Baby Teeth
by Zoje Stage
Expected publication: July 17th 2018
by St Martin's Press
Sweetness can be deceptive.
Meet
Hanna.
She’s
the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only
person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after
with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think
of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.
Meet
Suzette.
She
loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained home
schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As
Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette's husband remains
blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette starts to fear that there’s
something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their
baby girl after all.
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Hannah
is an adorable looking seven year old who worships her father….she is definitely
a daddy’s girl through and through.
However, this sweet looking child has a devious mind and her goal is to
get rid of her mother, no matter the cost so that she can have her father all
to herself.
This
story is told in alternating POV’s between Suzette, the mother, and Hannah, the
seven-year old girl. Hannah chooses not
to speak, but her ‘voice’ is loud when it comes to the hatred she has toward
her mom. As a mom myself, I really felt
sorry for Suzette. She wanted to love Hannah so much, but it is hard to love
evil…..and trust me, Hannah is pure evil.
It was hard for me to connect with Hannah’s character because she seemed
older than her young seven years. It was
difficult for me to comprehend that a young child would even contemplate such
adult behavior.
While
this psychological thriller started out strong, I felt it fizzled out in the
middle and the flame totally died out at the end. I wanted to know more, but the story just ended
without any real conclusion and left this reader feeling unsatisfied.
The
audio version of this book is narrated by Gabra Zackman and while her voice of
Suzette was great, I had a really hard time with her portrayal of Hannah. I felt as though Hannah was a seventy-year
woman instead of a young girl. Perhaps
that is why I could not connect with Hannah, other than the fact that she was a
psychopath. The production quality was
great and the narrator spoke clearly and concisely.
Story -
2 stars
Performance
– 3 stars
Overall
– 2.5 stars
