The Moonlight Child

3.5*

Another work book-club dud, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe the duddiest! This is one of those books I read and think, “This? People make money off of... this?!” And wonder if I could write my own predictable and awfully unbelievable crime drama for some extra moolah.

That is to say: the dialogue was immature and unnatural, the plot could almost certainly never happen, and everything that did happen was more or less expected. “Action” scenes were anticlimactic and I felt no sense of suspense, ever. There is no character-building, so each feels like a Sim more than a relatable person.

Quick plot synopsis:
Older woman lives alone in small house, spies on neighbors bc she's old and lonely, sees a child washing dishes late at night at her neighbor's house though she's never seen a child there before. Must be child abuse?!?!
Older woman has older child who is a lawyer and has taken in a young woman who was bounced around the foster care system as a child as... her ward? Her mentee? And convinces mother/older woman to take in this young woman when the young woman needs a place to live.
The two hit it off immediately and start calling each other grandma and granddaughter, bc the woman is so so grateful and happy and mentally stable after her years of changing families and an abusive relationship??? No trust issues at all. Amazing.
These two then conspire to figure out what is going on with the dish-washing child through stupid trickeries.
Turns out the mother at the neighbor's house is a megalomaniac perfectionist (that acts more like a Disney villain than an actual human) who took in an abandoned child she just happened to find on the side of the road one day, whom she tired of and then turned into her mini-maid. She hid her mini-made in the basement in a room she made especially for her behind a bookshelf and blackmailed her husband and teenage son into going along with the whole thing.
Blah blah blah boring things happen and a chase ensues and the little girl is rescued and returned to her grandparents and the crazy lady goes to jail and everyone lives happily ever after.

There! Now you don't need to waste any of your life reading the book.

The book is about Sharon Lemke, who was out on her patio watching a lunar eclipse, late one night, then she noticed a little child washing dishes in the kitchen of her the neighbors who don't have a child that young. So she thought she might imagined it, then an eighteen-year-old Niki who has recently aged out of the foster care system comes to live with her,

Sharon's concerns become shared. Time passed since that night and the clues are pinging Niki's internal radar system. She isn't willing to leave things to chance if there is a child who may be at risk. Together they try to reveal the neighbors's lies about the little child and save her.

For me it was kind of slow, predictable, no action, and no twists. Nothing kept me question and guessing, though the book has hit ratings and good reviews (that's why picked it) and I do love reading mystery thrillers, but it didn't live to my expectation.

This was a very interesting book and not one of my favorites. We find the Fleming's a family of three who cower at the presence and power of the matriarch of the family Suzette Fleming. She is cold, callous, and a pretender; she wants the outside world to know she's the best despite a total lack of a moral compass or any genuine love for anyone but herself.

The Fleming's neighbor Sharon sees a child washing dishes late at night and realizes this is super suspicious since she only ever sees Suzette, Mr. Fleming, or their teenage son Jacob coming and going. Sharon inherits a foster “granddaughter” which is such a unnecessary backstory that truly didn't add anything to the story, but this granddaughter also becomes suspicious and does some sleuth work into the curious little child.

In the end the tragic story that unfolds is really heartbreaking but does have a wonderful closing. I think this story touches home to anyone who's ever lost a child or loved one in their life. Despite the character flaws I did truly feel bad for Mrs. Fleming.