Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Published by HQ, 2019
My rating: ⭐ ⭐
Following an unsettling encounter in the hospital, a young mother becomes convinced that her new-born twins are under threat of abduction. Drawing on changeling myths, the book taps into our fear of not being believed, and strikes a successfully ambiguous line between the supernatural and the struggles of mental health.
The prose itself isn’t exactly flashy, but it does a fine job of propelling the narrative forward. The concept is solid, and there are a couple of suitably creepy moments. I was genuinely intrigued, and wanted to see how everything would turn out, but therein lies my main issue with the book: it hits every single narrative beat you’d expect. A thriller that plays with fairy tale tropes, and flirts with the murky line between psychology and the possibly supernatural should be able to toy with reader expectations and provide satisfying twists. Instead, it all panned out exactly as I expected. This isn’t helped by the fact that the book opens with a brief glimpse of the story’s climax before jumping back in time to show us how we end up there. Knowing where we were going, predicting exactly how we would get there, and being unsurprised by how it all turned out left me feeling very underwhelmed, even if the reading experience itself was perfectly fine.
Some of the characterisation felt off to me as well, particularly with the protagonist’s husband. In one scene, he is selfish, cruel and disinterested, to the point of being a caricature. In the next, he is loving and supportive to the point of being sickly sweet. I understand that some people are like this, hiding their abusive personalities under a mask of kindness. But the dichotomy in his character went completely unexplored, meaning it came off as inconsistency rather than complexity.
We’ve seen many stories that explore the idea of changelings. I hoped this one would offer something original and genuinely disturbing, but sadly it just didn’t quite deliver on either of these fronts, being let down instead by its familiarity and reliance on coincidence.
On a positive note, one of the main characters is bisexual. Her sexuality has no bearing on the plot and is merely incidental. This kind of normalised representation of diversity is great! I also hope my largely negative review doesn’t detract from how quickly I flew through this. It was an easy, escapist read, and though it didn’t offer anything new, it was fine enough to spend a few evenings with.
***
If you’d like to give Little Darlings a go, you can find a copy by clicking here. If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Callum McLaughlin 
‘the book opens with a brief glimpse of the story’s climax before jumping back in time to show us how we end up there’
I hate this device so much that I always skip these sections and it’s never affected my reading experience!
I’ve rarely read an example of it where it feels like it enhances the story, I must say.
I second this – arguably my least favorite device ever? And now I have war flashbacks to Praise Song when I think about it.
Praise Song is definitely the worst offender when it comes to this device!
I actually haven’t read any warm reviews of this book. I almost wonder if people are getting thriller fatigue. The whole thing where they start with the end and then go back to the beginning is super common, as seen in Ruth Ware’s popular book In a Dark, Dark Wood and others. for me, characters absolutely make the story. I’m happy to read a novel for which I cannot explain the plot, so long as I love the characters.
It’s a pity, because I liked the setup of this one, but in such a saturated genre it should really have offered something new.
Like you, compelling characters are a must for me in a thriller. I’m happy to eschew deep literary themes and lush prose if the plot and characters can keep me hooked.
As the mother of twins and a lover of the whole changeling myth (which is so prevelent in Irish culture) this sounds right up my street!
I hope you enjoy it if you decide to give it a go! By no means did I think it was a bad book, just nothing as original or unsettling as I’d been hoping for.
Oh no! This sounds rather disappointing. I’ve already got a library hold on this one so I suppose I’ll end up reading it soon anyway, but I was also hoping for something new and unexpected to be explored here. I also tend to dislike those glimpses of the end at the beginning.
Hopefully lowering my expectations before I begin will help make this a better experience than it might have been otherwise!
I’ll be interested to see your thoughts on it! It was a perfectly fine read, just nothing groundbreaking, so hopefully you’ll get on okay with it.
This sounds like it could be so interesting, too bad it didn’t live up to the great premise!
It’s always frustrating when that happens! It’s still fine enough for a quick, easy read though.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be skipping this one.
Happy to have helped! Some people definitely seem to have gelled with it better than I did, I just wish it had offered something more original.
I’ve seen positive reviews of this but it doesn’t appeal to me anyway.
Sounds too predictable. Great review 🙂
Yeah, sadly it didn’t really offer anything new or unexpected. Thanks! 😊
The whole idea of changelings has so much potential, especially as an exploration of mental health and parenthood. Too bad it disappointed. (Have you read The Good People by Hannah Kent? Completely different kind of book but also about changelings and was very good.)
Ooh, I haven’t yet, but I have a copy on my shelves and very much enjoyed her debut, Burial Rites. I should try and get to it soon!
It’s good! I think you might like it, especially if you enjoyed Burial Rites.
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