Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Perfect Child
    The Perfect Child
    The Perfect Child
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Perfect Child

    Written by Lucinda Berry

    Narrated by Christine Williams, Erin Bennett and Dan John Miller

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller.

    A page-turning debut of suspense about a young couple desperate to have a child of their own—and the unsettling consequences of getting what they always wanted.

    Christopher and Hannah are a happily married surgeon and nurse with picture-perfect lives. All that’s missing is a child. When Janie, an abandoned six-year-old, turns up at their hospital, Christopher forms an instant connection with her, and he convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own.

    But Janie is no ordinary child, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents were expecting. Janie is fiercely devoted to Christopher, but she acts out in increasingly disturbing ways, directing all her rage at Hannah. Unable to bond with Janie, Hannah is drowning under the pressure, and Christopher refuses to see Janie’s true nature.

    Hannah knows that Janie is manipulating Christopher and isolating him from her, despite Hannah’s attempts to bring them all together. But as Janie’s behavior threatens to tear Christopher and Hannah apart, the truth behind Janie’s past may be enough to push them all over the edge.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 1, 2019
    ISBN9781721337231
    The Perfect Child
    Author

    Lucinda Berry

    Dr. Lucinda Berry is a former psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma. Now, she spends her time writing full-time where she uses her clinical experience to blur the line between fiction and nonfiction. She enjoys taking her readers on a journey through the dark recesses of the human psyche. If Berry isn’t chasing after her son, you can find her running through Los Angeles, prepping for her next marathon. To hear about her upcoming releases, visit her on Facebook or sign up for her newsletter at https://lucindaberryauthor.com.

    More audiobooks from Lucinda Berry

    Related to The Perfect Child

    Related audiobooks

    Psychological Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The July War

      Sep 8, 2020

      In summer, our neighborhood quiets in phases. The quieting begins in May. Schools give their older kids, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, a month off to prepare for the baccalaureate exams. Following a ritual as old as our parents, the students

      21 min read

    • Article

      Tales From The Frontline

      May 16, 2024

      Tales From The Frontline
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Abortions I Have Known

      Mar 17, 2019

      The Abortions I Have Known
      10 min read

    • Article

      Baby blues SICK AND TWISTED

      Jun 13, 2024

      Baby blues SICK AND TWISTED
      7 min read

    • Article

      Bad To Worse forever 12

      Jan 25, 2024

      Bad To Worse forever 12
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Very Bad man

      Jul 28, 2022

      A Very Bad man
      4 min read

    • Article

      Virgin Birth

      Jun 13, 2024

      Virgin Birth
      4 min read

    • Article

      THE CYBER Saviour

      Feb 10, 2021

      THE CYBER Saviour
      3 min read

    • Article

      My Husband Was A Paedophile

      May 11, 2021

      My Husband Was A Paedophile
      4 min read

    • Article

      I’ll Burn You Alive

      Aug 19, 2021

      I’ll Burn You Alive
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Hard Truth

      Jul 12, 2021

      The Hard Truth
      2 min read

    • Article

      Kiss, Kiss

      Aug 31, 2017

      Kiss, Kiss
      2 min read

    • Article

      Siphons

      Feb 6, 2020

      Siphons
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Convict

      Jul 10, 2020

      The Convict
      5 min read

    • Article

      Between the Sheets

      Jan 19, 2023

      Between the Sheets
      5 min read

    • Article

      No sex please!

      Sep 14, 2023

      No sex please!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hell Is A City in Texas

      Jun 14, 2021

      Hell Is A City in Texas
      10 min read

    • Article

      BAD TO The Bone

      Jan 6, 2022

      BAD TO The Bone
      2 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Have A Bird

      Aug 2, 2020

      There are so many rites of passage you’ve already missed out on, and the school ball is destined to become another item on that ever-growing list. You try to delay the inevitable until every breath from your lungs sounds as if cystic fibrosis is cack

      12 min read

    • Article

      Hard Metal

      Jun 10, 2023

      When Raúl gave me his security job for August, he told me not to see anything. You don’t see nothin’, he said, because we both know I get curious. Sometimes the other guys think I’m soft, the way I get lost in my head. My girlfriend says it’s trauma,

      6 min read

    • Article

      Performance

      Nov 10, 2022

      “Wait here,” the guard said as he shut the door behind him, leaving me by myself. The floor inside the lab was polished, and the air smelled of disinfectant, and yet the room felt unclean. Leaves shook on a tree outside the window, making shadows on

      18 min read

    • Article

      Search and Destroy

      Oct 24, 2017

      My daughter has bugs living in her hair. It is my job to kill them. The post Search and Destroy appeared first on Guernica.

      7 min read

    • Article

      I’ll Not Risk Myself

      Feb 10, 2024

      My phone reception is better outside the laundromat, so I spend most of my time waiting for laundry on the bench near the door. I don’t talk with my friends, but I surf the news. I like to know what’s going on. I don’t like people to know about me, t

      13 min read

    • Article

      'Buy Me Coffin, mum'

      May 18, 2023

      'Buy Me Coffin, mum'
      4 min read

    • Article

      Schrödinger’s Dog

      Mar 10, 2020

      The doctor talked about the operation: “Major surgery, but the techniques are well understood.” He spelled out the risks: 80 percent success rate.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Living Nightmare

      Aug 10, 2023

      Living Nightmare
      5 min read

    • Article

      Supportive Husband

      Sep 12, 2023

      There were less intimate places available, so it was odd when a woman took the seat directly facing mine across the subway aisle. I looked up from my book and right back down: a couple of months before, we’d gone home together. She had a Southern acc

      22 min read

    • Article

      Baby Boys and Expletives

      Jun 10, 2022

      Baby Boys and Expletives
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Perfect Child

    4/5

    1,310 ratings95 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a roller coaster of emotions. While some reviewers found the ending unsatisfying and felt that it left too many unanswered questions, others praised the book for its emotional depth and realistic portrayal of trauma. The characters were described as unenjoyable and frustrating at times, but also intriguing and well-written. Overall, readers found the book to be enthralling and emotionally impactful, despite its flaws. The book's dark and disturbing content was both a strength and a source of unease for readers. While the ending was divisive, the majority of reviewers found the book to be a worthwhile and memorable read.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      The audio Kept cutting out and seems like this is a copy of a cd because it kept saying to change the disk

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Rivetting all the way through. Totally recommend. 5 stars !

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Riveting. Please bring more audio books from Lucinda Berry for us visually challenged people.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Wtf with that ending??? C’mon Dr. Barry. We need a sequel.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book was amazing! It gave off “The Orphan” vibes and has me wanting to read all of Lucinda Berry’s books!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This story was instantly captivating. I really enjoyed listening to it, but the ending was such a let down. I wish there was more.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book very much. It was a fast read didn't get bord or loss interest at anytime. Trigger warning ⚠️

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I was hooked from the beginning. This is a great writer because I felt so many emotions. I’ve never to punch someone so badly until I read this book. Really got to my emotions.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I would have given this a five star rating but the ending of the book left me wanting more.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      It was good, very anxiety-provoking for me though. A lot was going on at one time

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry... My heart is broken in hundreds pieces... I don't remember when I cried and gasped loud while reading book... The book is finished but I still want to cry...
      If you are looking for something deep, emotional and are ready to break your heart, this is THE book!
      I can't say more without giving out important information so I will say this is the most emotional book that I read this year!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book but it felt totally incomplete. It left me wanting...

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I loved this audiobook except the ending. ALOT left unsettled.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      OMG!!!! I really think this book deserves a 4.5. Please consider half stars. This was so good.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Just okay. The ending was good but it kinda dragged

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This book left me hanging..what happened at the end..I feel like I missed something. Janie was a pretty scary child..

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      SPOILERS!!!!!!



      I liked this book at first, had a solid premise and the authors style is ok.
      I first noticed my rage after the daughter exhibited sociopathic behaviour multiple times and the father continually ignored it. I get feeling an all encompassing love for someone, but at some point you have to admit that bad shit is going down.
      After a lot more of that crap, the author stoops to the all time low of crime thrillers - the murdered animal . Now I was convinced about the evil of this child long before, they’d already put animal abuse in the book, why murder???
      The last thing that signed my hate for this book was once again the husband, he hit his wife. As a survivor of domestic abuse, I condemn him for that entirely. However, what I HATED, was that the author spent what felt like a paragraph saying “you don’t hit women, hitting women is bad” etc and yes, yes it is, but then “even if a woman is beating down on you you don’t hit back” or some such crap. I’m not saying hit someone for hitting you, I’m just against this idea that men can be beaten to shreds and just need to take it - that’s incorrect. I never once raised my hand to my abuser, have never raised my hand to anyone. My feelings are that everyone got it, we knew he shouldn’t have hit her - just say “he was awful for doing that and so lucky he got another chance” or something.
      I also feel you could’ve have done a lot more with the ending, interested to see some of your other writing.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I would like my 3 days back wow. This was way too drawn out and extremely frustrating

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Writing was ok, ending was a non-ending. Narrators were uneven in skill. Read Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage instead.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Long winded at times. Then went from 1-100 in other areas. I predicted the outcome.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      ???? Not even Philip k dick can end a story so abruptly. I must be missing something.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book will infuriate you to your core if you are a partner to a willful ignorant person…I don’t think I ever yelled at a book more so than I did with this one…but the subtle twists got me…can’t wait to read more from this author
    • 4/5
      The story was very interesting and believable. I expected a more dramatic twist at the end. I wish there had been an epilogue revealing what happened to Janie going forward and whether Hannah recovered or continued having mental health problems. Overall, I would rate it as very good.
    • 3/5
      I don't get the ending ?is there a part 2?
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the book up until the very end. It just all of a sudden stopped. Feels very unfinished and I'm disappointed
    • 5/5
      Wow. I get why some reviewers were dissatisfied with the ending. This book was riveting but the ending felt like book was just stopped - that the writer ran out of words.
    • 5/5
      I kept thinking I knew the ending every time it twisted. It blew me away couldn't stop listening.
    • 5/5
      I couldn’t even go to sleep without listening to this book. But when I fell asleep, I rewound it in the morning because I couldn’t miss a word of it! I identified with the daughter who didn’t like Hannah. It was a little bit painful, but it was a little bit healing. Loved this book.
    • 3/5
      Very immersive writing, however the ending felt like a cliffhanger. This story has so much potential for further development on covering where Jeanie's behavior was originating from, and how she could work it out as a child with at least one supportive parent. I hope there is a sequel.
    • 2/5
      Predictable and boring honestly. The most interesting part was reading about Hanna losing her mind slowly.