Publishers Weekly
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British author Tucker (The Time in Between: A Memoir of Hunger and Hope) makes a spectacular fiction debut with this gripping novel about childhood pain and healing. Eight-year-old Chrissie Banks’s father rarely comes home, while her mother dislikes her. Chrissie lies, steals, brags, and bullies other children in her working-class neighborhood to get the food and attention she craves. One day, she strangles a two-year-old boy, and no one suspects her of the crime. She loves the power her secret gives her, but as the police ignore her and interest in the boy’s death fades, her desire to hurt another child mounts. Two decades later, Chrissie has become a single mother after her release from a detention home. Obsessed with caring for her five-year-old daughter, Molly, she panics when the social worker who supervises her parenting asks to see her after an accident results in a broken wrist for Molly. Terrified that Molly will be taken away, she considers flight and reckons anew with her past. The taut, meticulously observed narration, which alternates between Chrissie’s youthful and adult perspectives, mines the dangers that childhood trauma causes both its victims and those around them. Fans of Lisa Jewell and smart psychological suspense will eagerly await Tucker’s next. Agent: Catherine Drayton, InkWell Management. (May)

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A neglected girl commits an unspeakable crime and, as an adult, wonders if she can find redemption.British writer Tucker wastes no time grabbing the reader in her chilling debut novel. I killed a little boy today. Held my hands around his throat, felt his blood pump hard against my thumbs. He wriggled and kicked....I roared. I squeezed. The murderer is 8-year-old Chrissie, who is trying to navigate an unimaginably hard and lonely life. Her mother doesnt feed herChrissie is quite literally starvingand tries to give her away. Her mostly absent father offers only empty promises. Chrissie finds relief in frenzied bursts of action that make her feel powerful: Acting as milk monitor at school (so she can drink the dregs from each bottle). Stealing candy from the shop. Bossing and bullying the neighborhood kids. Even strangling the little boy is her way of saying I am here, I am here, I am here. But the empathetic Tucker gives the adult Chrissie a voice, too: Twenty years later with a new name and a daughter of her own, Chrissie, now Julia, is out in the world again and struggling with guilt. She loves her daughter but doubts herself and fears authorities will take the girl away. The chapters alternate between the child and adult perspectives, and Tucker builds almost unbearable tension in both timelines as the police circle closer to young Chrissie and the past pulls adult Chrissie back to the scene of her crime. This novel is a riveting thriller in every sense, but Tucker is asking big questions, too. Can society forgive the unforgivable? Does everyone deserve a second chance? She forces us to reconsider the perils of poverty and neglect.A chilling suspense novel about guilt, responsibility, and redemption. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Psychologist Tucker’s first novel after several works of nonfiction gives readers a window into a disturbed yet complex mind. The first terrifying scene introduces Chrissie, an eight-year-old girl who confesses to killing a small boy. Flipping forward to the future, readers meet Chrissie’s alter ego, Julia, who’s trying to hide her past sins while raising her daughter, Molly. As the chapters move back and forth, Tucker reveals more about Chrissie’s difficult past. Her mother cares about her so little that she tries to get her adopted, and Chrissie rarely has regular food. And while Julia, in the present, is regretful, it’s not clear whether Chrissie truly understood what she was doing back then and why. Is her urge to kill in her nature, or was it born from a neglected childhood? This sharp-edged and highly discussable book is difficult to put down. While not recommended for those who are sensitive to violence against children, the story’s fundamental questions will appeal to readers of Ashley Audrain’s The Push (2021) and Zoje Stage’s Baby Teeth (2018).

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A neglected girl commits an unspeakable crime and, as an adult, wonders if she can find redemption. British writer Tucker wastes no time grabbing the reader in her chilling debut novel. “I killed a little boy today. Held my hands around his throat, felt his blood pump hard against my thumbs. He wriggled and kicked....I roared. I squeezed.” The murderer is 8-year-old Chrissie, who is trying to navigate an unimaginably hard and lonely life. Her mother doesn’t feed her—Chrissie is quite literally starving—and tries to give her away. Her mostly absent father offers only empty promises. Chrissie finds relief in frenzied bursts of action that make her feel powerful: Acting as milk monitor at school (so she can drink the dregs from each bottle). Stealing candy from the shop. Bossing and bullying the neighborhood kids. Even strangling the little boy is her way of saying “I am here, I am here, I am here.” But the empathetic Tucker gives the adult Chrissie a voice, too: Twenty years later with a new name and a daughter of her own, Chrissie, now Julia, is out in the world again and struggling with guilt. She loves her daughter but doubts herself and fears authorities will take the girl away. The chapters alternate between the child and adult perspectives, and Tucker builds almost unbearable tension in both timelines as the police circle closer to young Chrissie and the past pulls adult Chrissie back to the scene of her crime. This novel is a riveting thriller in every sense, but Tucker is asking big questions, too. Can society forgive the unforgivable? Does everyone deserve a second chance? She forces us to reconsider the perils of poverty and neglect. A chilling suspense novel about guilt, responsibility, and redemption. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.