SERENDIPITOUS TUESDAYS: “THE CRY”

 

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Today’s spotlight is on my current read, The Cry, by Helen Fitzgerald.

 

 

 

 

 

Intro:  13 February

It was the fault of airport security.

At airport security, Joanna’s nine-week-old baby boy was screaming.  Her partner was busy taking off his trainers.  A stocky uniformed woman was saying: ‘Can’t take these.’

‘What?’ Joanna asked, her newborn gnawing at her T-shirt through his howls.

‘These liquids.  The bottles are more than a hundred millilitres.  If you need more for the flight, you’ve got to have proof.  Do you have something in writing?’

‘No.’

‘In that case, I’ll have to dispose of them.’

‘But you can’t.  It’s Calpol—paracetamol—for the baby, and antibiotics.  I’ve got an ear infection.  And, look, they’re not full.’

‘Can I help?’ a freshly scanned and shoeless Alistair offered.

‘We’ll have to throw these out,’ the security woman repeated.

‘I told you about the hundred-millilitre rule, Joanna.’

‘Did you?’ Probably.  She couldn’t remember.

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Teaser:  It was the fault of airport security.

If Joanna hadn’t gone back, if she hadn’t bought two small, clear hundred-millilitre bottles from Boots, if she hadn’t poured liquids into each while kneeling on the floor in front of WH Snith, if she hadn’t waited in the queue for another hour while her breasts ached:  if she hadn’t done any of these things, then she would still have her baby. (1%)

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Blurb: When a baby goes missing on a lonely roadside in Australia, it sets off a police investigation that will become a media sensation and dinner-table talk across the world.

Lies, rumours and guilt snowball, causing the parents, Joanna and Alistair, to slowly turn against each other.

Finally Joanna starts thinking the unthinkable: could the truth be even more terrible than she suspected? And what will it take to make things right?

Perfect for fans of Julia Crouch, Sophie Hannah and Laura Lippman, The Cry was widely acclaimed as one of the best psychological thrillers of the year. There’s a gripping moral dilemma at its heart and characters who will keep you guessing on every page.

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What do you think?  Do these excerpts grab you?  Would you keep on reading?

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