Writing made my heart race as I was angry, horrified, disturbed and heartbroken by the vivid imagery and the somber results.

At the end of the story, I had a hard time deciding who the antagonist was. Piper tried to help the Bauers but was unprofessional and uncommunicative. I had more to do with Hannah, but I hated Chris’ wayward, naïve character with a burning passion like a thousand suns. Janie’s extreme form of reactive attachment disorder is the only part that seems too exaggerated to be realistic, but I’m no expert and have never heard of this disorder before. This book is a chilling portrayal of what it is like to live with infertility, the costs of adoption, dealing with the mental aftermath of childhood trauma, and the toll it takes on marriages. Hannah also wants to help Janie, although she is more hesitant, but something is wrong with the way Janie is treating her. From the moment Chris sees Janie, he falls in love. Janie easily accepts the treatment with the help of the orthopedist Chris Bauer. Janie is found severely abused and severely malnourished in a trailer closet next to her dead mother. The story is told from multiple perspectives by Chris and Hannah Bauer, a couple trying to cope with infertility, and Piper, the social worker for horribly abused girl Janie. The Perfect Child is a disturbing psychological fiction directed by Lucinda Berry. But with Janie’s behavior threatening to tear Christopher and Hannah apart, the truth behind Janie’s past might be enough to drive her over the edge. Hannah really knows that the Janie is manipulating the Christopher and isolating him from her, despite Hannah’s attempts to bring them all together. Unable to bond with Janie, Hannah chokes under the pressure and Christopher refuses to see Janie’s true nature. Janie is very fond of Christopher, but becomes increasingly disturbing and directs all of her anger at Hannah. When Janie, a six-year-old orphan, shows up at his hospital, Christopher instantly connects with her and convinces Hannah that they must bring her home as their own.īut Janie is no ordinary kid, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents anticipated. Christopher and Hannah are happily married surgeons and nurses with a perfect life.

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry