Just finished reading this and had to say, despite the slowness of the middle section, it was worth the read.
The narrator's 'voice' is excellent. Supposedly a teenaged girl, it could have been either sex and any age, 11+. Towards the end it turns into a more mature voice.

The disturbing scenes are handled simply, deftly, and without too much emotion - we are seeing it through a child's eyes, and as such disturbing details are best left to the reader's imagination.

As I said before, a little slow in the middle, but, like the villagers, the reader is waiting for the next terrible thing to happen, and as in life, that waiting is 99% boredom, and 1% action, as the time is partly filled with the mind games between Mr Watts and Matilda's Mum playing out in front of Matilda, the narrator.

All in all, a good read.


- NaomiM

This is our book club book for our first proper meeting and I already have my copy ready to read after I've finished Child 44.

I hope you'll come back and say what everyone thought of it, Jem