Playing Nice

So the swapped baby cliche story is not so cliche this time. Pete and his partner Maddie have an adorable and precocious (get into everything) son named Theo. Pete is a stay at home dad after his job as a freelance reporter disappears. Miles and Lucy Lambert are the wealthy parents of little David, not precocious, in fact barely aware of his surroundings. When Miles insists that the children were switched at birth at the NHS hospital, Pete cant believe it, until they visit the Lamberts and meet David. Thus, the couples form an alliance against the evil hospital that gave them the wrong children. Unfortunately, all is not as it seems and it may not be the hospital that is the evil entity here. Pete and Maddie may not be a traditional family, but they will have to unite in order to defeat the evil that they have welcomed into their lives, unsuspecting of how nefarious the Lamberts may actually be. I loved the spider web feeling of this book. The deeper I got into the plot, the more intricate it became, with layer upon layer of deception. The characters were no one that I would want to meet, ever, except maybe Pete, who seemed to be a happy-go-lucky man who just wanted the best for his son. But even Pete, I kept waiting for another shoe to drop and for me to find out something dark about him, too. Starting as a slow pace, the pace picked up quickly for me and this book was a thoroughly enjoyable psychological thriller. Fans of Delaney and thrillers will enjoy this book, but be prepared for some really unexpected twists. Disclaimer Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.

This thriller earned 3 Stars from me. SUMMARY Pete and Maddy are blindsided when they are approached by a stranger and told that their two year old son is not really their child. It turns out that their baby was switched in the hospital with the baby of another couple, Miles and Lucy. You can imagine how shocking this news must have been. Luckily, both couples agree to be open minded. They agree to try to come up with a solution that benefits the kids most. They plan to be in each others lives, communicate and be civil. Everything goes well, until it doesn\’t. When things begin to go downhill, Pete and Lucy begin to ask themselves what is going on; how did the babies actually get swapped and what is going on at Miles and Lucy\’s house. The answers are hard to hear and could tear them apart. WHAT I LOVED This is an original idea for a plot. Babies rarely get switched in the hospital and when they do, its usually pretty easy to figure out what happened. The mystery behind how these babies were switched is definitely not easy to solve. The revelation was not at all what I expected. The suspense was well done. It really was hard to guess how things would resolve. One of the characters was unstable and had volatile tendencies and was hard to predict; this character was the most interesting thing about the story. The writing style was easy to follow; there was enough detail so I could see the story playing out in my head, but not enough so I was distracted from the plot. It was Brit-Lit. I LOVE my Brit-Lit! WHAT I DIDN\’T LOVE I picked up this thriller because I had enjoyed JP Delaney\’s previous book, \”The Girl Before\” but I just didn\’t love this one as much. I was a little disappointed. I think my main issue was with the characters. I didn\’t like a single character and I had a hard time caring what happened to them or thinking any if them would be good parents!! Pete and Lucy were probably the least offensive, but they both were just plain dumb and spineless. They made annoyingly bad choices!!!! I could never figure what Pete saw in Maddy; she was self serving and not much help with the baby. And, of course, Miles was meant to be the one who we all disliked and I definitely did dislike him, but he was so awful that he almost seemed like a caricature. But he was the most interesting character. When bad things started happening, it was a whole lot of bad!! It almost seemed comically bad. Just too much. I was just rolling my eyes finding it hard to believe that much bad could happen to one couple. OVERALL Meh. Not out rightly bad but not exactly good either. This is not a bad was to kill a few hours but just don\’t expect too much.

This book is so good, reads so fast, it\’s like a bullet thru snow. Twists, turns, handstands, summersaults. It has everything that keeps a reader turning those pages. Every character is thought thru, fully grown with quirks and real-life reactions to crazy events. Nothing is overblown, yet i found it almost impossible to put down because i knew there would be some great calamity beginning on the next page. I tried to stretch it out but ended up finishing it in 2 days. Right to the very end, there is a new surprise. Now i have to go find another Delaney book.

AUG 2020 : 4 STARS. Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent\’s worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete\’s son Theo isn\’t actually his son. He is the Lambert\’s; switched at birth by an understaffed hospital, while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife Lucy. Prior books by this author were The Girl Before (\’17 – Read \’18 – 4 Stars), The Perfect Wife (\’19 – 5 Stars) and Believe Me (\’18 – Read \’19 – 2 Stars). Believe me was a reworked book from 17 years ago that doesn\’t even come-up on the author\’s profile; I try not to count this one against him. Mr. Delaney doesn\’t disappoint with this book, Playing Nice. Love the intriguing dialogue which keeps the tension up. Totally held my attention worrying what would go wrong next. Well done !

I so enjoyed this book, an absolutely brilliant read that grips you from the very first page. Its so different and thought provoking, impossible to put down because you have to know what happens next. J P Delaney has obviously researched his subject very well, its all totally plausible and believable. Very well written too, will wholeheartedly recommend Playing Nice.

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