was maybe missing part of conversations. One of the main characters, Mason, didn’t have as many POV’s as I would have liked.

I am left with lots of questions and feel a little uneasy for them not being answered. I would recommend this to someone who loves psychological thrillers, and doesn’t mind being left with more questions than you started with.

This was some CREEPY STUFF! I devoured this in about a day and was still wanting more when it ended. The development of each character was strong, as always with Lucinda Berry. I adored the passion Casey had for children with ASD and the way she was able to empathize with them based on her daughters needs. The ending shocked the pants off me and I still can’t believe I didn’t see it coming honestly. Berry just has a way of making you completely forget how to figure out what’s happening. Only thing that kept this from being a 5 star read for me was sometimes it felt repetitive but that didn’t take away from the overall experience! A lovely book and boy did it have me sleeping with the lights on

Lucinda berry is one of my favorite psychological thriller authors, she has never disappointed before and don’t do so now either.

The book follows Genieveve and Casey, after a murder where Genieveve’s autistic son finds the dead body. We soon realize that something isn’t quite right, especially when Casey, a clinical psychologist working with autism herself, gets involved in the murder investigation.

As always the book was fast-paced, you simply needed to know what would happen next. Even if it was pretty obvious what was going on, it didn’t make the book less enjoyable to read. The horrible truth was revealed little by little. I liked that we got small glimpses of what had happened from the autists point of view. The plot was original, and although a bit extreme it wasn’t too far fetched. Some parents should never have become parents and they say that reality is always stranger than fiction.

There were some loose threads that left me a bit unsatisfied. It felt like an annoying cliffhanger. What happened after the last altercation between the two POVS? Would have loved an ending that didn’t feel so rushed.

Truly enjoyed myself when reading under her care, too bad that it probably will be a long time before her next book is published.

Thanks to netgally and Amazon publishing for this arc in exchange of my honest review.