Wednesday 8 June 2016

Mini Book Reviews: The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft & Perfect Little Angels by Andrew Neiderman


Book: The Girl You Lost

Author: Kathryn Croft

Pages: 318

Read on: Kindle

Read in: 4 hours

Plot Summary: Eighteen years ago, Simone Porter's six-month-old daughter, Helena, was abducted. Simone and husband, Matt, have slowly rebuilt their shattered lives, but the pain at losing their child has never left them. Then a young woman, Grace, appears out of the blue and tells Simone she has information about her stolen baby. But just who is Grace - and can Simone trust her? When Grace herself disappears, Simone becomes embroiled in a desperate search for her baby and the woman who has vital clues about her whereabouts. Simone is inching closer to the truth but it'll take her into dangerous and disturbing territory. Simone lost her baby. Will she lose her life trying to find her?

Review: The interesting premise of this book is what made me pick it up on Amazon. However, this was a, largely, disappointing read because this premise did not live up to its potential at all! The book starts off with two college-going, young parents, who are very over-whelmed with their six month old daughter, but who love her nevertheless. Then, that baby is kidnapped whilst out in a park with her grandma and then the story jumps to 20 years later. Grace shows up and claims she is Helena. And what does this silly Simone person do?! Not take her very seriously at all! There is no sense of urgency in finding out who this girl really is... it's all very silly. There were several very predictable elements in this book. For instance, the book has several chapters being narrated by a man who likes to rape women. It is very easy to guess who this anonymous douchebag is! 
Gah! This book was very disappointing. I finished it for the sake of finishing it! 

Rating: 2/5 



Book: Perfect Little Angels 

Author: Andrew Neiderman 

Pages: 215 

Read on: Kindle 

Read in: 2 hours 

Plot Summary: Justine Freeman and her parents move to Elysian Fields to start anew, and the picturesque town seems the perfect place to do so. In fact, their new neighborhood seems too good to be true. Their neighbors are all polite and helpful, and the streets are eerily clean. Even the teenagers of Elysian Field are perfect. They don’t drink, they don’t smoke, and they are polite to their elders to a fault.

But Justine is a more typical teenager, and while the new girl in town hasn’t yet learned how to behave like the teenagers of Elysian Fields, she will. Because in Elysian Fields, there are so many ways—horribly effective ways—to turn disobedient children into Perfect Little Angels.

Review: Okay, so this book seemed interesting because it was supposed to be a psychological thriller. However, from the very first chapter it is pretty obvious that this is a book about mind control and trying to influence behaviour. Also, this book was super-vague. It is clearly set in the 1980s, but no direct mention of the time period is made in the text. You have to infer that from the mention of 'tapes' and Madonna being the new sensation! 
Really loathed this book. 

Rating: 1/5 


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