Baby Teeth

by Zoje Stage

Afflicted with a chronic debilitating condition, Suzette Jensen knew having children would wreak havoc on her already fragile body. Nevertheless, she brought Hanna into the world, pleased and proud to start a family with her husband Alex. Estranged from her own mother, Suzette is determined to raise her beautiful daughter with the love, care, and support she was denied. But Hanna proves to be a difficult child. Now seven-years-old, she has yet to utter a word, despite being able to read and write. Defiant and anti-social, she refuses to behave in kindergarten classes, forcing Suzette to homeschool her. Resentful of her mother's rules and attentions, Hanna lashes out in anger, becoming more aggressive every day. The only time Hanna is truly happy is when she's with her father. To Alex, she's willful and precocious but otherwise the perfect little girl, doing what she's told. Suzette knows her clever and manipulative daughter doesn't love her. She can see the hatred and jealousy in her eyes. And as Hanna's subtle acts of cruelty threaten to tear her and Alex apart, Suzette fears her very life may be in grave danger...--Amazon.com

• ISBN10: 1250170753
• ISBN13: 9781250170750
• Publish Date: 17 July 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 October 2021
• Imprint: St. Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[bearley]

One of the WORST children in media. Truly diabolical and warped. Of course the father is a big part of the problem, like in every depiction of family horror where they don’t believe their wives. Just absolutely frustrating!

Would love to see a short sequel about their future

[kristy]

I received this novel for free from the publisher through Netgalley for a review. Suzette loves her husband and she loves her daughter, Hannah, but sometimes she thinks her daughter doesn't love her back. Sometimes she thinks her daughter may actually be trying to hurt her. Hannah agrees. I thought that this was an interesting story, it is different then pretty much anything else I have read before as I have not read a lot concerning potentially psychotic children. I thought that the author did a good job demonstrating situations from Hannah's point of view and though it didn't make her necessarily a likeable character it made it interesting to see things from her perspective. I thought the book was a slow burn, though things happened it took a while to build up to them, but the payoff was worth it and I'm glad that I continued reading.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Caffeinated Aspects

• Baby Teeth was quite the creepy tale.  It is one I think people will either love it or hate it. I found myself teether precariously between them. One thing is for certain everyone will have an opinion.  We find ourselves inside the home of Alex and Suzette Jensen. They are a family of means, both artistic and parents of an only child,  seven-year-old daughter Hanna.


• Hanna is brilliant and has a vivid imagination however she has never uttered a word. Rigorous medical testing from scans to hearing have detected no abnormalities. For her Daddy, she is a precious, adorable little angel in need of protection. For Mommy she is cunning, manipulative and dangerous. They attempted traditional school, but Hanna's outbursts, and other incidents have her being turned away. Not going to lie Hanna was devious but I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She suffers abandonment fears and sees the world differently.


• Suzette, the mother and wife has serious medical issues stemming from Chron's disease. Her childhood was nightmarish, and she likes order, neatness and routine. She is also weary, and fearful she is a bad parent.  She wants to please Alex who is her center and worries she is failing Hanna. You could really feel how she struggled to handle a defiant child without spousal support. I felt for Suzette, and yet a part of me worried she was at the root of the problem.


• Alex, is your typical bread-winning Dad and its clear he loves both his child and wife. However, he wants to believe there is a medical reason behind Hanna's lack of speech and behavior.  He looks for explanations for unacceptable behavior and dismissed opinions of Suzette, medical professionals and Hanna's prior schools. His denial of Hanna's behavior and attempts at smoothing things over only widened the gap between mother and daughter.


• Disbelief aside, the tale Stage shares is creeptastic, chilling and addictive. I needed bloody answers, and the author provided plenty of tidbits from Hanna's friend to Suzette's need for order.


• The tale alternates between Hanna and Suzette's perspectives allowing the reader insight.  I felt both were unreliable narratives, and I desperately wanted to answer the question, "Is this nature or nurture?" Hanna talks about the masks mommy wears. Good mommy, who cuts her bananas just right and, bad mommy, who hates her.


• Swedish traditions, witchcraft, and lots of themes from nature vs nurture, communications, manipulation, and perception. I was utterly fascinating by how differently Hanna and Suzette perceived different situations.

Decaffeinated Aspects

• I had trouble believing with all the medical testing done on Hanna that a psychological evaluation wasn't performed. The demographics of the parents, despite Alex's reluctance to believe anything is wrong with his precious little girl made it doubtful. Had they moved around a lot for his career etc, I might have believed it.  Suzette grasped at any knowledge professionals would give her. I don't know maybe the doctors suggested it but the parents refused?


• The tale takes dark turns which were creepy but also made me question where a home-schooled child learned of such things.  Hanna has a few scenes that strongly suggested a traumatic incident occurred.

This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[Leah]

Full review to come, but this was FANTASTIC. Creepy, but so enthralling.

[chymerra]

I enjoy reading thrillers. I love it when a book gets under my skin and I can’t stop thinking about it. When the publisher offered me the book through the widget and I read the synopsis, I thought “Sure, why not“. I figured that the book would be like John Saul’s books. Creepy kids who end up doing horrible things because they were possessed. For the first half of the book, it was that. Then it got creepy and got under my skin (not in a good way).

Baby Teeth’s plot is pretty straightforward. Hanna wants her Daddy to herself in the worse way. But to have that, her Mommy needs to go away. So Hanna starts a campaign to drive Suzette out of the house. When she realizes that isn’t working, Hanna decides that Mommy needs to go.

Suzette is stressed to the max. Taking care of a special needs child is a full-time job. She needs a break. But Hanna will not let that happen.

Alex is oblivious to what Hanna is doing and writes off Suzette’s complaints as petty. That is until something happens. What happened?? Read the book.

Hanna was so evil. The things she did to Suzette was awful. Like taking pictures of a naked, sleeping Suzette and putting that picture next to a dead woman. Or impersonating a long-dead witch. Or messing with Suzette’s Crohn’s medication. I was disturbed that a child could hate her mother that much and at such a young age.

Suzette did bother me for most of the book. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t record Hanna talking or even set up a nanny. It baffled me. Instead, she ranted and raved about how Hanna was doing this and doing that with no evidence. No wonder Alex was oblivious to what was going on. It wasn’t until the tack incident that he finally figured it out. Also, her attitude towards Hanna bothered me. She treated her like she was a burden for most of the book.

I mentioned in the first paragraph that I thought that this book was going to be like John Saul’s books. I did think that Hanna was possessed by the ghost of the witch. There was nothing that suggested otherwise. Until midway through the book. Then my mind was changed.

Like I said in the first paragraph, this book got under my skin. By the end of the book, I was disturbed by it. I have read reviews where people thought this book was fantastic. As a mother, I was disturbed by the lengths that a 7-year-old went through to try to kill her mother. I kept comparing this book to “Rosemary’s Baby” and other horror books that are similar. What made this book stand out from them was that it was raw and gritty and different from any other book in the thriller category.

There was not a happy ending to Baby Teeth. The implication in the last chapter was chilling and kept me up thinking about it the rest of the night.

I am not going to do a Pros/Cons of this book. I can’t do that without giving spoilers.

I would give Baby Teeth an Adult rating. There is sex, language, and violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

There are triggers in this book. They are abuse (of a parent by a child), PTSD like symptoms, and Crohn’s disease.

I am on the fence about recommending Baby Teeth to family and friends. I would have to make sure that they like thrillers and can deal with what this book is about. I would also include a warning about the triggers. I am on the fence about rereading this book too.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Baby Teeth.

All opinions stated in this review of Baby Teeth are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**