Perfect Little Children

A Novel

By: Sophie Hannah

Narrated by: Laura Kirman

The New York Times best-selling author of The Monogram Murders and Woman with a Secret returns with a sharp, captivating, and expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense.

All Beth has to do is drive her son to his soccer game, watch him play, and then return home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the field, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her.

Why would Beth do that and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn’t seen Flora for 12 years. She doesn’t want to see her today - or ever again. But she can’t resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora arrives, and calls to her children Thomas and Emily to get out of the car.

Except.... There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt, but they haven’t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven’t they grown? How is it possible that they haven’t grown up?

©2020 Sophie Hannah (P)2020 HarperAudio

Good Story

I liked the way this played out. I especially liked that Beth wasn’t carrying around what she saw/heard/found out to herself. It was refreshing and really helped develop the characters more with their involvement. The sprinkles of humor were perfect. The only deterrent imo would be the America angle. I understand maybe another country away but it’s too far a stretch to believe Beth’s first trip there is solo on that pursuit. Way diabolical tho! Enjoyed listening to this one.

The narrator was excellent at portraying different character voices even if some were a bit cringy. But Flora’s emotions could be felt deeply through the narration.!!

Loved the story!

Very different story than my usual read. It was so good. I stayed in the car sometimes to listen more!! Loved the voices!

English accent

The story was very good, however I found it difficult to listen to a book being read in an accent.

Captivating and eerie!

Absolutely loved the utter confusion and continual feed of facts that left me wondering, what could that possibly mean??

An unusually bizarre mystery...

Though I thought the plot was a tish far-fetched, I still enjoyed “Perfect Little Children” by Sophie Hannah and expertly narrated by Laura Kirman. This suspenseful thriller is filled with unexpected secrets, intriguing events, and devious characters that kept me listening into the night. Laura Kirman's narration is top-notch, bringing the story to life with precision and flair. At $6.99, this audiobook was an absolute steal. I'm glad I discovered Hannah’s work, and I’ll be searching for more.

Ok story

The narration was terrible when the narrator switched characters;grating,almost indecipherable at times.
An unfortunate distraction

wow

best performance I've experienced, the story was a bit weird and long but overall satisfied

Excellent narration, enjoyable story

The performance was great — I really don’t understand negative reviews about the narration. If anything, the performance lifted the story. This is only the second Sophie Hannah book I’ve listened to outside of the Poirot stories, but I enjoyed both. Not 5 stars or anything, but solid and held my interest the entire time.

Great twist ending

This is a fun mystery with a Ruth Rendell-Barbra Vine style twist ending. The attitude of the teenagers is a bit rough to get through but their parts pass quickly and the story as a whole is well worth slogging through their short parts.

Utterly un-put-downable.

Wow. This is the best book I've listened to this year. I disagree with any quibbles about the narration, it was also exceedingly good.