Yowza! I can definitely say that this was an appropriately titled book. This little girl grew up in what I guess would be called a trailer park, if that city had trailers. All her neighbors would congregate in someone's yard every night and drink beer or whatever. In the morning, everyone would wake and find that yard filled with bottles and cans and no one believed in keeping up appearances and cleaning up after themselves.

The little girl wore dirty clothes and shoes too small. One of her teachers took pity on the girl and tried to help her. She took the girl to her house after school and fed her and walked her home. She also tried to talk to the mother saying that someone in the "trailer park" had been abusing her daughter. The mother just laughed and talked about how many stories the daughter made up. The mother talked about how evil the girl was and that the teacher did not really know her. The teacher felt sorry for the little girl and could not believe the mother would take an adult's side over this poor little girl. Big mistake, big, big mistake.

What happens after that - that's where the title comes into being.

This was a great story. How could a little girl be capable of what her mother was accusing her of? There is absolutely no way. However, the farther you read, the more you wonder. Could this small child possess the ability? An entertaining, scary, unbelievable story of a little girl you have to read to believe.

Thanks to Bookouture for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Frances Vick, and Bookouture for providing me with a copy of this book, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

In her follow-up novel, Frances Vick tackles some of the most troublesome areas of a well-organized society, the protection of the child. In her years as a teacher, Claire Penny has seen many children pass through the halls of her school. Some good experiences mix alongside those that are less than enlightening, but when it comes to young Lorna Bell, something deep inside begins to call out to Claire, even if it is hard to pinpoint the precise concern. After seeing young Lorna on the playground, isolated from the other children, Claire develops a particular curiosity that develops into a caring interest. Soon thereafter, Lorna finds herself in small bouts of trouble, be it teasing or stealing or roughhousing on the playground, which brings in a young mother, Nikki, to handle her daughter's troubles. What follows are signs of continued alarm to Claire, but no one else will heed her requests to follow-up with the authorities. Claire learns of a home life that is less than ideal for Lorna and marks all over the little one's body, but nothing can be done, at least by those with the power to remove Lorna from her family. By the time she turns ten, Lorna begins to forge a bond with Claire and a plot is hatched to solve everything. Just after Christmas, they flee the town for the Cornish seaside, where Claire hopes to keep Lorna from the family that does not care for her. Tragic news comes over the wire, but Claire still wants to keep Lorna protected and away from the bright lights, but is confused why no one has reported Lorna missing. While out in the seaside town, Claire and Lorna encounter Marianne, a writer-cum-dancer-cum-Jill of all trades. Lorna and Marianne soon begin spending time together while Claire is left ignored and constantly worried she will be discovered as having kidnapped Lorna. However, something begins to eat away at Claire, both related to the news back home and the connection that Marianne has made with Lorna. Before long, Claire is left to wonder if she, too, will be abandoned and Marianne will pick up as the saviour figure to Lorna. A gripping tale that takes some time to get going, but pulls the reader in soon thereafter.

Without a strong connection to Vick and her writing, it is somewhat difficult to judge the calibre of that which I have read. However, I find that first impressions usually go a long way for me and I can say that I came out of this reading experience with mixed feelings. I was interested in the premise of the novel from the outset and Vick is able to present it in such a way as to capture its essence, a struggle between one's gut reaction and the rules of the system. The array of characters Vick uses conveys a decent cross-section of those who might be involved, from abusive parents to detached school officials and an overbearing (caring?) educator who wants it all to work out for the best. While the plot is strong in its intentions, I felt it took a long time to really get moving, longer than I would have liked even to lay the groundwork for the departure from the primary residence itself. However, once things got moving, there was a wonderful undertone to the story and hints throughout as to what might be going on. Vick portrays Claire, Lorna, and Marianne in a wonderful fashion and leaves the reader to wonder if the gut reaction they are getting as the story progresses could actually be true. Vick layers on more drama and a few twists to keep the reader from guessing too much before letting everything fall into place at the perfect moment. Working in the Child Protection field myself, I enjoyed the perspective offered and can empathise with Claire on many accounts. An interesting novel that I think could work well and drawn many people to it, given the proper approach.

Kudos, Madam Vick for a great story and interesting portrayal. While I cannot put my finger on precisely what kept me from loving this book outrightly, I know there is much potential and I will keep my eyes peeled for your next work.

Having worked in education for the last 11 years I have seen more than my fair share of safeguarding issues first hand. It shatters your heart to see a child suffering in any way, knowing you are helpless. But there are safeguarding procedures to follow and I don't care how 'old skool' Claire is; a teacher with as much experience as her would be well aware of even a basic safeguarding protocol. This also brings me to the so-called 'Super Head Teacher' who had been brought in to turn this failing school up to scratch... his lack of knowledge and appalling communication skills really annoyed me! Whether this was the author's intention or just a lack of detailed research I have no idea.

Mini rant over...

Having said all that, I could mostly ignore that and was captivated throughout. The portrayal of the abuse and torment the readers were led to believe Lorna suffered at the hands of her family and peers was dark and disturbing. She broke every single rule it was possible to break but Claire's heart was in the right place. A combination of lack of knowledge, caring and her own judgement being clouded by other factors in her life leads her to make some awful, irreversible mistakes.

Far too many children are suffering from some form of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and a scary amount of adults are oblivious to early warning signs. If one child is saved by someone in the community spotting any of the warning signs, many of which are described in this book, then it's definitely worth everyone reading it - but please, I urge you, know your safeguarding procedures and damn well follow them to the letter! They are in place for your protection as much as the child's (as Claire found out the hard way!).

Lots of tension, creepy and sometimes dark... I will be recommending this book to others.

4 stars

Thanks once again to Bookouture for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

https://twitter.com/BookwormCatLady
https://www.goodreads.com/BookwormCatLady

Creepy won't cover this book. It is beyond creepy, psychological thriller. This book is not for the faint hearted, be warned!

Wow I really loved this book! Kept me reading till late at night.

Claire is the exact reproduction of a teacher we have all had once in our lives: caring, loving, many times maternal, and interested in her students.
Lorna is the almost exact reproduction of a student/colleague we have all met once in our lives: dissimulated, a liar, but with many family problems that might justify her behavior.
Their paths cross when Lorna steals a scented rubber and breaks it in a million pieces “to share” it with the other children that could not have it. Although stealing is wrong, Claire focused on the poor little girl´s intention – to share with other children. However, Lorna´s mother did not seem to agree, and slapped the girl on the face after leaving school with her that day, after a chat to the principal about the happening.
After this episode, Claire starts paying special attention to Lorna, trying to make the girl get along with the other children, but with no success. Claire then asked the principal to call the mother once again to school, and the mother, when talking to Claire in private, confided that Lorna was a bad person, that she lied about serious things.
Claire of course did not believe her for a second, and then the story flows to Claire leaving town with Lorna after Claire´s mother died, and they formed a little family.
As time went by, they had a new member with them – Marianne, and things started to change between Lorna and Claire.
Until the shocking end.
To be honest, I had seen it coming; it reminded me very much of Case 39, and I was sure of many things throughout the plot. In any case, I was surprised with some details in the end, and the final two pages made me flip out.
For all of those who are fans of a psychological thriller: please read this book. It is ccccrrrraaaaaaaazy!

Loved this book, could not put it down.The characters were well developed as was the plot. The twists and kept me reading til the end. I did not want it to end. A must read for anyone who enjoys books that keep you guessing right until the end.

A bit of a slow burner for the first half but really gives you an insight of the main character Claire - a teacher who lives alone and only seems to socialise with her mother. She then takes poor, little Lorna under her wing. The story starts to turn darker and into a real guessing game of who is good, who do we trust, who is telling the truth? A few really good twists and turns along the way with a great ending.

Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for the advanced review copy of this novel.

Dark, twisted, gripping - just a few of the words I would use to describe this book. My feelings for each of the three main characters changed constantly over the time it took to get to the ending and even then ....
This book deals with many different themes, including loneliness, abuse, neglect, love and friendship and handles them all brilliantly.

This book is excellently written. While not gripping from the very beginning it changes about quarter of the way through so that I couldnt put it down. The one thing I had a major issue with, is that a teacher with so much experience could be go gullible. This one thing really irritated me for most of the book. But the story was good enough to not let that stop me. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more by Frances Vick.

I really enjoyed this book. Claire is a primary school teacher who finds herself taking a special interest in Lorna, a young girl from a dubious background, who hints to Claire that she is being abused at home. Is Lorna telling the truth, or is she enjoying the special attention from one of her teachers? Another character, Madeleine, enters the scene. Who is she, and what is her interest in Lorna? The tension builds nicely and the outcome is full of drama. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.

This book was very disturbing. Not ussually what i read at all. The charaters were good, but the story washard to swollow. I felt for Claire and pretty much dispised Lorna. It was easy early on to see this child was a bad seed. I really do not know what to say without giving the story away. The book was well written, just did not like the story.

Wow! A gripping psychological page turner with a very unexpected outcome. Spinster Claire Penny is basically a good but naïve person who has spent her working life teaching at the local primary school . She loves her job and cares deeply for the children in her care, despite having misgivings about some of the younger, professionally driven teaching staff she sees around her. The one area she stands out from the crowd is her pastoral care and compassion for all children, particularly those who seem less popular and neglected. Her interest in Lorna Bell stems though this urge to care for those she deems less fortunate and she pursues her gut feeling that the child is at serious risk of harm at home. She reaches out the hand of friendship and support to the child, despite the misgivings of many of the staff around her; and indeed her ageing but competent headteacher mother.
Sadly for Claire the steady routine of her life is about to spiral out of control after a death in her family - I do not wish to give spoilers. Claire, in her depressed and grieving state encounters Lorna and the unlikely friendship between the two strengthens, until for Claire the safekeeping of Lorna becomes an all consuming worry.
It is at this point that the plot races away in an unexpected direction after a terrible event. Slowly and with increasing horror I came to realise that perhaps Claire had placed her trust misguidedly and with perhaps life threatening consequences. The ending is a frantic finale, a whiz a pages, to reach a satisfying conclusion but which still left me experiencing a slightly nervous twinge for Claire's future happiness.

Read my review on my blog! 4/5 stars

Oh my! This was a very good, but very disturbing read!

A well written book with fantastic characters, a creepy and dark page turner a great read.

A Shocking Book which tackled some very tough areas. Very well thought out with things I never saw coming and could never have predicted. You have to feel for the main Character yet end up questioning your loyalty to her. I was hooked and the suspense and surprises just never let up. Sure to be a big hit it his year. I loved it and cant wait for future Works from the Author!

Claire Penny, a primary school teacher tries to see the best in her pupils. Her heart goes out to Lorna - a child from a troubled family who seems destined to be picked on and struggle through life. She tries to help where she can and Lorna becomes very attached to her. Claire tries to alert the Headteacher and social services about her concerns but no-one listens.

Whilst coming to terms with the death of her mother Claire becomes more concerned and involved with Lorna and before long events are completely beyond her control.

I had to suspend a lot of thoughts of- "no-one could be so daft" but even with those nagging doubts I could not put this one down. If you don't question the plausibility too much (& that's what fiction is all about isn't it?) I would really recommend this one! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for giving me the chance to read this book- I'll look forward to the next one from Frances Vick

A rather dark and creepy novel that starts slow and builds. I'm not sure I liked any of the characters and I had the twists figured out long before they were revealed, but I still enjoyed the story. It was a good read for me and I think this is a writer to watch for as I expect her future books to be even better!