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    Perfect Little Children: A Novel
    Perfect Little Children: A Novel
    Perfect Little Children: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Perfect Little Children: A Novel

    Written by Sophie Hannah

    Narrated by Laura Kirman

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The New York Times bestselling author of The Monogram Murders and Woman with a Secret returns with a sharp, captivating, and expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense.

    All Beth has to do is drive her son to his soccer game, watch him play, and then return home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the field, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her.

    Why would Beth do that and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn’t seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn’t want to see her today—or ever again. But she can’t resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora arrives and calls to her children Thomas and Emily to get out of the car.

    Except . . . There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt, but they haven’t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven’t they grown? How is it possible that they haven’t grown up?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 4, 2020
    ISBN9780063010611
    Author

    Sophie Hannah

    SOPHIE HANNAH is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous psychological thrillers, which have been published in 51 countries and adapted for television, as well as The Monogram Murders, the first Hercule Poirot novel authorized by the estate of Agatha Christie, and its sequels Closed Casket, The Mystery of Three Quarters, and The Killings at Kingfisher Hill. Sophie is also the author of a self-help book, How to Hold a Grudge, and hosts the podcast of the same name. She lives in Cambridge, UK.

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    Reviews for Perfect Little Children

    3.5/5

    188 ratings20 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Sophie Hannah has written some terrific books, but this isn’t one of them. The hook is enticing, but the main character is a human pit bull with zero nuance and the reveal of the mystery is an absolute dud. One of the most unbelievable endings I’ve ever read. There’s also a long, single-scene dramatic subplot regarding the main character’s teenage daughter that is just out of nowhere and adds nothing to the story. Add to that an appallingly bad narrator (her male and teenage voices are utterly grating) and I’m not even sure why I listened to the whole thing.
    • 4/5
      This was a fun mystery to listen to. I liked the character of the Narrator: she was brave to the point of rashness and clever.
    • 5/5
      I went into this novel expecting to think Beth's curiosity was unreasonable based on reviews I had seen, but I didn't think that. I thought this was a story about a woman who was FINALLY doing what she should have done years ago but failed to do: being her sister's keeper. Her daughter was also a very lovely character. I give Sophie Hannah A+ for female characterization- the one who gives up, the one who never gives up and the one born with all the sense in the world. Very lovely read.
    • 5/5
      Thoroughly satisfying. And I especially loves the character of Zanna.
    • 3/5
      I didn't really like this book very much. The story went on far too long and the characters were really rather stupid. I only finished because I wanted to figure out why the kids didn't age. Also the character of Lewis was super annoying, who would be friends with someone like him anyway. I don't think I will read any more by this author.
    • 3/5
      A little slow but some good plot twists and an interesting ending.
    • 3/5
      I wonder how long it took Sophie Hannah to plot out this convoluted mystery - it's so twisty, and not in a good way, that I got tired of reading it. Beth, who is trying to figure it all out, is over-the-line obsessive about solving the mystery, ignoring her clients and sometimes her family and unapologetically engaging in activities that are borderline illegal in order to do so. There's a family crisis in the middle involving Beth's daughter at school that makes little sense the way it's thrown in there - perhaps it's just a bone to show that Beth really does care about her own family's welfare in the midst of her amateur sleuthing. I don't think I'll be checking out more of this author's books.
    • 4/5
      This is not a terribly believable story, but I was motivated to read it through fairly quickly to find out how it ends, so it's successful as something of a page-turner. I think the author was helped somewhat by the laudatory testimonials on the cover. Readers on LibraryThing seem to like it well enough, and I didn't hate it. I don't read a lot of mysteries, but I feel that the author was doing a workman-like job of fulfilling the requirements of the genre. In other words, I suspect she'll churn out more mysteries like this as long as she continues to write.
    • 4/5
      This book is creepy, twisty, and surprising. It id drag a bit in the middle, but I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      Credit Sophie Hannah's writing style and attention to detail to make Perfect Little Children an amazing combination of unbelievable and unbelievably entertaining. Even though it's tough to accept the premise that a working mother would have such time and energy to devote to an off-the-wall quest, I kept reading to see what was going to happen. The conclusion was certainly more believable than some I imagined while reading. Wonderful insight on what "best friends" or bullies could do.I especially enjoyed the character of Zannah and think she deserves her own story.
    • 2/5
      Seldom does a book keep me reading all the way through to the end despite the frustration I feel the entire time I am turning its pages. Sophie Hannah’s Pretty Little Children just achieved that rarity - and I still feel frustrated. So let me tell you why.First, the book’s hook is based entirely on a single sentence that is even prominently displayed on its cover: “Twelve years have passed…so why don’t Thomas and Emily look a day older?” The sentence is expanded upon inside the book jacket, too, with only a little more character background provided to entice potential readers. I’m not much of a fan of fantasy or horror novels, but because Perfect Little Children got nice coverage in one of the year-end issues of the New York Times Book Review as one of 2020’s better novels, I thought I’d give it a chance. To her credit, Sophie Hannah’s writing style makes for a relatively easy reading experience, so before I knew it, I was fifty or sixty pages into the novel. If I am going to abandon a book, this is the point at which I would normally do it, but I was no closer to the truth about the kids, and I was well and truly hooked by its essential question. I knew that if I abandoned it, I would wonder for weeks what the answer to the riddle on the cover was, so I read on…and on, and on without getting much closer to an answer. And that is my second complaint about Perfect Little Children. Nothing much happens, and when something does happen, it moves the reader only a minute distance toward any answers about what is going on with Thomas and Emily. All the while, Beth, the book’s main character is struggling to make anyone take her seriously, even most members of her immediate family. And then everything ends in one of those big-reveal confessionals in the book’s last couple of short chapters. I admit that the book’s ending is a clever one, but by that point I was so frustrated with its pacing, that I still wish I had never started Perfect Little Children. Bottom Line: So little happens that it is almost impossible to share any of the plot without risking an inadvertent reveal or two in the process, so I won’t even try to do that. Perfect Little Children is billed by its publisher as an “expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense.” Let’s just say that it plods along much too slowly to generate all that much suspense.
    • 5/5
      I just had to read this from the time I first saw it. Had to find out how in the world this was possible. In the 12 years since Beth had seen her friend and the then 3- and 5-year-old children...they should by now be teenagers...but no... they are the exactly the same ages they were 12 years ago. To further complicate matters...the youngest child, Georgina, isn’t there at all Now tell me that doesn’t puzzle and intrigue you too. Was the family a part of a drug trial that stopped the ageing process? Are these children a part of a second family? Seems strange that if this was true that they would have the same names as their older possible siblings. Something just doesn’t add up. Could the family be living a double life in more ways than one? These all seem impossible possibilities but if you want to find out you’ll have to read the book because you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. The only thing that continues to puzzle me and I just could not wrap my head around, was why Beth felt she was entitled to have every single one of her questions answered by these people she hadn't spoken to in 12 years. Guess it’s part of the mystery. It was a really, really good story and an absorbing thriller in spite of my one question.
    • 5/5
      I must admit, Dom was certainly THE most amazing husband through all of this! Beth believes in herself and that is what makes this book so good to read....she just keeps going! Talk about confidence? I guess we could all use a little "Beth" inside of us. Hannah's thrillers are page turning to read and that...is always a good thing!
    • 3/5
      This is an interesting tale, but not a page turner. It took me forever to get through this book, perseverance is the sole reason I finished it. On the plus side, the storyline was quite unique. Did I manage to figure out the ending? Well, honestly, yes and no! That’s where we shall leave things.
    • 4/5
      There is no one who can drop genius plots like mystery writer Sophie Hannah, and no other author who grabs you within the first five pages and keeps you up speed-reading all night. The writing itself isn’t elegant - especially when compared to Tana French, who shines in the same genre of domestic mysteries - but Hannah is stronger at the twisting of tension as the reader gallops along, trying to keep up. In this novel, massage therapist Beth is startled to see her old friend Flora, from whom she's been estranged for twelve years. With Flora are her two children - who look EXACTLY as they did when Beth last saw them, twelve years earlier. As the Dorian Gray-like theme unwinds, Hannah also shares Beth’s humorous confrontations with her husband and kids, and we learn more about Flora’s husband, the abrasive Lewis, and the reason for the abrupt termination of the couple’s close friendship. Although the resolution has its implausible moments, the momentum hurls the story along with nary a dull passage.
    • 4/5
      The friendship between the Leesons and the Braids faltered more than a dozen years ago. But that doesn’t stop Beth from driving past Flora’s old home where she is shocked to see Flora shepherding five-year-old Thomas and three-year-old Emily out of her car . . . Thomas and Emily are just the same as they were twelve years ago. They haven’t grown at all.Impossible? But Beth has seen them with her own eyes . . . and now she’s determined to find some answers.Strong characters keep this twisty tale from slipping into absurdity. Beth is annoyingly obsessive, but as the story progresses, her concern over what she might have missed all those years ago focuses her apprehension for the woman she once considered her best friend. Flora’s husband, Lewis, is the character readers love to hate and while Beth’s husband, Dom, frustrates readers in his desire to stay uninvolved, teen-age daughter Zannah is a treasure as a voice of reason and a sounding board for her disproportionately-involved mother. The implications of the unfolding story give credence to the denouement; readers will find that, as the pieces fall into place, nothing is quite as they’d imagined in this unputdownable tale of suspense and so much more.Recommended.I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program
    • 5/5
      This is the first Sophie Hannah book I have read and I can say without a doubt that it won't be the last. 'Haven't They Grown' is a psychological thriller following main character Beth after discovering that her ex friend Flora has children which haven't aged and that they look exactly as they did 12 years ago. They should be teenagers and they still look the ages of 3 and 5 years old. Obviously anyone in that situation would want, even need, to understand how that could be at all possible, which is exactly how Beth feels so, she makes it her mission to find out the truth, even if her husband Dom thinks Beth is going a little crazy and certain that she couldn't possibly have seen what she saw. I love the ambitiousness of Beth's character. The desperation she has in making her family believe her is superbly admirable. Another strong character, like him or not, is Lewis. His portrayal is pulled off so brilliantly. A rollercoaster of twists and turns throughout with a plot ending that you won't see coming, this book will have you on the edge of your seat and you will be unable to put it down. I kept telling myself 'just one more chapter'! Thankyou for my copy, I can't wait to read more from Sophie Hannah
    • 4/5
      Haven't They Grown is a book with such an intriguing premise. One day Beth Leeson happens to see her old friend, Flora Braid. With Flora are her two children, Thomas and Emily, aged 5 and 3 respectively. Beth is absolutely certain that all three people are the ones she remembers but she last saw them 12 years ago. In that case, surely this can't be Thomas and Emily. They'd be 17 and 15 now. What on earth is going on and why haven't they grown?See, aren't you immediately dying to know the answer to that question? I certainly was. These kind of mind-twisting conundrums are what Sophie Hannah excels at. I've read her books before and she always thinks up implausible situations and then finds a way to make them plausible in a way that the reader never can. I couldn't fathom out why the children hadn't grown any more than Beth, who was like a dog with a bone, could. It was only when it all came to a conclusion that I worked it out, so way after everyone else probably.One of the things I didn't expect was the dry humour but having seen Sophie Hannah a couple of times at author events I perhaps should have expected her own brand of humour to come out in her writing. I laughed out loud at the dialogue several times and the teenagers in particular were so caustic that I just found them so funny. I did mark a couple of passages but I think they don't work out of context so I'll leave them for you to discover for yourself.This is quite an addictive and thrilling read. I was completely taken up with Beth's search for the truth about her former friend. I recommend this book if you like books that mess with your mind with an almost unfathomable and clever plot.
    • 4/5
      Beth and Flora used to be best friends, but their friendship ended abruptly twelve years ago and they’ve not spoken to each other since then. However, over the years Beth has often thought about her old friend and one day, when she is driving her son Ben to his Under-14s away match, she remembers that Flora lives very close to the football ground. Although she asks herself why she should do something which is bound to dredge up painful memories, once she has dropped her son off, she cannot resist driving past Flora’s house, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of her. As she waits in her car outside the house, Flora and her children, Thomas and Emily, arrive home but as they step out of the car Beth realises there’s something terribly wrong because whilst Fiona looks the same, just a bit older, the children, who were five and three years old when she last saw them, haven’t changed at all, they still look five and three. Although Beth cannot understand it, when she hears Flora call them by their names she has to accept that they must be Thomas and Emily … but why haven’t they grown? And why is there no sign of baby Georgina? This story follows Beth as she attempts to solve this mystery and to persuade her family, and others, that something sinister is going on. Her husband, Dom, initially thinks she shouldn’t interfere, and once numerous Instagram postings appear to show that Flora, her husband Lewis and their teenage children, are alive and well, and living in Florida, he tries to persuade her that she needs to let it go. However, Beth knows what she saw, and the fact that Georgina doesn’t appear in any of the images, makes her ever-more determined not to give up until she finds out what’s going on. However, she discovers that she has an enthusiastic and perceptive ally in her teenage daughter Zannah, who very quickly becomes as keen as her mother to uncover the truth, no matter what it takes ... although some of her enthusiasm is probably generated by the fact that she will do absolutely anything to avoid having to revise for her GCSEs! As the story develops, the details of what led to the breakdown in the friendship between Beth and Flora, and the subsequent lack of contact between the two families, are gradually revealed, adding an extra psychological dimension to the mystery. I don’t want to risk spoiling the story by giving too much detail about the direction Beth’s investigations take but I was impressed by the author’s exploration of the two major themes which are central to the plotting. One being the corrosive effects a coercive relationship can have, firstly on the victim’s self-esteem and then on their capacity to act independently, and the other being the power of friendship and loyalty. One of Sophie Hannah’s reliable strengths as a writer lies in her observations of human behaviour, so I found that each of the characters in this story was superbly well-drawn, with even the more disagreeable behaviour of some of them feeling disturbingly recognisable!I’m a huge fan of Sophie Hannah’s writing style and so was very keen to read this stand-alone novel, confident that there would be a number of unpredictable twists and turns as the story developed. There were certainly plenty, although I do have to admit that there were moments when I found myself thinking that there aren’t many authors as capable as she at making her readers willing to suspend disbelief! However, I was happy to settle back and enjoy the roller-coaster ride, probably because I felt utterly confident that there would be a psychological integrity to the outcome of the storyline. I’ve always loved her rather gothic imagination and, although I did find the story rather slow to begin with, it soon became unputdownable and, ultimately, didn’t disappoint! With thanks to the publisher and Readers First for an uncorrected ARC in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Sophie Hannah starts her thrillers with something so bizarre and inexplicable and works forward from there. When it works, the result is a novel that is a lot of fun, even if it might not hold up to a close examination. When it doesn't, the reader is left with an incoherent mess. This is one with a particularly improbable beginning, and while it never really became believable, it was a novel that I was always eager to get back to. Beth and her best friend parted under acrimonious circumstances twelve years earlier, but that doesn't stop Beth from tracking Flora down and driving by her house. She sees her friend outside, with her two children, but unlike Beth's own two, Flora's children are still the same age they were when Beth last saw them. This is enough to turn Beth's fascination with her old friend into an obsession and no one, not her husband, not Flora herself, can make Beth stop digging into Flora's life. This is the kind of thriller where there aren't any likable characters. Beth is not someone you'd want to know, but neither is anyone else, except perhaps Beth's daughter, who is doing everything she can to avoid revising for exams, but who has the moral center that her parents lack. Hannah knows how to keep a plot moving, rushing from one bizarre situation to the next, constantly fueled by Beth's determination to get to the bottom of things. While I doubt I'll remember the details next week, I did have fun reading it.I'd also like to note that the British titles for Hannah's books are far superior to the American ones, which aim to be as forgettable and non-descriptive as possible.