The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Read: 10th July 2018
Purchase: Amazon
★★★★ 4.5 stars
THE CRY is a dark psychological thriller with a gripping moral dilemma at its heart and characters who will keep you guessing on every page. It is a dark, disturbing tale of guilt, of innocence, of truth and lies.
A thrilling psychological drama, THE CRY delves into a parent's worse nightmare. Joanna and Alistair have travelled from Scotland to Australia to fight for custody of Alistair's 14 year old daughter from his ex-wife. Then the unthinkable happens - their 9 week old baby Noah is suddenly gone and Joanna finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew. Was she being punished? For her affair with Alistair while he was still married? For her impatient and seemingly irrational behaviour on the plane trying to cope with Noah's incessant crying? For being "a bad mother"? But no matter "why" or whatever the circumstance, Joanna blames herself.
Then the lies, rumours and the guilt slowly eat away and snowball, causing Joanna and Alistair to turn on each other. The story captivates the media creating a feeding frenzy at their front door with Alistair thriving on the attention and Joanna wanting to disappear, only serving to drive a wedge further between the couple. Joanna begins to hallucinate, thinking she is hearing baby Noah talking to her from a Lilly Pilly tree across the road.
The story is told primarily in the third person surrounding Joanna. Some chapters are in the first person from ex-wife Alexandra's perspective, and some in the third person again around 14 year old Chloe. Then we switch to some months later in the Melbourne Supreme Court where Joanna is on trial. We think we know why, as it appears blatantly obvious, but hang on as there is more to come.
As the reader, WE think we know what happened but as the story progresses we discover different dimensions to each character and find ourselves questioning everyone. With deeply flawed and complex characters, the facades behind which each of them hides begins to crack and secrets are revealed.
What really DID happen to baby Noah?
THE CRY is not the kind of psychological thriller you would expect from this genre. Though it is still a psychological thriller. It keeps you guessing. It makes you question everything. It leaves you wondering...why?
I gave this book 4 and a half stars because I could not stand Alistair. He was shallow and completely unlikeable. A narcissistic psychopath who only looks out for himself.
THE CRY has been made into a 4 part drama for BBC which aired just last month in the UK. Keep an eye out for it on streaming networks!
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