First, this was such an interesting topic for a book. The Final Child was easily identified as the last person to be be taken and recovered by "The Father." Erin was clearly written with trauma and turmoil and the after effects of surviving. Harriet was crucial to the story and genuine in her desire to get answers for all the victims. . When I thought that I had predicted all of the things, I was proven wrong. I found the twist enjoyable, unpredictable, and it's really what made the story. I was driven to finish this book once things started developing. I will say that it started slow, and I found some of the outside perspectives, written too soon, distracted me from really connecting with the book. However, once I did, I couldn't put it down.

Fran Dorricott is a bookseller and previous debut author. The Final Child is her second fiction novel and a serial killer noir. ‘The Father’ as he was called, abducted and killed siblings, except for Erin who managed to escape. Eighteen years later, she meets Harriet who is writing a book, as her cousins were the first pair of victims. Whilst each carries the impact of the harrowing crimes, circumstances occur that places each in danger and someone seems to be targeting them. Does ‘The Father’ have unfinished business? With a disjointed start that begins as a list of dates and children, the narrative is somewhat piecemeal thereafter and the tension fails to rise to any significant level, so only a two-and-a-half-star read rating. With thanks to Titan Books and the author for an uncorrected proof copy for review purposes.

3.75 Stars. This book took a little time to get going but was worth it in the end. It seems like every book I have been reading lately has either been fantasy or such an emotional drama that I’m going through a box of tissues. While I love those types of books, I really needed to spice things up and go with something completely different, which The Finale Child was. This was a psychological thriller, crime-mystery, with sapphic characters. You can’t really get much different than what I have been reading so I was happy to have this ARC at the perfect time. This book was a bit dark, and the subject sad –a serial killer who kidnaps two siblings at once- but in the end it was a pretty exciting thriller.

The story stars two women, one who is writer and the cousin of the first victims taken, and the other woman is the last victim and only one to survive. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m not going to go into any of the storyline but I was happy about whom the mains were. So many times thriller and crime/mystery books star a private dick, police, FBI, or whatever, so I was happy that this was not the case in this book. A survivor and an author are not pros when is come to solving a crime so when the characters did something stupid, which they did a few times, you believe it more because they are not professionals.

When it came to the actually personalities of the characters, I found that I struggled a bit. I liked them enough, but I’m not sure if I connected to them as much as I wanted. I think the author character needed a bit more backstory, and at times I felt like the character voices needed to be more different. Even though the book clearly tells you whose POV we are in, sometimes I would still get mixed up. They were just missing a little bit of character development for my personal tastes.

There is a sapphic romance. It’s not a big part of the book, but it was there and it was alright. While there seems to be a decent amount of lesbian and bi women detectives in murder mysteries, there are not many sapphic characters in psychological thrillers so it was a very nice change. What it comes down to is that I would not read this book for the romance, but it was an enjoyable bonus to have.

I think my biggest issue with the book ended up being the length. This book was around 400 pages –as far as I can tell- and I think it could easily have been 350 instead. The first third of the book is just slow. Not enough happens and too many things just plod along. I will admit my attention was captured from the beginning because of the premise, but I kept yelling at the book to get moving. I think Dorricott really wanted to set the table for the whole story when all we really needed was a fork to dig in. I didn’t exactly notice when but I think it was around the 40% mark when I realized the book felt different. The pace had finally picked up and I was really absorbed into the story. The whole second half is very exciting and just seemed like one thing after another happened to keep me turning the pages. I’ve read some books lately that had the thriller tag but they fizzled out. This book turned into a real thriller in the second half.

I would recommend this book for fans of psychological thrillers and crime/mysteries. While this book had a few issues and wasn’t perfect, it ended being a very entertaining read. There were some good twists and turns in this book. While I did guess some of them, others I missed which makes any mystery book more fun to read. This book does start off slow, but I found it to be worth the time put in since it was exciting in the end.

Another Monday night before a book release, another ARC review I'm hurriedly trying to get in. And for once, I’d actually finished reading it a few weeks ago, AND I liked it.

There’s honestly not much for me to say about this book. If you read the summary (basically: pairs of siblings were being kidnapped by a serial killer until one child escaped and now years later the survivor feels it isn’t all over), you kind of know if you want to read it or not. Unlike the books I mostly post about, it’s a straight up mystery thriller, no supernatural aspects. It does have main character f/f, though, that’s pretty consistent.

The writing is definitely passable. I don’t really notice it much, which is, I think, a sign it’s doing its job. It’s atmospheric and I would often read a chapter or two late at night before sleeping, which is probably the worst time to read it (or the best, depending?), because it’s all about shadows lengthening and seeming to move and then I’d nervously look around.

I’ve read a previous book by this author, similar in genre (and f/f), After the Eclipse, and it made me sob. It also had a missing child and I just cried through the ending after a certain reveal. I was kind of afraid, given the subject matter, I’d hit the same thing with this, but it wasn’t as upsetting in that same way. If I had a quibble, it’d be that the ending was maybe a bit anticlimactic? It seemed pretty guessable at a certain point, maybe intentionally so.

The other complaint I had was that the perspective changes happened very often and suddenly, it was a bit jarring. But ultimately, I enjoyed the read. It was pretty quick and easy. It comes out, a little while ago, I guess, on September 7th.

The Final Child is a terrifying, disturbing and compulsive standalone psychological thriller with an intriguing mystery at its centre, and Dorricott has somehow managed to give it the feel of a real-life true crime case despite it being fictional. Between the years 1994 and 1998, a brutal serial killer was on the loose in the English Midlands; he became known as The Father as his modus operandi was to abduct pairs of young siblings from their beds in the dead of night, and this became something that occurred as a spree every few years. We are introduced to Erin (formerly known as Jillian) who was kidnapped by The Father 18 years ago and was the only one out of his 14 victims to escape death at his cruel hand when she was found in dense woodland alive but bedraggled and confused. Unfortunately, she has been beset with fear, guilt and heartbreak ever since, and not only does the trauma of her time spent in captivity play on her mind, but so too does the fact that she was unable to save her brother, Alex, who was taken alongside her. They were the last 2 victims (of 7 pairs) of this sadistic madman before he dropped off the grid and never popped up again. What exactly stopped him from killing, and why?

Erin has no recollection of her time being held or even what happened to her during that time which could be seen as both a blessing and a curse, and only some of the deceased bodies of his victims were found with many having still never been recovered almost two decades later. Erin has worked tirelessly to separate and distance herself from the horror that happened even changing her name and appearance to try and move on. It's 2016 and Harriett Murphy whose cousins and 2 brothers were kidnapped and subsequently murdered by The Father, is penning a book about the disappearances and slayings to try and get to the bottom of them. While carrying out her research, she wants to interview Erin about her experiences despite her having little to no memory of what occurred, but Erin is reluctant even though she is really the only hope of anyone ever been brought to justice for these crimes as the only eyewitness. When someone breaks into Erin’s home and a short time later she begins receiving unsolicited gifts that are left both inside and outside her house, she naturally becomes petrified. Is this The Father coming back to finish the job before she can incriminate him or is it someone else entirely?

Either way, it's clear that someone is out for blood. This is a riveting, pulse-pounding and compulsively readable cold case thriller full of urgency and fraught with both danger and palpable suspense from the offset. Admittedly retrospectively investigating a gruesome crime spree that swiftly turned into a cold case all those years ago is not a new concept, however, I cannot stress enough just how much better Dorricott’s version is than many others from past experience; it's an astonishingly good yarn that is tautly plotted and scintillating to the point that I found it immensely difficult to put down. From the first few pages, it's deeply unsettling and the oppressive feeling of dread runs throughout the story creating an atmosphere in which the tension can be cut with a knife. It's rapid-fire paced, intensely compelling and thoroughly entertaining with superb characterisation and a conclusion that is not only explosive but earth-shattering, too. It also appears to give rise to the possibility of a sequel which I would certainly reach for. A creepy, engrossing and thought-provoking read I highly recommend.

This book started slow for me but I’m glad I stuck it out because the ending was amazing! Totally shocked me and was a great suspense story

3.5 Stars

The Final child by Fran Dorricot is an adult Sapphic thriller, releasing September 7th. The novel follows the story of HARRIET- an ex journalist turned novelist who wants to write the story of children that were kidnapped in late 90’s England by a kidnapper known as the father( who only took siblings and always in pairs) - and ERIN- the only child to have escaped.
•
This wasn’t my favourite thriller but I did like the characters and it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat while I read. Due to what happened to her, Erin is still traumatised as an adult and I LOVED her, she showed such strength and honestly- SHE WAS A BADASS. Harriet was just as intriguing, though her character annoyed me a little. She tended to push boundaries a lot more than I liked.
•
The romance between them was sweet, and it brought some light to growing tension throughout.
•
In terms of criticism: The final child does something I personally don’t like in thrillers and gives the kidnapper backstory and therefore you can see how everything happens the way it does. I don’t like this mainly because I like to be completely in the dark, I want to know when the characters know and not before hand. It just isn’t as exciting for me which lessened my enjoyment. I also don’t care about the perpetrators in thrillers enough to what their POVs.
•
Overall, The Final Child isn’t a bad thriller, it just wasn’t completely for me. I do think others (who enjoy the perps POVs in Thrillers) will love this. I further enjoyed how atmospheric the writing was, and the almost mystery aspect.

Tense and intriguing...I was fully engrossed in Fran Dorricott's The Final Child.

This was my first novel by the author and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. Focused mainly on the stories of Erin, who escaped a serial killed called The Father, eighteen year ago and a journalist who had family that were also victims of the same killer.

A bit slow and repetitive at the beginning but the second half totally draws you in and let's not forget the plot twist at the end that ties the entire story together.

A very good read. I look forward to reading more from Fran Dorricott.

It took me a while to get through this book since there were several repetitions that felt like fillers. Otherwise the story is a calm one. When reading a thriller one might expect a story full of suspense and tension. The Final Child isn't one of those books. It concentrates on the things after the serial killers deeds and the people remembering the victims. So if you are in the mood for a thriller just keep in mind, this book is rather more slow paced than your average thriller. It's also a bit predictable, partly because some things are repeated so often that you just know the opposite of what is said is the case.

Crime is an interesting genre for me. In fiction I enjoy the puzzles, social commentary, and interesting characters but true crime leaves me cold with it’s focus on the culprits and the gruesome details and most of the time the victims being forgotten. Crime fiction does the same, but I can tell myself it is not real but fascinating my reactions to it. When I read Fran Dorricott’s tense The Final Child I was pleased to find that this was a story that mixed a haunting mystery with watching the impact on two women brought together. In the 1990’s the UK was haunted by a killer known as The Father who every few years would take a pair of siblings from their beds and in the weeks or in one case months later bodies would be found although not all of them to date. But in the last pairing a few weeks late Jillian was found in woods later alive, bloodied and without any memories while her brother Alex was never seen again.

Erin used to be known as Jillian and has worked hard to bring distance between her childhood and lost brother. Her life is shuttered, and she is wary of people discovering her past as they tend to see a victim and a juicy story not a person. Her last relationship has imploded as she never told her girlfriend too much about her past. Harriet was a cousin of the first siblings to vanish and be killed. Her family has been in the shadow of this story. It’s always been around her and she felt powerless to help. This story got her into journalism and investigation though never gave her the confidence to make it her professional, but she has decided to write a book about the children and their families. She thinks she has discovered an early crime The Father committed but never was connected with and starts to meet the families again. Erin starts to feel constantly watched and the two women need to learn to trust each other as danger gets nearer.

This story has a truly terrible mystery at the heart of it dealing openly with the disappearance and death of children but pleasingly Dorricott puts the families and victims at the heart of the tale. This is the story about consequences as both women realise that their lives have been tainted by this experience one directly and one indirectly. We see families broken; people stuck in their pasts and with Erin and Harriet two women both quite unconnected from the world. Erin in armour of make-up and combat clothes while Harriett lives in a sparse home without many personal touches. A crime that stretches 25 years can really destroy many lives and I was impressed how this was demonstrated and how police and the random public are shown never to understand that pain.

The mystery of the Father himself is also a powerful mystery. There appear to be no pattern in his choices of victims and how he went into full homes at night stealing two children. Putting the pieces together of Erin’s memories and flashbacks to an strange unhappy home give the reader quite a bit to work through making the final resolution surprising and dangerous. This is aided by an escalation in strange events around the families as a feeling for being watched escalates to strange gifts being left in people’s homes that bring back memories of the missing children. It leads to uncomfortable suspicion in the reader that more is to come and when it does the stakes for the two women will be raised higher. I would perhaps have liked the last act to move a little faster to build up more rising tension but the review of the personal impact on the characters was worth it. By both choosing to get involved in the case Erin and Harriet start to face their pasts and discover their own attraction to one another pulling them further together. Erin the spiky but ultimately caring person who wants to heal the damage done (but never talk to anyone) is well balanced with Harriet the analytical one who also wants some justice for the families, and they make a compelling couple ad they get into more danger.

The Final Child is a great autumn chiller that you can get yourself into a comfortable chair and then start to feel very uncomfortable at every strange noise around the house. Dark, tense and yet a story with heart and compassion for those left behind in terrible events it is an intelligent thriller worth a look.

The Final Child is among the most intense, compelling (and occasionally terrifying) thrillers that I’ve ever read. It kept me guessing throughout, following the twists and turns. I predicted some plot twists, but not others, and was left breathless by the end.

The story follows Harriet, the cousin of the first victims of a serial killer known as the Father, and Erin, one of the last children kidnapped by the Father and the only survivor. Harriet is working towards writing a book about the killer, as a kind of memorial to the victims, and wants to interview Erin, but Erin keeps ducking her. Meanwhile, there’s hints of a stalker and perhaps the Father isn’t so dead as assumed after all.

This is a book that I’ve been anticipating ever since I finished After the Eclipse, and it really did not disappoint. I was on the edge of my metaphorical seat throughout, unable to predict where the book was going and more than a little freaked out at points (let me tell you, I’m so glad I didn’t read this one at night). It was everything I wanted and more, and a book that convinces me I’ll be reading every book Fran Dorricott writes from now on.

I think what worked best for me is the way that it was focused on the characters. As with After the Eclipse, it feels a very character-driven mystery. The entire thing centred on the people, and the crime’s effect on them, as opposed to necessarily the crime itself (and thus also the perpetrator). The focus was very much on the victims, about the aftermath and subsequent recovery. So, yeah, things get investigated as well, but that’s almost secondary to the characters.

That character-focus leads to a cast you can fully sympathise with. The characters aren’t perfect (as you probably expected), they’re messy and traumatised and sometimes, though not always, trying their best. They’re compelling to read about, the kind of characters that you find yourself rooting for from page one. And that goes beyond the two main characters, to include the background cast too.

So when you put that all together, you have what was basically the perfect book for me. A thriller that was genuinely thrilling, characters you’ll love, and a fast-paced plot that kept you hooked. From the first page, I couldn’t put this down and the ending still has me somewhat breathless months later.

All of which to say, if you don’t pick this book up… Well. It would be the biggest mistake of your life.

this was really good.. creepy and curious.. kept me guessing and wondering.. kept me on edge and wanting to know what was going to happen and when. it was wonderfully written.. amazing characters and i really liked it. very good!

Eighteen years ago, Erin escaped the serial child abductor and murder known as The Father. Her brother, who was abducted at the same time, did not escape. They were the seventh (and last) pair of children to be abducted and the true identity of The Father was never found. Now, Erin has done everything she can to put her past behind her. She meets Harriet, a cousin of the first set of siblings to go missing, who is writing a book focusing on the children and how their families want them to be remembered rather than focusing on the killer. Erin, initially, wants nothing to do with the book especially because she can't remember anything about her time with The Father or how, exactly, she escaped. However, strange items start showing up in her house and she feels like she's being followed. Now Erin, with Harriet's support, is finally ready to try and remember what happened eighteen years ago and if The Father is connected to the events happening in the present.

TW/CW: child abduction, death of a child, alcoholism.

Overall, I really enjoyed this thriller and would recommend it with the understanding that it does not shy away from the subject matter so it won't be a good fit for all readers. I think the subject matter of a serial child murderer is an interesting choice because it immediately increases the tension and stakes in the story. I think having Harriet being the lens that we get most of the backstory through was a great choice. She has a personal connection to the case and says multiple times that she's sick of everyone focusing on The Father instead of the children. She is interviewing the families of the children to see what they want the world to know about their children so they are remembered as the individuals they were and not just victim numbers of a monster. Harriet does have a background in journalism so she has an investigative and inquisitive mind that comes into play later in the story but her focus throughout is 100% on the children.

I thought the pacing in the story was great and really ramped up from mystery to full blown thriller by the end. The beginning of the story was pretty slow and it took me until maybe 20% to be invested. We're following Harriet and Erin separately as they are both going about their lives. I get that this beginning part is more to show the status quo of their lives and how well (or not well) they're handling things. The two women then meet and Erin is initially hesitant but when strange things start happening, she is more willing to hear Harriet out. This starts a domino effect, of sorts, that it really felt like the two women couldn't stop even if they tried. Once Erin started remembering small snippets, she kept wanting to know more. There were times when Erin would be absolutely panicked about having to remember more or trying to figure out what something she remembered meant and Harriet would have to calm her down before they could move on with their investigation. I found there was a good mix of reveals both in the physical world but also in Erin's mind when she'd have breakthroughs in her memory. The stakes were consistently ramped up and there was less and less downtime between events which made this a real page-turner. In the second half of the story, most of the downtime the reader gets is small snippets of Harriet's book of interviews with the other families. I think the addition of these breaks were great as not only a bit of a break for the reader but also to re-center the reader by reminding them what all this action is for, where the investigation is leading. Sure, it would be great to figure out who is leaving Erin these things and why, but we can't forget about the other children.

I really enjoyed the different POV we got throughout the book. We get Harriet, Erin, and then a third POV that only uses nicknames. The third POV was an interesting addition that we don't get right away. We get a good amount of time setting up the story with just Harriet and Erin so when the third perspective comes in, we know it must be somehow related to what is going on with the other women but we just don't know how. We get clarification about half way through the book, but until that point we aren't sure if this other perspective is current day or in the past, or if they have something to do with The Father or not. I think the choices of when to switch POV were used very effectively to build tension and hint at things to come - especially when we figure out where that third perspective fits into the overall narrative.

The main part of the story that fell a little short for me were the characters of Erin and Harriet. To me, they felt a bit underdeveloped to be the main characters. I felt like I knew the same amount of information about them that I knew about the other secondary characters. When we're introduced to them, they are both haunted by The Father in their own way - Harriet is obsessed with the case and using it to work through her memories of her cousins and her grief but Erin is obsessively trying to distance herself from the case. I can understand that, for both women, having something that huge being in your life consistently can leave little room for other hobbies and relationships. However, as a reader, I really wanted both of them to have something else going on in their lives. The plot of the story was very intriguing and I did like how we got a little more history of both women as the story progressed, but as a character-focused reader, I wasn't really attached to or interested in these characters specifically. It is a little hard to describe, but it felt like they were place holder characters that were waiting to be more developed in later drafts. I wanted more background, more hopes and dreams, more hobbies, more friends so we can get an outsider's perspective. To be clear, I don't think missing these details would be considered a plot hole or anything like that. I think we get the bare minimum of details needed to show the stakes each character has in finding out the truth as well as explaining their drive to get answers. And for more plot-driven readers, that might be the perfect amount of character development but I just wanted more and the story lacking those details did make the reveals and twists hit less because I was less invested in the characters.

I really enjoyed the investigation as well as the ending, which I think are key points to hit home when it comes to mystery/thrillers. I thought the investigation path was really well paced and made sense of what led them from one plot point to the next. I also found the path of the investigation to be pretty realistic considering the two women didn't have any sort of extra skills or access to investigate - gotta love a mystery solved by Google and social media sleuthing! The thriller aspect really cranked up in the last 1/3 of the book when the past and the present collide. When it came to the twists in the ending, I could see most of them coming and it felt like that was done on purpose. I think there's a lot of aspects mentioned early on that get included in the ending so even the twists felt almost like a logical conclusion to the investigation (well if we know X and Y, then of course A and B would have happened, for example). Of course, maybe other readers who don't read as many thrillers might not be able to see what was coming. This isn't one of those mysteries where the ending twists comes out of absolutely nowhere which I think is for the best. I really felt like this story was equally about solving the mystery of The Father along with healing from the past. So many points along the investigation, Harriet would check in with Erin and ask her if they should continue or if they should just pass the information along to the police and be done. The amount of agency that Erin had now that she is ready to find out the truth was really great. I think it was extra important since she was abducted when she was so young so now she can take back her life, in a way, and move forward finally. This is really made clear at one particular point in the ending climax that I found particularly impactful.

Overall, I enjoyed this mystery/thriller. I loved the pacing, the investigation, and the ending but found the characters a little underdeveloped for my personal taste.

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for review

Expected publication date is September 7, 2021.

A very well done thriller about Erin, the only survivor of The Father who abducted and killed several children and Harriet, who wants to write a book about the abductions. The book starts off rather slow, but due to the switching POV's it gives you a good insight in the characters of both ladies and the slow start ensures a solid base for a connection with the women when the pace picks up and leads to the rather gripping conclusion. There were some minor issues here and there that bothered me a little bit, but overall a very strong thriller with a nice sapphic romance thrown in there. I like to read thrillers and the added element of two women who fall in love isn't something I come across a lot in this genre, but it makes a difference since it's easier to relate to the person I am reading about. Fran Dorricott managed to have a good balance with the emphasis on the thriller aspect and the romance is there and is nicely done, but not something that takes up a big part of this book.

*** An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for a honest review ***

The Final Child is a book that surprised me from the very first page. I guess I'm used to reading thriller books that aren't set within the UK, because as soon as I started reading this book and I was presented with a list of child abductions that took place around the area where I lived I had to take a moment to realise what I'd just read. From the first few pages I realised that this was not only going to be a book that felt more at home because it's a British murder mystery, but because I knew some of the places it was going to be happening in. I have to admit, it instantly won me over; and not once did Fran Dorricott let me down as the book went on.

The story of The Final Child follows two women, women who begin the story so closely connected even though they've never met before. Harriett is a former journalist who grew up hearing stories about how her cousins were taken by 'The Father', a serial kidnapper and killer of young siblings in the late 1990's. Having grown up knowing that her cousins young lives were brutally cut short, and seeing what this does to a family, Harriet has been working on a book about it.

Her book began as a way of her being able to process her own grief and issues with what happened, and slowly evolved into her wanting to tell the stories of not just her cousins, but all of the young victims of 'The Father'. Having seen how so many true crime fanatics and the press focus on the killer, often ignoring the victims, Harriet wanted to create something that celebrates and memorialises those who lost their lives to him.

Erin is one of 'The Father's' victims. The only child taken by him to ever be found alive. The final child. Having grown up being unable to remember what happened to her, but knowing that she and her brother were taken by a killer, and that her brother's body will probably never be found, Erin as tried to move, Alex, on with her life. She's tried to distance herself from her past as much as possible, changing her look, and even changing her name from Jilly to Erin.

One day, when visiting her mother, Erin meets Harriet, a young woman who has approached her mother wanting to learn more about her and Alex. At first she's pretty hostile towards Harriet, wanting nothing to do with this woman who seems to have barged into her life, wanting to drag up her past. However, strange things start to happen to Erin. She feels like she's being watched, and her house gets broken into. These incidents start to make her think of her past, and as such she agrees to speak to Harriet.

Together, the two young women begin to try to figure out what might have happened to 'The Father', if they're really dead, and if perhaps there were more victims of his out there. As their investigation begins to uncover new evidence it becomes clearer that someone's targeting Erin, and the two of them are now in danger. Could 'The Father' be back, or is this a deadly new stalker?

So often in stories where characters are looking into old cases, trying to figure out what really happened in the past, there's a lack of urgency to things. People get to spend a lot of time going from place to place, looking around at things, talking to person after person, putting the pieces of the mystery together as they see fit. The Last Child seems to buck this trend, however, as thanks to this shadowy figure that's messing with our two heroines there's a constant sense of danger lurking in the background. You're always waiting for something awful to happen, and it feels like Erin and Harriet have to find answers soon, before something terrible happens.

This sense of urgency and danger aren't just great for pacing and keeping the story story moving, but also as a way of pushing the relationship between the two leads. Over the course of the book we switch between narrators, and we get the chance to know Erin and Harriet quite well. At first, they seemed like the kinds of people who wouldn't really get along. Erin is closed off, afraid to let anyone in, and completely opposed to helping Harriet and her investigation; wanting nothing more than to just forget her past and live her life. Harriet also starts off feeling a bit self centred. She wants to finish her book, claiming that it's for all of the victims of 'The Father', but she keeps pushing at Erin, perhaps overstepping the mark a few times; and even refuses to think of her as Erin rather than Jillian, still thinking of her as the victim of 'The Father' rather than her own person.

But, this changes as the book goes on, and as the narrative keeps forcing the two of them together. Not only do they become friends, but it also very quickly becomes clear that there's something more to their feelings too. We learn very early on that Erin is attracted to women, but it isn't until she and Harriet begin to get close that we discover Harriet feels a similar attraction to her; though it does seem to be heavily implied that she's never been in any form of romantic situation with a woman before. What begins as a very strained relationship, where they're both keeping each other at arms length soon becomes this wonderful sapphic relationship where they're each trying to find the best way to be close to the other; and it was wonderful.

Perhaps it's simply down to the books I've been reading, but this might be the first time that a queer relationship has been given centre stage in a crime thriller book that I've read. And I loved it. Not only was it great to see two women being able to love each other, and come together during such an awful situation, but it made me smile every time they gingerly reached out to hold the others hand, or made to gently kiss the other, almost afraid of what might happen. It gave moments of tenderness and care in what might have otherwise been a brutal and unforgiving narrative.

Throughout the course off the book readers also get the chance to see things from the point of view of other characters, brief snippets that begin to shed light on what really happened in the past, and how things led to children being kidnapped and murdered. These moments were really interesting, and definitely expanded the narrative in interesting ways without giving too much away. There were a few times that these flashbacks, in conjunction with things happening in the present, really helped me as a reader to understand things, and I appreciated that Dorricott always held certain information back to keep the mystery going without it feeling forced. The stuff we learnt wasn't being intentionally vague or misleading to keep certain aspects as a surprise, which is an incredibly hard line to walk. But Dorricott did it expertly here.

There are some parts of the book that get very disturbing too, with death, torture, mutilation, and child harm being big parts of the book, but it never felt like any off it was being done in a way that was simply to gross out or disturb the reader purely for the sake of it. There are some awful things in this book, but it felt natural, it felt like something that no only is plausible, but something that you'd expect to see on a true crime television show. The book felt very grounded because of that, and there are times where it would make me think of real crimes and real killers because it felt so eerily familiar; and that was possibly the most disturbing aspect of the whole thing.

The Final Child is one of those books that I found hard to put down. It's a book where the narrative and the characters were so engrossing that I needed to keep reading to find out what happened next. I loved the people that inhabited the pages, I wanted them to be okay, and I'd love to read more about them, even if it's just their boring mundane lives. I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did when I started, but it's easily become a firm favourite.

The Final Child by Fran Dorricott was a very good read. Harriett is a writer whose cousins were abducted and murdered by a notorious serial killer called The Father. The Father abducted and killed several pairs of young siblings in the mid to late 90's. The last pair to be abducted was Erin and her brother, Alex. Erin managed to escape but remembers nothing. The Father was never caught but never struck again after Erin escaped. Now 20 years later her and Harriett cross paths because Harriett is determined to write a book about the victims of The Father. Weird things are happening to Erin and the families of the other victims. The more Harriett and Erin investigate , the weirder things become.
I don't want to say too much more about the plot but just know this is a very chilling thriller. The story is told in alternating chapters by Erin, Harriett, a child named Mouse, and someone known as Mother. Slowly, the story comes together until you reach the astonishing conclusion of what happened to The Father and his victims. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes thrillers and serial killer books. The characters of Harriett and Erin were well developed and likeable. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was such a tense read! There's a few different POVs to get used to, and the first half is slow moving, but I feel that this slowly building tension sets up the shocks in the second half. I was on the edge of my seat reading this book & the final twist had my jaw on the floor.

This books kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time! Erin (AKA Jillian) had been kidnapped by The Father along with her brother Alex. About three weeks later she returned with some injuries and no recollection on what happened to her or her brother. The Father always kidnapped the kids in pairs and sometimes a body was found. Erin along with Harriet, who had lost her cousins to The Father try to figure out who it is as Erin started receiving gifts from her past. This book definitely didn’t make it easy on trying to figure out who was stalking Erin or how to book would end.

This was my first novel by Fran Dorricott, and i thoroughly enjoyed it!

I found this book to be a bit tense at times but the plot was interesting and focused mainly on Erin , formerly Jillian, who 18 years ago escaped a serial killer and a journalist who had cousins also victims to the same killer. This novel has dual narration along with a third narrator that remains a mystery.

The characters were well described and I enjoyed each of them. The first half of the book started out slow and a bit repetitive but by the second half I was fully engrossed.

The plot twist at the end was definitely unforeseen and made everything come together. I would highly recommend this novel to those who enjoy thrillers.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. I love a good mystery/thriller and I did enjoy the twists and turns, but the dialogue and the ending killed it for me.