The Foster Family: A totally unputdownable and heart-pounding psychological thriller

⚠️ TW: Child abuse, violence, emotional trauma, aged abuse, domestic abuse🔸 Elizabeth & Howard Ealy have taken in their shelter 5 year old Joe and are serving as his foster parents. They are yearning to adopt a child since decades and Joe seems to be the perfect choice. However, what seems to be a perfect family to the world from outside is not what Ealy’s really are. There is a lot that they are hiding. Until one day when they move out to Gilmore beach for staycation and meet Gordon, the neighbor who stays opposite their rented house. Gordon is a very curious octogenarian who is worried about Joe’s safety after having 1 or 2 passing visits from Ealy’s. He is in a dilemma and calls police to share his concern. But police dismiss it off soon, knowing that Gordon has memory lapses and is not coherent. Amidst this Joe goes missing one fine morning. Will Gordon be able to unearth the truth? What is it that Ealy’s are hiding? How will Gordon who is 80 years old help a 5 yo Joe? All of this mystery unfolds when you read The Foster Family.💖 This is a fast paced mystery that had its thrill moments. Since I love multiple POVs, the format worked best for me since the same timeline is narrated from Elizabeth and then Gordon’s POV. It is very easy to gel into the story from beginning itself and understand what is going on. There is also a parallel story that goes on with the main storyline and eventually fuses into it at the end which worked wonders to the wholesomeness of the book. While it was a tensed & emotional read, I learnt a bit about how foster case system works.💔 This book is not for weak hearted and do read the trigger warnings before you pick it up. It was not easy to go through the child abuse bits since there it was quite gut wrenching to read it.💫 The premise of the story is very simple and singular. It’s the execution of the scenes and emotions which play a huge part in the book. If you are ready to pick up a tensed emotional fast paced read, you would enjoy this.

In their holiday home, a stone’s throw from the beach, Elizabeth dials the police with trembling hands. ‘My little boy, he’s missing.’Elizabeth is Joe’s foster mother, but she loves him like her own. The five-year-old, who adores superheroes and watching the birds outside, is the child she has dreamed of. As she looks into the garden, where he was playing just moments ago, her heart feels like it has been ripped from her chest.She was meant to save Joe from his birth mother who almost harmed his chances at life. The woman who has been trying to desperately get him back.She was meant to protect Joe from her husband. The man who, right now, lies to the police, saying he was making breakfast when Joe disappeared. Who squeezes her shoulder, ordering her to be quiet.She was meant to look after Joe. They are just footsteps from the ocean, and little Joe can’t swim.Then Joe’s tiny blue sandal is found in the water. If the worst has happened – the unimaginable – Elizabeth will never forgive herself. Because what if the secret she has been keeping for years, the guilt eating her alive, has somehow hurt her little boy?It’s time to tell the truth – even if it means losing the child who is her whole world. Even if it could be the death of her.What a gripping read.Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.Recommend reading.I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

The main issue for me was when an elderly gentleman phones the police to say he has witnessed a father ( Howard) abusing his 5 year old foster son. The police don't take him seriously, he has the beginnings of dementia, and don't even bother with a welfare check on the child who is in the care of foster parents!? Then when the child subsequently goes missing not only do the police tell the foster parents who has called them but proceed to play back the actual emergency phone call... REALLY?? What was to stop the Howard marching across the road in temper to punch the lights out of this poor innocent old guy? If the child wound up dead wouldn't the police have some serious questions to answer for not looking into a reported abuse of a minor? Sorry but I gave up reading at about 40 percent so don't actually know how it ended and to be honest I don't really care, Howard was nothing but a bully and Elizabeth was weak and secretive, they deserved each other but shouldn't be allowed to mess up an innocent child's life.

I've not read a book like this before, and have never heard of the author. However, it is by far, one of the best books I have read. I thoroughly enjoyed this and as we delved deeper into the story, I just found that I was getting closer and closer to the edge of my seat. This is also the only book that has had me a bit choked up towards the end. This book was so sad but yet a real eye opener. I would love a second book but I know what that means for one of the characters and thinking about it breaks my heart.This was one of my favourite reads ever and if you're looking for a book you can't put down, I highly recommend this one.

I really loved this story & think Nicole Trope is a very gifted & talented author. I literally couldn't put this down. I hated Howard, loved Gordon & wanted to shake Elizabeth! I would go as far as to say this is one of my all time favourite books & I read a lot!!! Highly recommend this.

This book had me hooked from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down as I wanted to know what was going to happen next. A brilliant read and definitely recommended.My normal authors are Crime Writers so this was a complete change of direction for me but I would certainly put this author within the writing genres of Patricia Cornwall, Michael Connolly, Karin Slaughter and Kathy Reichs, to name but a few.Well done Nicole Trope, I cannot wait to read more of your books as you are now officially my favourite writer of all time.Well done. Brilliant writing.