The Boy in the Photo

By: Nicole Trope

Narrated by: Melle Stewart

Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

She becomes aware of the silence at the other end of the line. A prickling sensation crawls up her arms. Her heart speeds up. "Found who?" she asks, slowly, carefully, deliberately.

"They found Daniel."

Six years ago

Megan waits at the school gates for her six-year-old son, Daniel. As the playground empties, panic bubbles inside her. Daniel is nowhere to be found. 

According to his teacher, Daniel’s father picked up his son. Except he and Megan are no longer together. After years of being controlled by her cruel husband, Megan finally found the courage to divorce him. Hands trembling, she dials his number, but the line is dead. 

Six years later

Megan is feeding her new baby daughter when she gets the call she has dreamt about for years. Daniel has walked into a police station in a remote town just a few miles away. 

Megan is overjoyed - her son is finally coming home. She has kept Daniel’s room, with his Cookie Monster poster on the wall and a stack of Legos under the bed, perfect to welcome him back. But when he returns, Daniel is quieter than she remembers....

Desperate to find out what happened to her little boy and to help him heal, Megan tries everything - his favourite chocolate milkshake, a reunion with his best friend, a present for every birthday missed - but still, Daniel is distant. 

And as they struggle to connect, Megan begins to suspect that her son is hiding a secret. A secret that could destroy her family....

A heartbreaking, emotional, and poignant drama about a family in turmoil. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty, and Linda Green - this is for you.

©2019 Nicole Trope (P)2019 Bookouture

Good, BUT

The entire story was really good. Enough twists to keep you guessing, but few enough you’re not getting whiplash. The major BUT is the ending. It felt sudden and rushed and not as well planned as the rest of the story. I still recommend it, and don’t regret listening to it, but just know the ending doesn’t hold up to the rest of the story.

11 hours of anxious inner monologue

I spent the whole book waiting for something to happen. When it finally did, the book ended two seconds later. This is one of those books where the author gets so caught up in building to the (super obvious) twist that she forgets to develop the characters and tell a compelling story along the way. As a result, when the twist finally came, I truly didn't care what happened to any of these people and was just ready to be done. The book had potiental but ultimately it just fell flat.


We spend the majority of our time inside Megan's head. She thinks about how much she's missed her son and how much he's changed, goes back and forth about whether she's allowed to be disappointed that he's different, wonders endlessly what he's been through and why he does this or that, on and on and on. It's actually comical at times how much of this book is simply Megan getting caught up in her own thoughts. She'll start inner-monologuing in the middle of a conversation and keep at it so long you actually forget there's another character in the room still waiting for an answer to their question.


The character of the son was interesting and I found his reaction to trauma pretty realistic, but the author didn't really do much to explore what was going on with him. His relationship with Megan, which was meant to be the foundation of the story, wasn't explored much either outside of Megan's head. They have very few actual conversations and they mostly end with him lashing out and Megan immediately shrinking away to wallow in more self-pity. She goes back and forth between the extremes of finding him sweet and innocent and wanting to comfort him, and wondering if he's now an irredeemable monster who is up to no good. She never seems to consider that maybe there's a grey area here (the author doesn't seem to like those) and overall she just seems too caught up in her own head to be much help to him.


The narration, however, was very good. Even if I didn't care for Megan, the performance did a good job making her feel "real" and I did connect with her more as a result. I would not have finished this one in paperback form, that's for sure.

Finally, a really great book that kept my interest

I listen to a about 3 audiobooks a week. I have had such a hard time recently finding a book where both the story and the narrator were enjoyable and interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book. The character development was great, you really cared about the people in the story, and the narrator was perfect. A book I highly recommend.

Slowwww, trite, tripe

Narrator is so melodramatic that it makes my skin crawl. Snails proceed faster than this story, which is just a soap opera reduced to written form.

Fantastic

Didn’t want the book to end. Didn’t expect the twist and held my breath the final 10 minuets

Predictable and frustrating

predictable "twist" that I personally guessed from the begining (and see from reviews that many others did as well), along with constant grating inner monologue and idiotic choices from the main character.

An interesting end to what you think you already know

Throughout the whole book Megan is on an emotional roller coaster and you will find yourself rooting for her despite all the odds. I’d say that you begin to figure it all out towards the middle of the book but one of the last twists left me yelling “no!” out loud! This is a book I could see myself going back and listening to it again!

Deep characters - and a great twist!

The characters developed quickly enough to pull you in, but there was enough information kept from you to keep you guessing throughout the story. I wasn't expecting the twist at the end! It's a pretty easy listen but there is plenty of emotion that it will evoke. There were a few moments of fustration during some parts - I wasn't sure exactly how it would all come together. But hang in there and you won't be dissapointed!

great book!

i couldn't stop listening. great plot twist. can't wait to listen to another book by this author

The Boy

Although it was predictable at least for me.. I enjoyed listening and narration was good.

Gripping

Couldn’t stop listening to this book Itook it everywhere I went. Great story and gripping until the very last line.

OH MY LORDY!!! Very addictive and well written

I was so addicted to this book, I took it everywhere and listened at every possible opportunity

Excellent read

This is the first of Nicole’s books I have read and I wasn’t disappointed! Extremely well written. Loved the narrator too.

predictable

I found this book so incredibly predictable...I carried on thinking it may redeem itself with a clever ending, but it didn't. The main character, Megan, I found rather pathetic and totally self centred. The narrator was good but sadly the story was very disappointing indeed - so surprised as reviews were good

So Predictable!

Honestly worked this out before half way through - really not worth wasting a credit. Had to keep going in the hopes of a twist but none.

Fantastic!

Amazing story and narration , with lots of twists .
Couldn’t stop listening to this so finished it in couple of evenings.

great

good book to listen too. got hooked really quick and emotional towards the end. you'll need tissues

Gripping!

Definitely recommend this story! Lots of twists and turns! Now want to listen to Nicole Trope’s other works.