The Liar's Child by Sheryl Browne
Genre: Domestic thriller, Domestic drama, Psychological thriller, Psychological drama, Suspense
Read: 17th September 2021
Published: 21st September 2021
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
I’ll do anything to protect my daughter…
When I pick my beloved daughter Poppy up from school one afternoon, my mind races when I see the little girl holding Poppy’s hand. With the same heart-shaped face, long brown hair and dark eyes, the two girls look identical. In fact, they look like sisters.
Is the secret I’ve been holding on to for so long about to be revealed?
That night, I cuddle Poppy even harder, desperately trying to decide what to do. And then my husband’s phone vibrates. A message. And then another. And another. All from a number I don’t recognise.
Is someone going to tell my husband what I did? Could I be about to lose everything I have worked so hard to protect?
But I’ve spent so long hiding the truth, I never stopped to wonder if I was the only liar in the family… The only thing I’m sure of is that nobody is going to take my child away from me.
If you can’t get enough of addictive psychological thrillers like Gone Girl, The Wife Between Us and The Marriage, you’ll love The Liar’s Child. With nail-biting suspense and an ending that will make your heart pound, this is one book you simply won’t be able to put down.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Sheryl Browne's heart stopping domestic thriller THE LIAR'S CHILD.
Sheryl Browne is one of my go-to authors for whom I drop just about everything to read. And she never disappoints, no matter how frustrated or irritated I get with the characters. As such was the case here. A family drama sprinkled with a bit of mystery and heart-stopping suspense towards the end, THE LIAR'S CHILD had me pulling my hair out on more than one occasion. The main characters are completely frustrating that I just wanted to bash their heads together...every single time! I mean, imagine knowing your partner well enough to simply assume that the past five years of your lives together have been a lie as you conjure up all sorts of scenarios to fit with your half arsed theories. They both needed a good slapping! They certainly could've saved a lot of trouble by sitting down and having a five minute conversation with each other...without jumping to conclusions at the first hurdle...but no, instead they pre-empted the other and flew off the deep end. Every. Single. Time. They were completely frustrating!
So who are they? Kay and Matt Young are a happily married couple with a five year old daughter Poppy who is ill with chronic kidney disease. At least, they thought they were happily married. It all begins when Kay receives a text which Matt sees flash up on her phone...from his estranged and bullying brother Jason...and so he begins to imagine all sorts, wondering why the brother he has nothing to do with is contacting his wife. Kay is dismissive of the text but Matt thinks she is hiding something. An affair maybe? After all, she'd been going out with Jason before they got together and married. Did she prefer to be with him after all? And then there was the comment Jason whispered in his brother's ear five years previously when all this kicked off that set his paranoia in motion. Was it true? And now, it seems, Jason is back to taunt him once again.
Kay really wants nothing to do with Jason but he somehow manages to wangle his way into her life displaying a different side to him she had not seen before. Had time changed Jason and his controlling and bullying ways? He seemed a different man, contrite and remorseful, offering the hand of friendship to Kay should she need it. It didn't matter if she did or didn't, Jason just seemed to pop up at the most inopportune times which merely compounded his younger brother's paranoia. I say paranoia, but Matt is not mentally unstable. As a successful neonatologist at the City Road Hospital, he is anything but unstable...but when it comes to his older brother who has made it his life's mission to make his own a living nightmare, Matt is within his rights to be suspicious.
Added to this mix is young nurse Rachel, who seeks out Matt at every opportunity to ask his opinion or simply for a chat. She too wheedles her way into his life that he begins to see her as something of a friend and he even confides in her about Poppy's illness, his fears and his worries for her. Rachel is ever attentive and comforting, offering her shoulder should he ever need it. But is there more to their relationship that just friendship? Kay certainly thinks so. If not her, then someone else. In fact, she believes that one of her students where she lectures at the University, Amelia, who asks one too many questions about her marriage, about Matt and her life that she begins to wonder just how she knows him. And when her suspicions get the better of her and she finds herself checking his phone, she comes across a text from someone signing herself off as "A" with two kisses...and the content of the text left little to the imagination.
And so both Kay and Matt begin to imagine all sorts about each other, without actually sitting down and talking to one another. In fact, when they do talk, it's at cross purposes and gets them absolutely nowhere and I just wanted to bash their heads together!
Of course, in the middle of all of this is little Poppy. Their daughter is seriously ill and their lives consist of low sodium low fat diets for her, measuring protein levels, urine outputs and signs of even the slightest temperature. Poppy is the apple of their parents' eyes. Even if they are loggerheads with each other, they adore their daughter and would do everything they could to help her. So when Poppy comes out of the school gates with her hand linked with that of her new best friend, Kay is speechless. Olivia could be Poppy's twin. This of course sets Kay's brain into overdrive thinking that Matt must have had an affair at some stage, that he might still be, and had fathered another child. That child being Olivia. But Olivia's story isn't one she expects as she meets her mother Nicole. But it's Olivia's likeness and possible relation to Poppy that sets her mind whirring...and I cannot believe her thinking and the justification to herself for that thinking that left me open-mouthed. Without a thought for Olivia or her mother, for that matter.
And so all involved are on a collision course that is bound to impact everyone and everything in the end. When all you want to do is sit Matt and Kay down and have them talk openly and without jumping to conclusions....that or just simply bash their heads together. For two highly educated people, they sure behave like two complete prats.
However, without that aspect creating a tangled web of secrets and lies...not to mention, ridiculous assumptions...then there would be no book. As frustrating as an irritating as Matt and Kay are, the tangled web they wove created an addictive domestic suspense thriller. THE LIAR'S CHILD is an ambiguous title in which leaves us guessing as to who the liar was...or were they all in some way? I have my suspicions as to who is was but to say so would be a spoiler.
Bringing us yet another taut domestic thriller filled with tension, Sheryl Browne has outdone herself with the amount of research that has gone into this story...what with the medical aspects of chronic kidney disease, tissue testing, protein levels as well as those of being a neonatologist in saving the lives of premature babies. It set a different kind of backdrop for this domestic thriller, weaving an intricate web in the lives of those involved. THE LIAR'S CHILD is as absorbing and as addictive as it is frustrating. A well-written tale of misunderstandings, manipulation, secrets and lies told primarily through Kay and Matt's narrative, with the odd inclusion of Amelia and Nicole throughout.
There was so much I wanted to say about this book but everything that filled my mind last night upon completing it has escaped me today but I think I have covered the gist of it.
THE LIAR'S CHILD is perfect for domestic thriller fans like Shalini Boland, K.L. Slater, Ruth Heald, Nicola Marsh and Rona Halsall.
I would like to thank #SherylBrowne, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheLiarsChild in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
When she's not writing Sheryl can usually be found messing about on the water in her little narrowboat, Aquaduck, which she says she can generally be found falling off and she admits to being a bit accident prone.
Sheryl lives in Worcestershire with her partner and a variety of disabled dogs, of whom she says "my furry-friends give me back much more than I could ever give them. I really wouldn’t be me without them." According to readers of her thrillers, she also apparently makes an excellent psychopath.
Thanks so much for reading The Liar's Child and a fab review, Stina! And for making me smile! So pleased you enjoyed! x
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