From the beach to the book club: "The Child," by Fiona Barton

The Child by Fiona Barton is the kind of book that sticks with you, covering you in a second skin you just can't shake off -- in the best possible way. The characters and their motives aren't what they seem, and the story moves ahead with the relentless forward-motion of a speeding train. The best part? The jaw-dropping conclusion that I can almost guarantee you won't see coming. If you love books that twist and turn and keep you guessing right up until the end, you'll love The Child.

Here's the setup:

An old house is being demolished in London, and a construction worker makes a grizzly discovery: A tiny skeleton, a body believed to have been buried there years before. Who is this child? Why was he/she buried there -- and by whom? It is these questions that plague journalist Kate Waters, and she sets about the task of teasing out the truth of this mysterious story.

Who is the Building Site Baby?

As Kate's investigation proceeds, she discovers more than she bargained for. Her sleuthing takes her down a path that leads to a crime that shook the city decades before: the abduction of a baby from a maternity ward -- a crime that was never solved.

Photo credit: My 9-year-old daughter :)

Soon, Kate finds herself delving into the sordid pasts of the people who once lived in the area where the baby's skeleton was discovered. Soon, she finds that she is entrusted with more secrets than she expected, and she struggles to sort out what she can reveal in the name of journalism and what she should keep close to her chest.

Read this book. That's the best advice I can give you. And then share it with all your friends. They'll thank you for it.

If you love The Child (and you will) you should also pick up Barton's first novel, The Widow.

#BookReview #Summer #SummerReading