Playing Nice
Fiction
Ballantine Books
July 28, 2020
Hardcover
416
Purchased
Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete's son, Theo, isn't actually his son--he is the Lamberts', switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they've been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.
The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents--or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts' glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.
They are done playing nice.
My review:
My favorite kind of thriller! One with a slow burn where you become comfortable with the characters and feel that you know them. You are not being thrown twists at every turn that sometimes interrupt the storyline for me. This is a book that really makes you think what if this were happening to me? What would you do if the child you had cared for the last 2+ years wasn't yours? What about the child who is? This is a page turner as a situation that seems manageable at first, slowly turns in to one that isn't. Lots of secrets are unearthed, the effect of nature vs. nurture is given good coverage, and the desperation of the parents is so palpable! I liked the way this one alternated between the parents of Theo, with case worker and court briefings interspersed. I thought the writing was good, particularly the parts where we are privy to what the characters are thinking. While I wasn't completely sold on the tidy ending, I really liked the slow and steady buildup to it.
This was a really good thriller, with enough twists and turns to satisfy those who crave that, but at the same time more of a character study for those of us who prefer that. Nice short chapters lend this one to be a quick, fast paced read.
