Haven’t They Grown by Sophie Hannah

*minor spoilers ahead*

Haven’t They Grown is told from Beth Leeson’s perspective where she visits the house of an old friend of hers, Flora Braid, and is spooked by what she sees. Beth hasn’t spoken to Flora in 12 years, when Flora’s children at the time, Thomas and Emily, were 5 and 3, but they look exactly the same in the present day, not appearing to have aged a day. Beth becomes increasingly obsessed each day since her visit in finding out the truth as she knows something isn’t right.

I’ve always enjoyed Hannah’s style of writing ever since I read Little Face a while ago as you get to jump right into the story and explore the mystery. Whilst it’s a thriller that gets more intense, this book is very easy to read. A theme among Hannah’s books is whether the main character is a reliable narrator and so it was interesting to see if this was going to be the same in this book. Beth is a strong, determined character who is never content with the answers or story she is given, keeping the story intriguing throughout. Some of Beth’s actions, however, were unrealistic in some scenes, making the plot somewhat unbelievable but I was able to see past this.

I also found Zannah, Beth’s daughter, a decent side character, who complimented Beth well in her adventures of discovering the truth. There were unfortunately a few side plots involving Zannah that were unnecessary to the overall plot, so after finishing the book I was left confused as to why it was included. In contrast to Zannah however, Flora’s character was often frustrating to read about at times as she had so many missed opportunities to change her fate.

One of the main disappointments with this book is that it had so much potential due to the mystery that needed to be solved. There was an opportunity to add in a sci-fi element or something on a much larger scale than what was presented. Whilst I did find the ending satisfying enough, it was rushed with some other minor questions left unanswered. Haven’t They Grown is not one of my favourite thrillers due to some flaws, but I’m glad I gave it a go and enjoyed reading it on the whole.

3/5 stars