Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

Little Darlings
By Melanie Golding
Published by HQ (2 May 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

THE TWINS ARE CRYING.
THE TWINS ARE HUNGRY.

LAUREN IS CRYING.
LAUREN IS EXHAUSTED.

Behind the hospital curtain, someone is waiting . . .

After a traumatic birth, Lauren is alone on the maternity ward with her newborn twins. Her husband has gone home. The nurses are doing their rounds. She can’t stop thinking about every danger her babies now face. But all new mothers think like that. Don’t they?

A terrifying encounter in the middle of the night leaves Lauren convinced someone or something is trying to steal her children. But with every step she takes to keep her babies safe, Lauren sinks deeper and deeper into paranoia and fear. From the stark loneliness of returning home after birth, to the confines of a psychiatric unit, Lauren’s desperation increases as no one will listen to her. But here’s the question: is she mad, or does she know something we don’t?

My verdict
Little Darlings is a very disturbing read and one that sent shivers up and down my spine. That's partly because of the subject matter (the disappearance of twin boys - every mother's nightmare) but also the unsettling nature of the writing and the plot.

Lauren is a typical new parent - exhausted and paranoid, worrying about her newborns at every moment and desperate for some sleep. She's convinced that someone is trying to steal her babies, after a bizarre, terrifying experience at the hospital, but no one will believe her. Is it really just a new mother's paranoia or is there something more sinister going on? When Lauren's babies go missing and are then found and returned to her, she's adamant that these aren't her boys at all. I certainly had no idea whether this was real or a fabrication of Lauren's fragile mind.

Little Darlings combines crime, fairytales and the supernatural. It's a slowburner, with great writing, and tension that escalates as the plot moves forwards. It taps into every emotion and is both terrifying and heartbreaking. The ending is slightly ambiguous - not enough to leave me hanging, but certainly with enough mystery to make me wonder, question and think.