It’s a joy to read about these very realistic characters – with only one instance of someone doing something slightly outside of the bounds of believability, but within the story it works.Īnd the plot is fantastic. They have all made mistakes, carry guilt, and occasionally act irrationally. The story is entirely carried by Emma, Angela and Kate, which is a refreshing change from your standard detective novel. The other remarkable fact about the main characters: they are all women.

Even though you have direct access to the minds of all the individuals involved in the story, you never really end up fully trusting any of their ‘facts’, which is quite an accomplishment by Barton. At the very least, their contradicting stories make you wonder which one is telling the truth, or at the very least what parts of the story they are omitting or changing in their own minds. Much like the first novel in what might become a very exciting series, THE CHILD is a psychological thriller that follows several points of view – but none of the narrators is totally reliable. It’s not a direct sequel, and you can absolutely read THE CHILD with no knowledge of the events of THE WIDOW. THE CHILD is a second novel featuring journalist Kate Waters, who we first saw in Fiona Barton’s novel THE WIDOW. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women-and torn between what she can and cannot tell… Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.īut there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn-house by house-into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?Īs Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. Quick Review: A worthy follow-up to THE WIDOW a twisting, fascinating and compelling read that keeps you guessing and second-guessing to the end.Īs an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. Read this book for: psychological thriller, disturbing domestic situations, female protagonists, unreliable narrators

The widow barton