The Unheard

May 1, 2021

Having shut down the popular Frieda Klein series in 2018, French (the wife-and-husband team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) have gone the stand-alone route. Here, Tess is concerned when daughter Poppy returns from a weekend with her father and his new wife and draws a crude, violent picture, proclaiming "He did kill her." Poppy's father insists that it was a placid visit, but Tess is not convinced. With a 50,000-copy paperback and 30,000-copy hardcover first printing.

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August 1, 2021
The English writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French delivers another well-plotted winner after What to Do When Someone Dies (2021). Tess is fraught with anxiety when her daughter, Poppy, returns from a visit with her father tired and withdrawn. She begins wetting the bed, acts out viciously at school, massacres her beloved doll, and makes a drawing in black crayon that leads Tess to assume that the girl has witnessed something bad. Perhaps a suicide, or a murder. The police are totally dismissive, and Tess' ex tells her that she is the problem, unable to accept that he is happily settled in with a new, pregnant wife. Tess seeks professional help, but a Fellini-like moment in a caf� with a young woman sets her off again, and she relentlessly pursues the truth at great risk to her relationships with everyone around her, and to herself. A focused first-person narrative moves the harrowing tale along quickly. There are a few unanswered questions at the end, but fans will devour it nonetheless.

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September 6, 2021
The anxieties of Londoner Tess Moreau, the narrator of this middling standalone from the pseudonymous French (the Frieda Klein series), about raising her inquisitive three-year-old daughter, Poppy, by herself ramp up after the girl spends a weekend with her father. Normally energetic, Poppy returns sullen, spouting profanities and repeating the word kill while showing her mother a crayon drawing that suggests violence. Tess goes into overdrive trying to figure out if Poppy witnessed a murder and wondering whether Poppy’s father, Jason Hallam, involved their daughter in an act of violence. Tess’s panic is augmented by her inability to forgive Jason, who, a few months after breaking up with her, married another woman, though he had claimed not to believe in marriage. As Poppy continues to act out, Tess goes to the police, convinced a crime was committed despite no evidence aside from a child’s drawing. The plot’s premise is solid, but the execution falls short, never rising above a good idea, hampered by weak, undeveloped characters. French (the husband-and-wife writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) has done better. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary.

Starred review from December 3, 2021

In the new thriller by French (pseudonym of the husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerard and Sean French, authors of What To Do When Someone Dies), Tess Moreau is barely surviving the depressing turn her life has taken. A year since she and Jason separated, their three-year-old, Poppy, shuffles between Tess's apartment and her former home where Jason and his new wife live. But when Poppy returns from Jason's, she behaves strangely. She'd drawn a picture of a stick-figure woman falling from a tower. When Tess questions Poppy, her reply is a chilling, "He did kill her." Then Poppy exhibits more bizarre behavior: wetting the bed, clinging to Tess, and being aggressive toward other kids. Jason assures Tess it's just kid stuff. But Tess knows her daughter. Did Poppy witness a violent act? Tess can't find any Google record of a woman falling to her death. But several days later, it happens, and even more disturbing, Tess knew the woman. She's terrified that Poppy saw a murder and is in danger. With no evidence, the police won't help her, so Tess begins conducting her own investigation, soon realizing peril sits on her own doorstep. VERDICT Fans of psychological thrillers with seemingly vulnerable but empowered women who take drastic action to save their families will love this nerve-jangling story.--K.L. Romo, Duncanville, TX

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