Book Review: No Child of Mine

No Child of Mine
by Susan Lewis
2013
560 pages

Synopsis:
Alex Lake’s life is centered on helping people. Her job as a social worker in a British seaside town is more than a career: It’s the very essence of who she is. And though there are frustrations, Alex takes to heart the rewards of placing a child in a safe and loving home. But when she encounters three-year-old Ottilie Wade, Alex is completely unprepared for the effect the sweet, shy little girl has on her. Though on the surface Ottilie seems to want for nothing—she’s perfectly healthy and lives in a very nice home—she’s mysteriously silent and asocial. Alex knows that something is not right in the Wade house. And the deeper she looks into the case, the more Alex comes to feel that she and Ottilie are being drawn together by fate.

As disturbing evidence mounts and Alex’s superiors seem unwilling to help, Alex knows she will have to risk everything—her job and the life she loves—to save Ottilie. But Alex will also have to wrestle the demons of her own past before she can secure a future for this child in need.

Rating: 3 / 5 Stars

My Review:
I enjoyed this book much more than the other Susan Lewis novel that I read. The writing wasn't so descriptive, and the story was well told. The characters were very believable, and I was able to really connect with the main character, Alex Lake, and understand her side of the story. The material in the novel was a lot more tragic than I was expecting. There were situations involving child abuse that I was not prepared to read about. It's really apparent to me that now that I'm a mommy, things like that happening in a book are very disturbing for me to read. Lewis did it in a very tasteful and well-written manner, and the shock-factor definitely had the right effect that she was probably going for. The ending was a little odd to me - not at all what I was expecting. Nor was it realistic (or so I think). It was a happy and interesting ending which Alex and Otillie definitely deserved to have after everything they'd been through, but it was not what I was expecting at all. I'll read another novel of hers in a little bit, and see if I continue to enjoy her storytelling.