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Title: Playing Nice
Author: JP Delaney
Pages: 422
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Publisher: Quercus Books
Year published: 2020
ISBN: 978-1-52940-083-0
Blurb:
Pete Riley answers the door one morning to a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, who breaks the devastating news that Pete's two-year-old, Theo, isn't Pete's real son - their babies got mixed up at birth.
Pete, his partner Maddie, and Miles and his wife Lucy agree that they'll find a way to share the boys. But a plan to sue the hospital unearths disturbing questions about just what happened the day the babies were switched.
And as the two families' lives become more intertwined, Maddie and Pete have to decide: how far will they go to make this work? How much can they trust the real parents of their child - or even each other?
Two families, four adults, and two infants. Their lives were intertwined in the worst possible way.
What started as a normal morning for Pete, the stay-at-home dad, turned darker when two men came to his door, saying that his son, the boy he had cared for two years, Theo, wasn't his nor his partner. One of the strangers, Miles Lambert, who turned out to be the birth father of Theo explained that he and his wife, Lucy had cared for Pete's and Maddie's son, David and their babies were apparently swapped after being born prematurely and were transported to another hospital that could care for them. Understanding the magnitude of the news that they brought, Miles asked Pete to discuss the situation with his partner about their options; return the respective babies to their birth parents or stay as they were.
The story starts with these scenes where Miles comes to Pete bearing the news, the discussions on how they knew, what Miles and Lucy planning to do - suing the hospital, Pete stewing over the news and all in Pete's pov. It was an easy read and became more intriguing when the affidavit written by Don Maguire, the private detective on Pete's reaction to the news differed from what was told in Pete's pov.
While both infants were born prematurely, they now require different needs. At two years old, Theo is energetic, headstrong, very cheeky, plays roughly and is on the verge of being expelled from the nursery for 'violent' behavior. David's growth development, on the other hand, is far behind Theo's as he had mental and physical challenges as a result of the brain damage he had when he was born.
Both sets of parents reached an unspoken agreement to be in their birth child's life while keeping them with the family that they came to know. Pete and Maddie agreed to join the Lamberts in suing the hospital. While everything seemed fine, Miles grew demanding, forceful and passive-aggressive, far from his friendly and relaxed personality during their first meet. With Miles's intrusion on their lives and routines, Theo's worrying aggressive behaviors, strange events happening, Pete and Maddie grew restless.
The story had me hooked from the first page. It had me on the edge of my seat, especially when things were going well. I kept waiting for the other shoes to drop and damn when it did, it was chilling. With the financial situation of Pete and Maddie, it was almost impossible for them to fight the way Miles did. But, they did not stop fighting even for a moment. The story was written in dual pov; Pete and Maddie, as well as notes from the court hearing. I love how the plot grew, one moment it was fine and intriguing then it got intense and stressful. The short chapters kept me turning pages and craved for more. Not to mention the secrets that eventually got out made so much sense of everything. And I definitely did not see the ending coming. It was truly shocking but also satisfying. I really enjoyed the story and the author's writing.
-thes
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