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.
Dark Reads Review
4 Stars!
Thank you to Melanie Golding, NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for the ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
Yikes! What an eerie and compelling read!
The book starts out with Lauren Tranter in hospital having just had a traumatic birth of twin boys. She is sleep deprived and exhausted. She begins to hear and see unsettling things in the night, this is dismissed by the hospital staff and her husband Patrick (Oh how I hated Patrick!) and it is put down to post-natal depression and exhaustion, but is it?
I thought this book was beautifully written, I felt totally immersed in the story. I could identify easily with Lauren’s character, even not having children myself, I could empathise with her thoughts and her feelings completely. The story felt very real, even the supernatural elements which added a whole lot to this creepy tale!
This psychological thriller is steeped in Folklaw and other dark tales, the suspense builds and builds throughout. It keeps you guessing until the very end – what is real and what is imagined? Is Lauren suffering a psychotic episode or are there dark and sinister forces at play? I changed my mind several times! I found it very hard to put this book down.
I would highly recommend this one if you like a dark and unsettling psychological thriller, with creepy Folklaw undertones, it crawls under your skin and stays with you!
I am excited to read more from Golding in the future!
- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
- ISBN-10: 1683319974
- ISBN-13: 978-1683319979
- Pub Date: 30th April 2019
Pre-order your copy here
About The Author
Melanie Golding is a UK based author with a wide range of interests, including music and folklore. In 2016 she completed the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, graduating with Distinction. Her debut novel, Little Darlings, is due for publication in early 2019 with HQ Harper Collins in the UK and commonwealth, Harper Collins Canada and Crooked Lane Books in the US.
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