Customer Reviews

The Cry (Unabridged)

Thank you kindly to Helen Fitzgerald and the Publisher for the advance copy of this novel.

Baby Noah goes missing from a roadside in Australia and the media attention is intense and extreme. Battling their loss and the attention, Noah's parents Alistair and Joanna slowly start to fall apart. As the search heads ever closer to the truth of what happened to Noah, the blame game begins...

I'm not sure how best to describe "The Cry". The blurb calls it a "psychological thriller" and yes I suppose it is in a way. But I have to say I read it more as a family drama - the characterisation is pure and oh so realistic and Ms Fitzgerald has used real life to great effect - we have all seen on the news many high profile missing children cases where first sympathy abounds then suspicion begins...and how social media can play such a huge role in the pressure put upon parents and the police in these situations. What she has done is put a human face on it - the public can't see what goes on behind closed doors when the 24/7 news cycle goes mad but in this fictional story thats exactly what we get. Brilliantly done.

Timeslips are used to great effect - we see Joanna and Alistair's journey with Noah from leaving Scotland, on various legs of the flight to Australia, at the same time hints and teasers about what is actually going on now. As the strands come together the whole picture emerges...in a fascinating way. There is no real attempt at hiding secrets here - although what you see may not always be what you get - its very much about the emotion behind the mask and how you can never know what really goes on in someone elses head. As Joanna heads further and further into what could almost be called insanity, you will feel for her...and for those around her.

Its an amazing book to be sure. I have read some fantastic books lately, this has been a terrific year for terrific novels - yet I sense that this is the one that will stay with me for a long time. Beautifully written, characters you will relate to and feel for and a story that could so easily be truth you should certainly not miss this one. Cry? Oh yes. Indeed I did.

Happy Reading Folks!

I love all Helen Fitzgerald books and recommend them to people all the time. Although the stories can be dark...u can still relate to them and even laugh at the way the story has been told. I think her work is genius and I loved this wee book...just wish they were longer...always finish them too quickly

I feel some of the reviews maybe overhyped the twists a bit, nonetheless I enjoyed the book and read it within a couple of days so it must have been intriguing enough.

I read this book non stop, could not put it down. Incredibly well written, the emotions are so well described. Will be seeking this author out for more.

Something inside me wanted to press the STOP button but I found myself devouring the next page instead.
It's one of the most gripping books I've read in a while. I loved the writing style and pace.

It's a sad, emotional and twisted tale but you can sort of see once that first decision along that dusty road is made, how Joanna is swept along with it all.
I feel bad that initially I found Joanna's behaviour on the airplane slightly amusing. For me it's that early connection with Joanna that makes the rest of the book so devastatingly sad. Alistair's character as a cool, confident spin doctor slowly disintegrates and his selfish, egocentric side is totally exposed.

The story didn't end how I expected. The rest of the world never gets to know what happened to baby Noah. It's also difficult to believe after everything that's happened to Joanna, that she could still keep it all secret. Also `Dads' didn't really get a very good press throughout the story (except maybe Alexandra's father whom we didn't hear too much about).

If Helen FitzGerald's books are all this `heavy', I'm going to need time-out to recuperate before picking up another one.

As a reader, as a rule, I like a nice, uncomplicated linear plot from one character's perspective. I don't usually take kindly to seeing the same situation from more than one point of view, and I don't, in the process, like to deal with the switching of tenses from past to present and back again. And I don't like too many surprises. I guess, in this respect, you'd call me a pretty lazy kind of reader.

However... The Cry somehow managed to do all of these things and keep me totally and utterly gripped and immersed from start to finish. The writing style, the plot and the actual telling of the story is consistently good and so cleverly executed that I couldn't stop reading.

Just buy it and read it.

From the first page to the last I was enthralled by this wonderfully written book. The storyline is so well written. The author captivates the reader with a haunting story...no spoilers....highly recommended...

Absolutely loved this book and not my normal type of choice but as a deal of the week thought I'd give it a go. Very deep subject which at times was hard to read without getting upset. However, I did laugh out loud at certain points. Great characters and definitely worth a read.

4.5 stars

The Cry is the first book I have read by Australian author Helen Fitzgerald, and I immediately took to her writing style, her vivid sense of place and the dynamic and emotionally laden dialogue driving the story. This book is very much about human relationships and the dark places of the soul, the things people are driven to when their backs are up against the wall.

Who has ever spent twelve hours on a plane with a screaming baby? A baby who will not settle despite trying everything in your power to calm him down - facing the ever-increasing frustration and hostility of your fellow passengers. I know the feeling well, I have been there! It was therefore easy to feel Joanna's despair as she desperately tries to settle her nine-week old baby Noah, who is doing his best to scream on top of his lungs the entire way from Glasgow to Australia. Getting increasingly desperate, Joanna blames herself - surely it must be her fault that her child won't settle. Perhaps she is a bad mother, fundamentally flawed in some way, or being punished for having a relationship with Noah's father Alistair whilst he was still married his ex-wife, the mother of his teenage daughter Chloe. She is a home-wrecker, a scarlet woman, a bad mother, a flawed person - accusations driven home by her baby's disconsolate screams, and the disapproval on the other passengers' faces.

Fast-forward a bit and baby Noah is missing, reportedly abducted from his parents' car in rural Australia whilst they quickly ducked into a store to buy some nappies. The media screens desperate pleas by Noah's father to please return his son, whilst the mother, Joanna, looks dazed and stony, as if all of these events were happening to someone else. Exploring Noah's disappearance and subsequent happenings through the eyes of Joanna, Alistair's ex-wife Alexandra and their daughter Chloe, The Cry becomes an emotional roller-coaster ride of people trying to deal with every parents' worst nightmare - that of losing your child.

It is hard to really delve into the details of this novel without giving anything away, so I will keep it brief. Since the author reveals very early on what happens to baby Noah, the main agenda of the novel is not a mystery, but rather the way humans react to trauma and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. All main characters - Alistair, Joanna and Alexandra - are fundamentally flawed in some way, their dysfunctional relationships driving their decisions. As an observer, I felt these emotions very intensely myself, watching in horror as events slowly, inexorably spiral out of control. And when you think that things cannot get any worse, they do - with a twist at the end which throws everything you have read before into a horrible new light.

The Cry is a brilliantly executed novel. By throwing the characters head-first into a horrible-beyond-words situation, it quickly manages to suck the reader into an emotional whirlpool which leaves its marks long after the final page has been turned. Highly recommended!

I've not read any books by Helen FitzGerald before so when I saw The Cry was available to review on NetGalley I decided to request a copy to read.

The Cry follows events that begin on a long distance flight from Glasgow to Australia which then turns into a missing baby case when baby Noah is reported as having been abducted from his car seat by his parents Alistair and Joanna. They come under immense scrutiny from the police, media and everyone around them as everyone tries to establish the truth as to what exactly happened to baby Noah from the moment they stepped off the plane until he was reported missing. Can Alistair and Joanna stand united or will this tragedy tear them apart?

The events leading up to the incident are not a mystery to the reader as we get to see exactly what transpired from the outset so this is not so much a whodunnit but it's more a case of examining the relationship dynamics of the couple plus those they come into contact with including his ex-wife and daughter, as well as exploring the different feelings and emotions that they are struggling to cope with... anger, guilt, grief etc.

This was one of those books that once you started you just could not put down and even though I thought I knew how it was all going to end I was wrong...