Jane Renshaw – The Child Who Never Was

‘The Child That Never Was’ by Jane Renshaw is a stunning psychological thriller that will keep you reading into the early hours. As soon as I began this book, I knew I was in for a rocky road of a read, the book begins with a prologue that already had me wondering.

The story fully begins with Sarah, searching for her son, Oliver. She is adamant he is missing, but her identical twin sister is very certain Sarah doesn’t have a son at all. Eve is the one with a child, a little boy named James, Sarah is being told by everyone, her G.P, Psychiatrist and Eve (her twin) that Oliver is a figment of a delusional episode. Sarah is convinced she has a son, even after being held in psychiatric Unit for 28 days, but she has no proof, no records and no birth certificate, only her stretchmarks which could be through weight loss…right? No matter what the people around her say she is convinced, and so hatches a plan.

I read this book in a day, it had me after the first few pages. I really empathised with Sarah, medicated up to the eyeballs and absolutely sure she had given birth, but no one believing her, I surely would be having a breakdown myself. Her twin Evie is the one that has been Sarah’s rock, all her life but definitely, after their parents’ deaths, Evie is the one who sorts Sarah and goes out for her as she feels she cannot deal with the outside world. As the story develops we see Sarah mistrust Evie more and more, but this is par for the course, she trusts no one, but is she right to mistrust her twin, her saviour at the worst times in her life?

A fast-moving story that never really lets up the suspense. I was swept away with Sarah and her terror of not knowing and how she could solve this horrific happening in her life. I really enjoyed the way the storytime slips with memories from Sarah from when she and Evie were children of the local vicar and we see little glimpses of their childhood. Jane Renshaw has even managed to make the ending something I could not guess or foresee, a brilliant twist that just finished the story for me.

Thanks to Inkubator Books, Booksprout and Damp Pebbles Blog Tours for the copy of the book and be part of the Tour today.