The Other Child (Susi Fox, Penguin)

Susi Fox’s The Other Child opens with obstetrician Lauren De Vale returning to work after the birth of her second child, Charlotte, and finding it harder than she expected. Lauren hasn’t felt sure-footed since the drowning of her first child – or even since she was diagnosed with postnatal depression after his birth. What she does know, without a doubt, is that she loves her daughter. So why does it feel like everyone around her doubts that so much? Lauren begins forgetting conversations and promises, and her friends and family start to distrust her concerns – especially those about her devoted husband, stay-at-home-father Alex. Readers are left wondering about the cause of Lauren’s anxiety: Is it guilt, is her mind playing tricks or is she truly not safe from those closest to her? Fox (Mine) maintains a steady pulse of unease from the first page, trapping both Lauren and the reader in an atmosphere of uncertainty. Lauren can never be sure who in her life is friend or foe, creating a disorienting portrait of a protagonist whose reliability is always in question. The Other Child reads like the literary equivalent of a water-cooler TV show, with each chapter prompting discussion about what’s true, what isn’t, and how maddening Lauren’s mother-in-law can be. This psychological thriller is a fast-paced, compulsive read for fans of Anna George, Megan Goldin, and Freida McFadden’s Housemaid series.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Fiona Hardy is an author and a bookseller at Readings. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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