What if you found out that your family isn’t yours at all? How far would you go to protect them? A gripping new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Girl Before. . . .“[JP] Delaney takes domestic suspense beyond its comfort zone.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book ReviewPete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent’s worst nightmare. On his doorstep is … parent’s worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete’s son, Theo, isn’t actually his son—he is the Lamberts’, switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they’ve been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.
The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents—or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts’ glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.
They are done playing nice.
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3.5
This book is categorized as a suspense/psychological thriller but more accurately is a domestic drama. It’s the story of a couple (Pete and Maddie) who have learned that their 2 year old son who was born prematurely was inadvertently switched with another preemie who was born on the same day. The couple who ended up with Pete and Maddie’s child wants to have an amenable relationship so that all parties can come to an agreement on how to move forward.
As time goes on, Pete and Maddie realize that the other couple may not have the most honorable intentions and they set out to do all they can to protect their family.
When it comes to ordinary families faced with terrifying dilemmas, there is no one better than JP Delaney. He is King of Thrillers, and Playing Nice is his best book yet. His chilling, compelling and oh-so-real books force us to confront our darkest fears — and question how far we would go to protect those we love… Brilliant.
Many thrillers require some suspension of disbelief, but not this one — its psychological soundness is what makes it both utterly terrifying and compelling. These masterfully drawn characters wouldn’t let me go until I raced my way to the final page. Playing Nice deserves a spot at the very top of every reader’s TBR pile.
JP Delaney has done it again: whip smart prose and a cracking concept… Compulsive from start to finish!
4-4.25 STARS
When Pete and Maddie’s life suddenly gets turned upside down, they find themselves entangled in a game of cat and mouse with a diabolical sociopath who masterminds the slow destruction of the family that Pete and Maddie have built.
A malignant plot that starts off seemingly benign, “Playing Nice” pits two families against one another in an attempt to right a past wrong. While I felt bad for Pete and all that he’d endured, I had a hard time garnering any sympathy for his partner, Maddie, who is a bit too detached for my liking. In kind, I loved how strategically evil Miles is, while hiding behind a placid façade. As for his quiet, unassuming wife, Lucy, still waters often do run deep.
“Playing Nice” is a gripping psychological drama that pulled me in right from the very start. And despite the sluggish pacing, it help me captive right up until the very end. While falling a bit short of a 5-star rating, overall, I enjoyed this very twisted little tale.
Excellent.
I’ve read all this author’s books so far. I loved his first book. The second was also very good. I was a bit disappointed in the third, just because it unexpectedly had elements of sci-fi; a genre I don’t read. It was still a good read, yet not really my genre. This new book, ‘Playing Nice’ seems back to top form, even from the first chapters, and I was glued to it all the way through. It was all believable, not far-fetched, and everything tied up, producing a satisfying ending-you weren’t left thinking, what happened there, after all that.
The book is set in London and involves two families. Both had premature babies. Two years later, it came to light there had been a terrible mix-up at the neonatal unit. After a friendly start, things become very difficult, and soon there is suspense and unease.
This was such a good book. Fast-moving, told in brief chapters. So easy to get straight into. And so hard to come out of! JP Delaney has excelled himself with this cracking read.
Just how much can money and influence buy?
What would you be willing to do to protect your family?
Imagine the abundance of emotions you’d go through as parents, to have someone one day knock on your door and tell you your son is not your own. Sons switched at birth. No one knows for 2 years. This story is about manipulation, betrayal, and mental illness. As the events unfold, you will be shocked, outraged at the injustice, and terrified to know just how much someone can get away with. This suspenseful and thought-provoking story will leave you stunned.
I love a good domestic thriller and this one sure fit the bill! JP Delaney has done a superb job with a sensitive subject. The story unfolds in layers and gains momentum with every chapter sending you on a wild ride. A baby switch, two sets of seemingly well-intentioned parents and lots of interference from well meaning “experts”. Just when you think it’s settled a whole new dimension opens. Be prepared to stay up late!
This is a story of every parent’s nightmare. Maddie and her partner discover that their son had been switched at birth. The story devolves into chaos as their life spirals out of their control. They are inundated by a man who is a psychopath and has no problem hurting the people who get the way of him getting what he wants. As the story concludes there are still unanswered questions that they are willing to live with for the safety of the children.
What starts as a normal day for Pete Riley and his partner Maddie becomes anything but that when three strangers, Miles and Lucy Lambert and Don Maguire, private investigator, knock on their door. Don explains that the hospital where both families had premature infants in the NICU unit two years ago appear to have made an error and put the wrong ID bracelets on the two babies. A DNA test proves that Miles and Lucy are the biological parents of Theo, 2, whom Pete and Maddie have been raising as their own. Their real son, David, has been under the care of the Lamberts.
Pete and Maddie are reeling while trying to wrap their minds around this unfathomable but real situation. The Lamberts express assurances that they all want what is best for the boys and soon take their leave. At first, the two couples are very amicable and it looks like things might work out satisfactorily for both families. But that soon drastically changes.
This psychological suspense novel will resonate with all readers as they imagine how they would act if put in the situation. For those who are parents, you will find your heart aching in empathy. A wild roller coaster of a read with continual twists and turns that ratchet up the suspense.
J.P. Delaney comes through again with a very entertaining and satisfying read!
My thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Opinions expressed here are my own.
Playing Nice by JP Delaney is about your worst nightmare- learning that the child you have been raising actually isn’t yours, and worse, that you may lose him.
Peter and Maddie have been raising Theo, a rambunctious little 2 year old and going through the motions of daily life. Their life is upended when someone knocks on their door and tells them that he is the father of their child.
So begins a nightmare journey to prove they are fit parents and to avoid losing their child. But there is much more to the story!
This is a well-crafted psychological thriller that will keep you guessing as to the depths of one’s psychosis, and the ending will surprise you.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Playing Nice.
#PlayingNice #NetGalley #JPDelaney
Playing Nice by J P Delaney is another powerful psychological suspense that will have you reading for hours! Once I started, I could not stop until the ending and it was so worth the time. I always know when I pick up a book by J P Delaney that I am going to be challenged emotionally.
What if you found out your baby had been switched in the hospital nursery? That is the horror that has happened to Peter and Maddie. One day Miles Lambert appears at Pete’s door with his attorney to explain the two premature babies who had been admitted to the NICU at the same time had their ID tags switched. The boys are two years old and seem to have different degrees of disabilities. Theo has a delay in his speech and is aggressive toward his playmates. David has mental handicaps and developmental problems which are very serious.
Miles Lambert and his wife Lucy seem to want to be agreeable about letting the boys see each other often and keeping the children as they have been living. Can this arrangement work out for them all? Or does Miles have ulterior motives in spending more time with Theo?
This story is heartbreaking and also shocking. Miles makes a game of deception and malicious actions against Pete and Maddie. How far will they be pushed before they decide that ‘playing nice’ is not going to be the answer!
Publication Date: July 28, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Ballantine and the Author J. P. Delaney for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is my second read from this Author and I have to say what a page turner.
Interesting story that became a fast paced. could not put down read, I would have finished it in one day if my kindle’s battery didn’t die!
A definite protect your family at any cost thriller.
So the swapped baby cliche story is not so cliche this time. Pete and his partner Maddie have an adorable and precocious (get into everything) son named Theo. Pete is a stay at home dad after his job as a freelance reporter disappears. Miles and Lucy Lambert are the wealthy parents of little David, not precocious, in fact barely aware of his surroundings. When Miles insists that the children were switched at birth at the NHS hospital, Pete can’t believe it, until they visit the Lamberts and meet David. Thus, the couples form an alliance against the evil hospital that gave them the wrong children. Unfortunately, all is not as it seems and it may not be the hospital that is the evil entity here. Pete and Maddie may not be a traditional family, but they will have to unite in order to defeat the evil that they have welcomed into their lives, unsuspecting of how nefarious the Lamberts may actually be. I loved the spider web feeling of this book. The deeper I got into the plot, the more intricate it became, with layer upon layer of deception. The characters were no one that I would want to meet, ever, except maybe Pete, who seemed to be a happy-go-lucky man who just wanted the best for his son. But even Pete, I kept waiting for another shoe to drop and for me to find out something dark about him, too. Starting as a slow pace, the pace picked up quickly for me and this book was a thoroughly enjoyable psychological thriller. Fans of Delaney and thrillers will enjoy this book, but be prepared for some really unexpected twists.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Playing nice is not something Miles Lambert has ever even tried to be good at. Mid-way through the book we will find out just how manipulating and forceful he can be.
Pete and Maggie have been raising a son, Theo, for two years, loving him, teaching him to learn and to “play nice” with his friends. Theo is a great little boy, energetic and intelligent but has been having trouble at nursery school with sharing and learning how to play with others. He was very premature and so there was a long period when Pete and Maggie had to stay in the hospital while Theo was in the NICU. This was very difficult for both of them, although Pete seemed to handle it very well. He quickly learned how to comfort and love Theo. Maggie had more problems, especially when Pete was away. They were just getting to feel confident in how things were going with their relationship and with their son.
It was “just an ordinary day in Willesden Green, north London” and Pete was dropping Theo off at his nursery school. Pete noticed a “ trio of people, a woman and two men, on the other side of the road watching us.” By their dress he assumed that they were possibly looking in the area for child care sites. Back home while Pete was making some coffee and spending time online with fellow “stay at home dads”, the doorbell rang.
This would be the changing point of the entire book and the story of two sets of parents and two little boys who it becomes known were allegedly switched at birth. Miles Lambert is the person on Pete’s doorstep and he has come to tell him that Theo is actually his son and that Pete’s son has been living with Miles and his wife Lucy. There is a third person involved, Don Maguire, the Lambert’s lawyer, because they have already begun proceedings to sue the hospital for the mix-up and had taken a cup used by Theo and tested his DNA, he is definitely Miles’ son.
What begins as a “civil” decision to make it possible for the parents and children to get to know each other quickly escalates into an impossible situation.
Miles Lambert will settle for only one thing, getting Theo back. He begins to show up at Pete’s house at all hours insisting on seeing Theo. He gives him gifts which are usually inappropriate and even goes so far as to offer up a scholarship to the college he attended.
Lucy and Maggie quickly become concerned at what will happen next. Lucy knows how volatile and demanding Miles is and Maggie has her own way of “reading” him and knows that the solution to this situation will not be an easy one.
This is the third book I have read by this author and definitely my favorite. I enjoyed the character development and how the atmosphere in the book changed from amicable to diabolical by the end of the book. What really wrapped this up for me was the great ending, of which I won’t speak a word!!
If you enjoy a great character driven thriller, this is the book for you. This novel will publish on July 28,2020.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
Playing Nice by JP Delaney was a page turner psychological thriller that I devoured in one sitting.
Imagine one day, someone comes to your door and claims that your child is actually not yours because they have been switched at the hospital. As a mother I must admit that this thought terrified me when I was in the hospital giving birth to my 2 children.
The story revolves around two families and the investigation that will put a string to everything they knew before. Their life and trust will be challenged more than never.
I loved it. That’s the only thing I can say. It’s well done, scary realistic and reliable.
Another five stars read for the win.
This story is like an oncoming train wreck. You see it happening and you want to yell “get off the tracks” but you can’t. Playing Nice is a train wreck. Imagine opening your front door to strangers and one of them tells you your child of 2 years is not yours. There was a switch at the hospital and all this person wants is to make the hospital pay for this negligence. Initially, the two couples seem agreeable to working out a plan that keeps both sets in the other son’s life. Here comes the train wreck followed by lots of twists and derailments. Playing Nice was a fast paced read that kept me engaged and entertained the entire time! Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC for this story! It was a great read!
This was unlike anything I could have expected! I new from the blurb that I was going to be in for one heck of a rollercoaster ride but nothing could have prepared me for what happened. From one moment to the next I had no idea what was going to happen and then when something did I was shocked. And this was what it was like for the whole book. And then that ending completely had my jaw hitting the floor!!