Be prepared – the last half of this book will keep you reading all night.
I think there are times that we all struggle with our inner demons. This is only natural. There’s the part of us that wants to please everyone, and there’s the part that wants to rebel against parents and society.
But for Annie/Milly it is a bit more than that. Since the age of five Annie has been abused in her home. She has witnessed horrific acts done by her mother. Finally at the age of 15 she turns her mother in to the police. Upon investigation it is revealed that her mother has killed nine children. Now Annie is known as Milly and lives in a foster home. The home consists of Mike who is a therapist experienced in trauma cases, his wife Saskia, and teenage daughter Phoebe who is not at all happy with Milly being there.
Milly tries to please her foster family even though Phoebe makes her life hell, especially at school. But Milly is haunted by the voice of her mother. As is typical in child abuse cases, no matter how severe the abuse the child still wants to be loved by its parent. So Milly struggles with the knowledge that she will be the primary witness in court against her mother. She also knows just how manipulative her mother is.
I could see what direction the book was going it, but Ms. Land artfully doled out pieces of the chilling puzzle a few pieces at a time, building the suspense notch by notch. I definitely recommend this book to those who love a good thriller.

closer to 4...3.5
you can read the summary yourself. For a debut novel this was really good. Creepy and chilling are two good descriptive words. the story line is a bit hard to read --torturing of children. But you are really left guessing which way this is going to go until the end. Well worth the read