Reviews

Ukochane dziecko by Romy Hausmann

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monikaka's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.5

vacantbones's review against another edition

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4.0

Before I get into my thoughts on Dear Child, I am here, on the record, to state that I will not fall for the Gone Girl comparisons anymore. It's not that Gone Girl was even my favorite book in the world, but for the simple fact that I'm always on the hunt for something as dark and twisty as it felt reading it for the first time. Publishers know how easy it is to pull in readers when they slap a little blurb comparing their latest thriller to Gone Girl on the cover, and damn it if I always fall for it. Because while this book was, indeed, good, it did not elicit the same feelings that Gone Girl did.

Now, on to Dear Child. My rating is a 3.5/5, rounded up because of how beautiful the ending was, specifically the epilogue. The writing was solid and flowed wonderfully, but the story itself a bit hard to get into at times. There is a feeling at the beginning that you're not being let in on some sort of secret, which is soon revealed to be true. However, the cookie crumb trail of clues dropped throughout the book is done masterfully, so much so that I flipped back through after finishing just to see what little tidbits I'd missed. Don't get me wrong - the story detailed in Dear Child is crafted with such care that I would genuinely recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrilling, suspenseful reads.

With all of that being said, I have to admit that I loathed two of our three narrators. Now, I'm not here to argue about likability in literature - I wholeheartedly believe that you can like a book when the characters are awful! The world is full of bad, or annoying, or just plain people, and it would be a disservice to only write about good, special people. I also want to note that trauma and the unknown play a large role in why our narrators are the way that they are, but this doesn't excuse all of their actions, in my opinion.

Let's start with Hannah.

Spoiler

While the book is clear in making sure the reader knows that Hannah's knowledge of the world was shaped *almost* entirely by life in the cabin, and that she may or may not be neurodivergent, I found her narrative intolerable at times. It blew my mind how condescending she could be of others despite having never left the home she was born in and knowing about the world from a book . She repeatedly refers to others who don't respond as she expects as "idiots" (perhaps the original German version was less harsh?), and while I completely understand how her upbringing impacted her ability to consider people and their actions, I still found myself constantly annoyed with her. Some people will probably think I'm awful for feeling that way but it's just my opinion!

And then we have Matthias, Lena's father.

Spoiler

While I can sympathize with his plight as a father counting the thousands of days since his daughter vanished, he was absolutely awful. He constantly interferes with the investigation and is unable to consider that his viewpoint regarding anything in the investigation may not be correct (thinking of his treatment of Gerd and Mark, his whining to the media, the leaking of information, etc.). He treats his wife poorly and refuses to acknowledge that his pain is not the only pain. He makes decisions without consulting her because he is so painfully self-righteous. I cannot say that I felt too badly about the way his story concluded, which, again, sounds bad because clearly he suffered dearly over the many years since Lena went missing, but when we have someone like Karin to compare him too, it just makes it harder to feel bad for him.

The third narrator really saves the day.

Spoiler

Jasmin is a well-done portrayal of trauma, grief, and imperfect healing. Is she the "perfect survivor"? No, far from it. She hides information from the police during the investigation several times! But her narrative is clear and makes sense, and she is written magnificently.

With many books I say "this book would be essentially the same, just better, if we removed the other narrator," but that isn't the case with this read. Despite my frequent annoyance with two of the narrators, I recognize that this would be a fundamentally different book without their perspectives. And while I may seem "harsh" in my assessment here, I feel that my rating reflects how interesting I found this book. It's not perfect, and it's not as dark as many would have you believe, but I do feel that it will stick with me for a long time.