Could a child be born bad? And if so— if there really was such a thing as a bad seed— could you turn them good?”
A Welcome Reunion
A Well Read Woman Blog: Book Review
by, April The Word Witch @aprillwoodauthor
- A Welcome Reunion: A Short Story by Clinical Psychologist and Author, Lucinda Berry
- Cover design by Olga Grlic
- Cover image: © mia takahara / plainpicture
- Published by Amazon Original Stories, Seattle www.apub.com August 15, 2023
- Series: Hannah Bauer 1.5
- My Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Genre:
- Horror
- Mystery
- Psychological Thriller
- Suspense
Blurb:
From the bestselling author of The Perfect Child comes a short thriller about a couple faced with the terrifying return of a girl they once called their own who threatens everything they hold dear.
Janie is the last person Hannah and Christopher Bauer want to see again. But Janie’s moved back to Clarksville. She’s no longer the frail child Hannah and Christopher adopted over eleven years ago. The child who destroyed their lives.
Now Janie is out of juvenile detention—a beautiful, confident young adult—and publicly promoting her new tell-all memoir. At just eighteen, Janie has a violent and tragic story to share, brimming with grisly details. Details the public can’t get enough of…and that the Bauers can’t bear to relive. Janie has taken a new name and claims to have reformed her sociopathic ways. She’s ready to make amends. But when the Bauers refuse to meet with her, she takes matters into her own hands.
After the social worker formerly assigned to the case makes disturbing revelations about Janie’s calculated behavior, the Bauers brace for Janie’s next move, determined to protect their family—at any cost.
Tropes & Themes:
- Trauma Bond
- The Bad Seed
- Adoption Remorse
- Found Family
- “Department of Child Disservices”
- Good versus Evil
- Tragic Backstory
- Sociopathy and Psychopathy
- Action Mom
✨ ⚠ ⚡🔫 Trigger Warning: Childhood Abuse and Neglect ✨ ⚠ ⚡🔫
She’d been the worst case of child abuse and neglect I’d ever seen. Still to this day. That part was fact, and she described it vividly— tied with zip ties in a dark closet, a dog collar around her neck to shock her into submission or sometimes just to toy with her for fun, barely fed, never let into the outside world. Kept in filth and rot. And on and on it went. Her Adverse Childhood Experience score was off the charts. It was why Christopher had fallen head over heels in love with her when the police and paramedics brought her into the hospital where he worked. Why Hannah had given up her dreams of having a baby.”
A Welcome Reunion
A Welcome Reunion, by Clinical Psychologist and Author Lucinda Berry, is a coming of rage tale about an eighteen year old woman exiting “the system”, changing her name from Janie to Hope, and telling her story to the world, writing a memoir about her tragic experiences as a child and then with the Bauers–who she says gave up on her after welcoming her into their home as a family member. Rejected again, she became institutionalized, and eleven years later, Janie “Hope” is back in her old hometown, where her former adoptive parents live.
Hannah, Janie’s adoptive mother and a seasoned and decorated social worker, disagrees with most of her former daughter’s narrative. She and her husband, Christopher were good to Janie, she felt, but no amount of mothering would save her. It was true that Janie had been abused and neglected by her cruel biological family, but that no longer garnered any sympathy from Hannah; especially not after the absolute Hell Janie put her family through.
Whatever was wrong with her, you could no longer fix it, and I didn’t feel sorry for her, even if everyone else did.”
A Welcome Reunion
…when they first discovered her in a Walmart parking lot all those years ago wearing only a diaper and a dog collar. She’d been filthy, covered in scars and blood. Her body told a painful tale of years ravaged by abuse and neglect….”
A Welcome Reunion
I liked the trauma-bond dynamic between Christopher and Hannah. Their marriage was held together tentatively by strings that would wind tighter than wild Ivy during a tragic circumstance.
We didn’t talk about the Janie days in the same way veterans didn’t talk about their war days.”
A Welcome Reunion
With Janie back in town, spinning a wild web of all the abuse she suffered before and during her time in a juvenile justice program, Hannah and Christopher’s character is dragged through the mud in her tell-all memoir and during a TV interview, stirring feelings of anger. When Hannah catches wind of the behind the scenes master manipulation of someone who means everything to her, Hannah rages, her blood boiling as dark thoughts churn within her brain.
In A Welcome Reunion we also get the pov from Piper, a social worker who failed to follow up and blames herself for everything that has gone wrong in Janie’s short life. She’s friendly with Hannah and Christopher and is following Janie’s every move, offering them private info that could cost her her job, or worse, someone’s life.
I really liked this suspenseful read, especially because of it’s inclusion of childhood sociopathic behavior — an extreme psychological rarity. I love reads that offer a differing perspective, one that you might not expect.
I had no idea that this short is part of a series, starting with The Perfect Child. You wouldn’t imagine my excitement about getting to read more about “the beginning” and the origins of how it all came to be. I look forward to reading The Perfect Child!
Overall, A Welcome Reunion is a well-crafted horror short about a young, violent girl, who had been failed many times in life, and the absolute havoc of terror she brings with her everywhere she goes. Now grown up, she’s back and seemingly more sociopathic than ever. Hannah won’t be deceived again, nor will her family — no matter what it takes to ensure that. I liked the decision she made but would have liked to see the aftermath and known Hannah’s fate. Even so, this was such a good read and I’d recommend it to anyone not triggered by the themes of child abuse, and to those who find it fascinating to read about psychological issues and personality disorders. 5 stars, without a doubt.
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