Just imagine it’s the middle of the night, the house is all quiet with everyone asleep in bed and there is a knock at the door. Stood there are police officers with a young girl. A young girl whose father is the father of your own child, a young girl you knew nothing about. What’s more you are now expected to take care of this young girl….what could possibly go wrong?


I was totally blown away by this fantastic psychological thriller from Mel McGrath. I love a good psychological thriller so I’m always on the look out for a new author to try. The author’s writing drew me in, I was total immersed in Cat’s world. I wanted to devour the book but savour it at the same time.


The more I read, the more I questioned the reliability of Cat – you’d expect a child psychologist to be a reasonably reliable narrator. But as her world start to come crashing down around her and give the fact she suffered mentally whilst pregnant to the extent that she had to be placed into care for her own safety, I began to wonder.


There are two children who really haunted me as I read this. Joshua – he’s a chilling child, I actually felt a tightening of my chest as I read certain sections about him. It is quite upsetting as a mother to think that there are children, not just people under the age of 18 but children at primary school who can be diagnosed with such extreme personalities. And then there is Ruby, the young girl who is airdropped into Cat’s life without any warning. She’s a dark child – is she hiding something, is she someone not to be trusted? I really did not know what to make of her. The extent of the darkness of these two children can only be found by reading right to the end.


I found the cover to this novel very intriguing at first, such a simple image of an escalator which makes perfect sense as the story builds to its climax.


I highly recommend this psychological thriller if you like them dark and gripping!
Many thanks to HQ and Netgalley for my advanced copy of Give Me the Child. I’m looking forward to what Mel McGrath has to offer next!

You know it's never going to be good news when you get a knock on your door in the middle of the night so little does our main protagonist Cat know that this will be the first in a series of events that will have her questioning everything. Does she really know the man she married? What other secrets hasn't her husband Tom told her and is her daughter Freya safe?

Give Me the Child was a gripping read right from the first page, from the moment of Ruby's arrival you could sense that nothing would ever be the same again for all concerned. As a specialist working in the field of disturbed and dangerous children Cat is used to spotting triggers and with this girl who is brought into her own home there are plenty of red flags that make her worry about the safety of those around her.

Cat was certainly no reliable narrator as she had her own fair share of dark secrets and issues that had others questioning whether her own psychosis/paranoia was returning which made it all the harder for her to get others to believe her. After all who could honestly believe that an eleven year old child could be dangerous and put lives at risk.

As for Tom he seemed liked the the perfect loving husband and father at first, a bit of a fantastic thinking he was soon going to invent and launch the next big game, but the more the story progressed the more you soon discovered that nothing was as straight forward with him. He too had his own deeply hidden secrets and would do anything to prevent the truth from being revealed.

Give Me the Child fits perfectly into the domestic noir category as it's a tension filled family drama with plenty of twists and turns along the way that will have you racing to the end trying to see how it all plays out. I've never read anything by Mel McGrath before but I'm now a fan and will be keeping an eye out with interest as to what she has in store for us readers next.

It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally a character will make me want to bash them around the head with a baseball bat for the duration of the story. Yeh, I’m looking straight at you Tom. To be fair I might share some of the whacks with slippery Sal and downtrodden Cat.

McGrath slips in some interesting points without deviating from the plot. Once someone has been tarred with the mental health brush, you never really lose the stigma of it. I use the word tar intentionally, because unfortunately people still regard mental health issues as a taboo topic. There is a general ignorance surrounding the whole issue, the treatment and how it affects people.

Then there is the aspect of children with severe behavioural and mental health issues. The author paints a gloomy picture of parents looking for solutions, but being let down by the system and society. These children are often not given the support they need, and the consequences are dire.

Cat knows that every misstep, every over the top reaction and anything her friends and family find slightly out of the ordinary, is a possible cause for alarm. Is Cat just having a bad day or is Cat slipping into another psychosis? All the doubt and suspicion weighs heavily on her. It also tends to steer her decisions and make her less likely to stand up for herself. This element of the story infuriated me the most, well admittedly not as much as Tom did, the way this intelligent and educated woman kowtowed to those around her.

McGrath melds fiction with fact in this riveting psychological thriller. She lures the reader in with her ready made solution, only to let it implode further down the line. I would say trust your gut instincts with this read. If it looks like a killer and acts like a killer then chances are it probably is one.
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of Give Me the Child.*

Actually 4.5 stars.
Ooo, I do love a dysfunctional family... and we have it here, and then some. There are secrets, lies, and duplicitous behaviour aplenty in this chilling psychological thriller.
Cat Lupo is a child psychologist, she is married to Tom and they have one child, Freya. She really wants another but is wary as her first pregnancy was wracked with psychoses. Then, in the middle of the night there is a knock on the door and, upon opening, Cat is shocked to find the police and a small child, Ruby. Apparently, Ruby's mother has died and, as she is Tom's daughter the burden of responsibility for her falls on him!. Woah, back the truck up... Tom is Ruby's father. Well, this is news to everyone but, they take her in. To say she is a little different would be an understatement,. Not just cos of her council estate upbringing and her poor background, more that she starts to display some strange behaviour. Mostly only visible to Cat who already has her own psychological crosses to bear. Obviously. for this genre anyway, no one really believes her so she has to take it upon herself to find out the truth whilst trying to protect her other child.
Although a wee bit formulaic, this book held my attention nicely throughout and left me satisfied at the end. I say formulaic in the sense of the whole "main character knowing something but not being believed by anyone else and having to go it alone" storyline that has become so popular these days. That's not to say that the rest of the story around that main premise is also old hat. In fact, for me anyway, the opposite is true with respect to originality so I guess the two balanced out for me on the whole.
Although I didn't really warm to Cat completely, I could very easily empathise with her for what she was going through. Shock after shock, disruption to her life that was, mostly, ticking alone quite nicely on the face of it. Or so she thought!
The plot was quite chilling and at times a wee bit hard to read, it did somewhat tug at the old emotions as the layers of duplicity were peeled back to expose the bare wires of the shocking truth.
One thing I did like was the ending. I can't (won't) give anything away but I thought it was quite a fitting conclusion to all the shenanigans that had gone before.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Dr Cat Lupo always wanted another child, but the mental health issues she suffered during her first pregnancy gives her pause. When a young girl-Ruby-turns up at her family home in the middle of the night, who has a connection to the family, Cat’s life is turned upside down. A thrilling read that kept its pace throughout. Cat is a great narrator; because of her past history, you wonder if she’s wholly reliable but at the same time, you agree with her assessment of the situation. As the reader, you share her frustration that her concern for her child is being ignored. There’s plenty of twists and turns throughout the narrative to keep you guessing-I didn’t want to put it down! By the end I was racing through the pages as the tension reached its peak. Brilliant.

Cat had always wanted another child but her first pregnancy had led to psychosis and understandably perhaps, her husband Tom, doesn't want to face a re-occurrence of that difficult time. She has Freya & she spends her days dealing with children with severe behaviour problems. The family seem to be getting along fine until one early morning when they are awoken by the police. They bring Ruby- Tom's daughter from a fling during Cat's pregnancy. Ruby's mother has died in an accident.

Cat tries to welcome Ruby and make her part of the family but soon begins to worry that Ruby has an agenda of her own. Cat also begins to wonder how well she really knows her husband.

This was a story that kept me reading wondering how it would be resolved. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read and review it.

Brilliant story - well worth the read.

Thanks for the advanced copy

A compelling read from start to finish

Dr Caitlin Lupo, a psychologist really wants another child but is having reservations and worries after suffering from postpartum psychosis having her daughter Freya. One late night there is a knock at the door, Cat opens it to be faced with a young girl named Ruby, about the same age as Freya who is supposedly her husband’s child. Her husband Tom swears he’s never seen the child before, she is the result of a one night stand years before.

It soon becomes apparent to Cat that things aren’t quite right with Ruby. Wanting to protect Freya she talks to Tom and he tells her that the problem is hers that her psychosis is back. This leads to issues with both police and the social services and them becoming involved. As you can imagine all of this begins to put a strain on their marriage, can they survive? Is it worth saving? Do they even want to save it?

A real page-turner, make sure you clear your agenda when you pick this up as you won’t want to put it down. I felt my initial review was incomplete and didn’t do the book justice

Read for an honest review thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins.
Unable to add review to amazon at this time

I always enjoy psychological books, where nothing is as it seems at the beginning and this didn’t disappoint. As Cat delves deeper into her husband’s life things are much worse than they appeared initially, the catalyst of their problems being the arrival of a previously unknown love-child. Who is the one orchestrating Cat’s decline? The child? Her husband? Or herself? The spectre of mental health overshadows the whole novel and is a really interesting look at how the stigma of it never really goes away. Powerfully written.

Do we ever really know the people we live with? Dr Cat Lupo thought she did - her lovely family, loving husband and the daughter that they dote on -,until one night there is a knock at the door and her cosy world is torn apart. The police have brough Ruby Winter, Tom's child from a one-night stand, following the sudden death of Ruby's mother. Tom swears he's never seen the child before and that it was a moment of maddness, sleeping with another woman. Cat tries not to blame Ruby, but things turn more sinister - the influence Ruby seems to wield over the house, over Cat's husband and daughter is growing ever more concerning, but Cat doesn't know if this is real or a return of the post natal psychosis she suffered years ago. This book is thoroughly researched around the topic of psychopathy and aggression. I really enjoyed this taught thriller and I'm adding it to the 'fantastic fiction' reading list for my A level Psychology students..

Dr Cat Lupo wants another child despite her psychosis when she had a first child. When, one night the police come to the door with a little girl called Ruby. But, all is not right with Ruby as Cat is a child psychologist and she can recognise the signs. She founds out that Ruby is the love child of her husband Tom. Her mother has died. Tome swears that they have just met but later on Cat finds out that he has met her before. Cat wants to protect Ruby from her daughter Freya as Cat thinks that Ruby has something to do with her mothers death.

This is a cleverly written psychological thriller, with so many twists and turns and you don't know who is telling the truth.

I couldn't put this book down. Full of twists and suspense keeping you questioning what will happen next. If you enjoy crime and psychological fiction, you'll thoroughly enjoy Give Me the Child.
Thanks to Netgalley and HQ Stories for giving me the chance to read it prior to release!

This is a cleverly written psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns that had me guessing until the end.
Superb debut novel. I will look forward to more books from Mel McGrath.

Give Me the Child is the new novel by Melaine McGrath. It tells the story of Dr Cat Lupo and her husband, Tom. Cat is desperate for another child but when they receive an unexpected visitor in the middle of the night, Ruby Winter, a small girl in need of help, it seems like fate. But Cat soon discovers a devastating secret which puts her marriage to Tom and her relationship with her own daughter, Freya at risk.

I had seen this novel advertised a lot on social media recently and I was intrigued by the story line and the striking cover. I really wanted to enjoy this book as I had heard some great things about it but for me, sadly, there were parts of the story that just didn’t click. I’m never one to give up on a book, even when I’m not enjoying it but the story failed to grip me for a good section of the book, of course there will be others who read this book who may think its great but unfortunately for me I didn’t feel that way.

There were some parts of the book, however, that I did find enjoyable. I really liked the opening in which Melaine introduces Tom, Cat and then subsequently Ruby who arrives on their doorstep in the middle of the night accompanied by a police officer. Ruby’s relationship with Freya, Tom and Cats daughter also interested me which is what was really at the heart of the novel and drove the plot forward. I think it would have made the novel more gripping if Melaine had put more of a focus on this aspect of the book.

Melaine is a very talented writer. I found the back story of the riots interesting which had echoes of the London riots back in 2011 but I did feel this was a little distracting from what was going on in Cat and Tom’s family and for me I couldn’t quite be sure what the novel was about.

However, the last third of the book really took me by surprise. For me it was this part of the novel that really made the story, I could literally feel my heart racing as I came closer and closer to the end. I was not expecting that ending at all.

In the end I found Give Me the Child an enjoyable read, it was just a shame that the middle section of the book, for me, let it down.

I honestly could not put this book down. It was full of suspense and I throughly enjoyed every second. Thank you for giving me the chance to read this

A fantastic read by a talented author, Give Me The Child is a book not to be missed. Mel McGrath has taken a lot of delicate subjects and woven them into a very clever constructed novel that will have you eagerly turning the pages to find out what happens next.

Excellent book with great characters. Very well written. I would recommend this book.

I read this novel in two sittings. It starts extremely well and the pace continues through to the end. I found myself appalled by the lack of loyalty given to the central character from family and friends, and therefore started to really route for her, which is always a good sign.
An added bonus is the colourful description of some parts of London which you can either identify with or learn about depending on your own experiences.
Everything ties up very tidily in the end and I felt rewarded for my time by such a satisfying conclusion.

Really interesting story of a wife who finds her husband has a child with someone else. A tragic accident leads to the stepchild coming to live with her and her daughter. The main character is a doctor specialising in child's mental health issues and has a few of her own. The trauma of the discovery of the stepchild and consequent stresses lead to evaluatensure her life and she finds things are not all as they seemed.

Give me the child by Mel McGrath.
An unexpected visitor.
Dr Cat Lupo aches for another child, despite the psychosis which marked her first pregnancy. So when Ruby Winter, a small girl in need of help, arrives in the middle of the night, it seems like fate.
A devastating secret.
But as the events behind Ruby’s arrival emerge – her mother’s death, her connection to Cat – Cat questions whether her decision to help Ruby has put her own daughter at risk.
This was a very good read with good characters. Full of twists. I loved the story. Didn't expect that. 5*. Highly recommended. Thanks netgalley.