The Stolen Child by Sanida Kay

Anyone who read Sanjida Kay’s debut novel Bone by Bone will know just what a powerful novel it was and now in her second novel The Stolen Child Sanjida Kay really has managed to go one better as this really is a superb psychological thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

The title of Kay’s second novel gives more than a hint as to what the story is about. The Stolen Child is about a mother and her daughter. The story starts as Zoe and Ollie have been trying to start a family for a number of years and have accepted that this is not going to happen as they had hoped and so they turn to adoption and they have adopted a baby girl and they name her Evie. Their lives now complete, sadly for both Zoe and Ollie it is not that simple. For baby Evie is struggling as her natural mother was addicted to drugs and so Evie was born with the effects of those same drugs so in those early days and the watchful parents watched and cared for her anxiously.

As the years moved on Zoe gave birth to a baby boy who they called Ben by now the family had relocated to Yorkshire and the family unit was complete. Life could not be better for both Zoe and Ollie. But as the title of the book suggests you just know something is coming and sure enough it does. Card and gifts start arriving for Evie from her real father. This man has been on a mission to seek his daughter and take her back. For both Zoe and Ollie, the nightmare is about to begin.

Sanjida Kay has delivered a pulsating and disturbing psychological thriller that will have the reader wanting to know what is going to happen on every page. This is a clever piece of writing as you are being sucked into the story just as Evie was being sucked in by her real father. You feared for the leading characters they seek to punish each other and lives are being torn apart in full view of the small community where they live. It would be easy for me here to give the storyline away but this is such a gripping story that you really want to read this for yourself. Kay’s writing style really lends the story its real edge it is tense and visceral and then there is the climax of the novel. But we will leave it there. I promise you The Stolen Child will steal your weekend from you. I highly recommend you head to your local bookshop and settle in for the weekend. Not to be missed.

336 Pages.

Thank you to Kirsty Doole and Corvus for the advanced review copy.

The Stolen Child by Sanjida Kay is published by Corvus and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and all good bookshops.