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Dear Child cover art

Dear Child

By: Romy Hausmann
Narrated by: Nicky Diss, Jane Collingwood, Simon Slater
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Summary

You escaped. But your nightmare has just begun.

The number one international best seller - 250.000 copies sold in Germany - fifth best-selling paperback in Germany in 2019.

A windowless shack in the woods. Lena's life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them. 

One day Lena manages to flee - but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called 'Lena', who disappeared without a trace over 13 years ago. The police and Lena's family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle that doesn't quite seem to fit.

This audiobook includes an exclusive afterword by Romy Hausmann.

©2020 Jamie Bulloch, DTV Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG (P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited

Critic reviews

 'A chilling, original and mesmerizing work. Hausmann is a force to be reckoned with. You can't stop reading' David Baldacci 

 'Deliciously dark' Alice Feeney 

 'Very compelling' Peter James 

What listeners say about Dear Child

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A lot of things wrong with this book

To name a few...

My main issue is that this book is all over the place.

Personally the build up is not worth the rushed disappointing ending

The bit I found most frustrating was The character of Herr Beck.
Firstly, the narrator for his character sounds like he’s chewing something the whole time which is just irritating.
Secondly, considering that as a reader you should innately feel empathetic towards him because his daughter has been missing for years/possibly dead, I found him very hard to like as he is rude to pretty much every other character including his wife of which by the way I don’t know why the whole book is based from his POV as if he was a single parent.


****Spoiler ALERT***
When he finds out he has 2 grandchildren Hannah & Jonathan instead of embracing them both, he obsessively fixates only on Hannah. I can understand it’s most likely because she resembles his missing daughter but there’s a complete disregard for Jonathan altogether, almost like he is non existent in his world.
He does everything to hinder the investigation, he hates every male character.


Hannah ( Lenas daughter)

Considering how “intelligent” and “matter of fact “ the world she lives in is, I don’t know how she has 3 mothers and not once thought this doesn’t make sense but that’s completely glossed over. Also considering the harrowing things she has probably seen, she seems pretty unscathed by it all. I’m convinced she’s psychopathic.

Jonathan ( Lenas son)
You don’t hear much from him. He is portrayed as stupid and slow when in actual fact I believe he’s probably a normal 11 year old boy with obvious trauma issues.

There are so many gaps and overall a disappointing book. Not worth it.

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37 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping

I really enjoyed it, the only thing I wish they had done differently is the use of Herr & Herrin when addressing male & females. It’s a translated book from a German author but I hadn’t realised this and spent most of the book confused because of the use of this. An example is a character called Beck, they called him Beck & Herr Beck so I assumed it was two different characters, especially as it’s not just translated but also narrated by English people. I’m sure that’s just me though and it certainly didn’t distract from the great story and excellent narration. Definitely one of the best books I’ve listened to this year.

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17 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Only OK

This had great reviews so I gave it a try. I found it meandered a little in the middle, a lot of it could have been edited a little better. I found myself losing interest and just wanted to get to the end. I give it three stars, it's a good thriller but not five star quality.

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15 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Full of twists and turns!

Great suspense created. Some parts had my heart racing! My only criticism is the reader for the part of the grandfather. Found it really difficult to listen to him. He was heavy breathing and sounded constantly like he'd just climbed 10 flights of stairs!! Really off putting 😕

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7 people found this helpful

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Riveting

one of the best books I've listened to for a long time ...thrilling ..complex loved it

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Captured!

Ironically, I was completely captured by this story. The narration was fabulous, especially appreciated the ‘phone call’ effect. The epilogue ironed out a few things that confused me and the authors note at the end touched me deeply. Sad when it was all over.

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5 people found this helpful

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Dear child

This is the best book I’ve listened to so far, great narration, hope she writes some more books ..

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I loved thos book, what a lovely twist!

I dont think I have ever left a 5 star review across the board before. the story builds to a tense and claustrophobic conclusion. loved it!

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Thrilling book

Great story brilliantly brought to life by the narrators. The story in itself was good but the characters were so well narrated it really kept you with it. Recommend this one.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Superb

One of the best listening experiences I've had on Audible... dark, gripping, superbly narrated and kept me guessing right to the end, I have a terrible habit of guessing the twist but not this time!

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2 people found this helpful