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Lucinda Berry
Lucinda Berry writes psychological thrillers that keep readers guessing. She is known for books like Perfect Child and The. Her stories offer suspense and twists you won't see coming.
The Perfect Child
Synopsis
Christopher and Hannah Bauer look like they have it all: he's a successful orthopedic surgeon, she's a devoted nurse, and their marriage is steady and loving. The one thing missing is a child. So when a badly injured, abandoned six-year-old named Janie is rushed into their hospital, and Christopher feels an instant, powerful bond with her, it seems like the family they always wanted has finally arrived.
But Janie is not an ordinary little girl. Her trauma runs deep, and once she's home, her behavior grows stranger and more frightening. She adores Christopher and turns all her fury on Hannah, and the harder Hannah tries to reach her, the more isolated and disbelieved she becomes. Christopher refuses to see anything but a wounded child in need of love.
The Perfect Child is a dark, propulsive psychological thriller told from shifting points of view, including interview-style testimony that hints from the start that something has gone terribly wrong. Lucinda Berry, a clinical psychologist, mines the terror of a family unraveling from the inside, asking how far a parent will go to protect a child, and what happens when love and denial start to look the same. It is an unsettling, hard-to-put-down read about parenthood, trauma, and the secrets a damaged past can hide.
Genres
Characters
Hannah BauerProtagonist
A nurse who, with her husband, takes in an abandoned child found at the hospital, and is the first to see what Janie is doing.
Christopher BauerProtagonist
An orthopedic surgeon who bonds instantly with Janie and refuses to believe anything is wrong with her.
Janie (The Perfect Child)Antagonist
The abandoned, severely traumatised six-year-old the Bauers take in. She is devoted to Christopher and turns her rage on Hannah.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Perfect Child a standalone, or should I read something first?
Start here. The Perfect Child was published first, in 2019, and tells a complete, self-contained story — you need nothing else to follow it. Lucinda Berry has since written two connected books about the same family: A Welcome Reunion (2023), a short-story sequel set roughly a decade later, and Her First Lie (2026), a prequel following Janie's birth mother. Goodreads groups the three together as the Hannah Bauer series, but each was written to stand on its own.