Little Darlings is An Eerie, Compelling and Shocking Thriller (Review: Little Darlings by Melanie Golding)
12:04 AM
Make way for book #3 out of 6 that I aimed to read this week.
We've been stuck indoors because it was NEGATIVE 51 Wednesday.
(And below zero the rest of the week. Dangerous cold, guys.)
THE BOOK
“Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Grimms’ Fairy Tales.
Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.
A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley―to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.
Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.
Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.
Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.
A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley―to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.
Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.
Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.
THE REVIEW: ★★★★☆
I was sent an eARC of this novel
from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
This does not change my view in any shape or form.
Me, at the end of last year: I'm going to wait until March to read Little Darlings, because it's not going to be released until April. Me, this week: It's almost February so that counts as March, right? No? Can I at least get some credit for waiting this long? Self-control is total character development. Ask anyone!
The impression I got, first, of Little Darlings was that it was an eerie read. A thriller that is not quite like the standard psychological, intense, reads I typically go for. Reading the synopsis, I got this feeling that there was something darkly unique and compelling in it. I was right. Mostly, I felt like it had the probability of fascinating me in (the drastically different) ways that last year's Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage or Mary Kubica's fascinating and twisty Pretty Baby.
In theory, I was kind of right. Melanie Golding has a remarkably gripping and twisted prose to her that sent chills up and down my spine in the right moments. Which is something that not many authors manage to accomplish for me these days. When I picked it up, I did, wrongly, have the impression that it would be a lot different than it was--the one thing I was accurate in predicting was the atmospheric tone that captivates you instantly and unsettles you in the pages that follow.
If only one word could be used to describe Little Darlings it is unsettling. In the absolute best of ways. Golding weaves a brilliant story in little to no time and treats readers to a story that is the very definition of page turner. You will be questioning everything: is this psychological, is this an act, is this truly the work of something so very mythical?
One thing is certain, Little Darlings is told in a way that draws you and refuses to let go of you until it has woven itself through every inch of you. When I finished this book, I found my mind drifting back into the story. When I say that Melanie Golding is about to be your new addiction, I am not even joking.
Readers who are looking for something darkly atmospheric that will gives an uneasy feeling, will be enamored with this.
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