Title: Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Horror, Suspense
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: C
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
In the tradition of ROOM comes a debut about a mom desperate to find help for her young daughter, whose disturbing behavior grows increasingly dangerous.
Suzette is unable to form a bond with her seven-year-old daughter, who cannot—or will not—speak. Ever since Hanna was a baby, she felt rejected by her. It’s as if the child hates her, leaving Suzette very frightened.
Alex wants to believe his wife’s accounts of their daughter’s cruel and unusual behavior, but he’s never seen anything but her love. Is Hanna just a naughty girl whose antics reveal intelligence, creativity, maybe even charm? Or is she actually trying to kill her mother?
A powerhouse, razor-sharp novel of psychological suspense from blazing new talent Zoje Stage, Baby Teeth raises more questions than it answers—and will leave you guessing until its shocking conclusion.
Review:
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage is a suspenseful novel that centers around a fiendish seven year old who is plotting to kill her mother.
Suzette Jensen is a stay at home mom who home-schools her mute seven year old daughter, Hanna. After exhaustive testing that rules out a physical cause for Hanna’s mutism, the doctor refers her to a psychologist to try to get to the root her speech issues. Suzette’s husband, Alex, adores Hanna and he is quite reluctant to put their daughter in therapy. Suzette is frustrated and exhausted as she struggles with her own health issues in addition to dealing with Hanna’s alarming behavior. Alex refuses to believe there is anything wrong with Hanna despite the disturbing reports from caregivers and school officials. He has also never witnessed any of Hanna’s disconcerting actions because when Hanna is with Alex, she is a loving, well-behaved young girl. After an escalation in Hanna’s frightening behavior, Suzette is certain her daughter is trying to kill her, but can she convince Alex before it is too late?
Suzette’s childhood was quite dysfunctional so she works hard to be a good mother. However, Suzette’s sweet daughter has morphed into a willful, destructive girl whom she cannot seem to connect with. She is emotionally exhausted and struggling to decide what to do next with her increasingly disturbed child. Suzette cannot help but wonder if she at fault for Hanna’s problems and she becomes progressively more ambivalent about motherhood as her daughter’s behavior worsens.
Hanna is an intelligent child whose thought processes and actions are more typical of a much older child. She positively adores her father so she is quite careful to conceal her antipathy and anger towards her mother. Convinced her mother is “stealing” her father away from her, Hanna carries out her diabolical plans to rid herself of Suzette permanently.
With chapters alternating between Hanna and Suzette’s points of view, Baby Teeth is a chilling and somewhat disturbing novel. The plot is interesting but a little repetitive and the pacing is slow. Alex is the only “normal” character in the story but his inability to accept the truth about his daughter is wearisome. Suzette is difficult to relate to since readers meet her when she is at the end of her rope with Hanna. Hanna is sly and manipulative and she is genuinely shocked when things do not go her way. Zoje Stage brings the novel to a somewhat ambiguous conclusion that will leave readers wondering what the future holds for the Jensen family.
