Book Review: THE GODCHILD

Title: The Godchild

Author: Miranda Rijks

Publisher: Inkubator Books

Pages: 270

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 

Head teacher Carina Ruff lives with her stay-at-home aspiring writer husband Don, and their three children, 16yo daughter Tegan, 14yo son Arthur, and toddler son Ethan in a lovely home. When Carina’s 17yo godchild Alicia Watts, daughter of an old college friend, Gina, drops in, asking for a place to stay, Carina agrees, against the wishes of Don and Tegan.

Very soon Don and Carina begin to appreciate Alicia, impressed with her helpfulness, her kindness and intelligence. Arthur is totally smitten with her. Tegan is the only one who sees that there is something off about Alicia.

Then Tegan is arrested for the murder of another student. Who could be behind these wild accusations? Carina will have to sift through her own memories if she is to find a way to save her daughter.

The story is written in the present tense PoVs of Carina – Then, Carina – Now and Tegan – Now. Alongside these three PoVs, we have four chapters from the PoV of the school psychologist Kathryn Friar, describing her experience during her sessions with Alicia. This PoV gives us insights into Alicia. It reveals that Alicia’s gratitude may be a front.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

The reason behind the unconventional living arrangements of the Ruff family is revealed without making it seem like an infodump.

The book throws light on the pressures and the bullying faced by children and teenagers at school, not just in terms of sexual pressures, but also incidences of rape, extortion and intimidation, things that authoritative figures are often completely unaware of.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

Don and Carina trusting Alicia blindly and not paying heed to their own daughter wasn’t clever plotting. Stupidity seems to be a common character trait among the adults here. Even the psychologist doesn’t realise that she is being played.

Pretty soon, Carina decides to admit Alicia into her school on a scholarship. Right away you can tell it’s a decision that’s going to bite her. Inviting Alicia to stay in their home is the domestic thriller equivalent of going to the attic in a haunted house.

As I read, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable with Alicia, as if she was a disaster waiting to happen. But Don and Carina remained blissfully unaware.

The book needed tighter editing. In Carina’s Then PoV, she uses the word, secret, as a verb. “He was going to secret me into his room”. In another chapter, she uses the phrase, visible by the neighbours. That should be visible to the neighbours.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME:

Once the revelations start, they are poured out thick and fast, hastily bunched together. But it all falls flat, given that Carina never once mentioned that there was anything that she regretted in her life. Something she wished she had not done. Or even that she had any secrets.

As a reader, I feel cheated when a character suddenly becomes important to the story, particularly when the author hasn’t spent time building them up previously.

Also, neither Carina nor Don are Christian. Why then the determination to honour a promise of being a godmother, particularly to someone you have never met? Also, Carina doesn’t once ask Alicia to show her a recent pic of Gina. They basically let a stranger live with them, pay for her needs and give her pocket money too.

Carina says the arrangement is on until they find Gina, but neither she nor Don put in any effort to look for Gina. Carina doesn’t even do a basic online search until the 68 percent mark.

At one point, Carina tells us that she has “never checked out how that [adoption] actually works”, an unbelievable statement, all things considered.

None of the characters were likeable. Also, the author doesn’t seem to have done much research for this book. In this book, prison authorities don’t read the letters that prisoners receive, a massive security violation.

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: The first half of this book had promise, but the second half didn’t quite fulfil it.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)