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She Took My Baby
Steena Holmes
328 pages
Bookouture
Trina and Rosalind, the two main characters, went through foster care together and have been friends ever since. Now, Trina is a nanny for Rosalind and both women became pregnant at the same time. One baby lives and the other does not and Trina thinks that Rosalind has taken her baby. Trina believes she is being gaslit when she tries to find out what happened and she is, but the question is by whom.
This has all of the makings of a good suspense thriller but falls a little short by the end. These are the strengths. The chapters are short and the pacing is quick, just as a suspense novel should be. The setting was eerie. It is hard to put my finger on it but the setting, while in many ways idyllic, made me feel uneasy. That is a good thing in a suspense novel. There was a laudable resolution; even though by the very end I had figured out who was responsible, I was kept guessing until very far alone. I also had to unravel the reasons for what was happening.
Here are what could have been improved. The character development and the relationship of the two women was a tad weak. After awhile, I started to confuse the two, I think partially because they were not well distinguished. I think I would have liked to know more about their relationship in the foster home earlier on. That the two women grew up together under difficult circumstances was interesting but not as well used as this could have been. Also, because they grew up together and were in similar situations (both pregnant, which was a bit odd), and the chapters were so short and punchy, I began to get confused about whose perspective the chapter was, since the perspective changed. Toward the end, it started to annoy me.
Nonetheless, it was suspenseful and readers who enjoy domestic psychological suspense will enjoy this novel. I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. All of the comments here are my original thoughts.
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