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Hush Little Baby
DON'T CRY, LITTLE ONE
There are strange, secret things you can't understand.
Like the barren husband and wife who would have done anything to have a baby. Like the woman who thought it was her God-given calling to bear children for childless couples. Like the cool, reassuring doctor who could arrange everything—for a price.
Don't cry. Even though the secrets they keep will soon begin to torture them—soon grow into madness and violence and terror.
Don't cry. Maybe something can still save you. Hush, now...
There are strange, secret things you can't understand.
Like the barren husband and wife who would have done anything to have a baby. Like the woman who thought it was her God-given calling to bear children for childless couples. Like the cool, reassuring doctor who could arrange everything—for a price.
Don't cry. Even though the secrets they keep will soon begin to torture them—soon grow into madness and violence and terror.
Don't cry. Maybe something can still save you. Hush, now...
- GenresHorror
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
100 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 27, 2017
Dr. Borg is an OB/GYN who is so cold and clinically detached he sits around on Christmas morning all alone, reading medical journals. An incestual affair with his sister doesn't even bring him out of his shell. Fortunately, he's found a "perfect breeder" from the back country who orgasms during childbirth and is capable of squirting out many, many children for him to sell to women who chose careers over families and now want to indulge in the "shameful act" of surrogate parenting. Later, he hires a hitman to run his patients over and a black woman goes, “Oh, Lordy! Lordy!”
April 14, 2017
Ah. The early 80s! Homophobia, casual racism and outdated attitudes! This was published in 1983 and has all of that in spades. I had to remind myself to adjust my mindset so that I didn't get too offended! I actually quite enjoyed this for the first half, when I wasn't sure where it was headed. But once it was clear how things were going to play out, it just bogged down and never recovered.
Surrogate mothers terrorising families or being terrorised themselves are a dime a dozen these days, particular in the land of made-for-TV movies, but this has to be one of the first. Back in 1983, nobody really knew what surrogacy was all about, so it was still quite controversial. Here, Amanda and Branch Whitney recruit the services of Dr. Barnard Borg, who implants Branch's sperm into devoutly religious mother-of-four Flora Butler. She believes giving babies to childless couples is a gift from God.
Except when her whole family is killed in a vehicle accident! Then she decides she wants her last child back!
It's a good concept - but it takes until page 200 (in a 272 page book) before Flora even faces off against the Whitneys for the first time. At which point they make the bizarre decision to let her live with them in the hope that might calm her down! Huh?
Like I said, I wasn't sure which direction this would go for about the first half. There's some mentions about how Dr. Borg wants to become a geneticist and create a superior race, which I thought might come into play, but never did. In fact, lots of subplots are thrown in that don't amount to much and really don't need to be there.
For example - Dr. Borg's incestuous relationship with his sister, Rochelle! He reveals that they're actually not related (he was adopted), and that takes the thrill out of it for him! Rochelle leaves her family to go live with him, and then goes home when she realises he doesn't want to marry her. It adds NOTHING to the central storyline. Why was it even there?!? The sections in the middle with Flora at the mental hospital got dull and helped drag the pacing down.
It's briefly mentioned that one of Dr. Borg's patients is an undercover FBI agent looking to arrest him for baby-selling, but that's also dropped and never mentioned again. A subplot involving Flora's daughter Amy not being dead and suffering amnesia worked in a soap-opera sort of way. The climax was disappointing, taking place with our main characters off-the-page! What's with that?
I love trashy 80s horror pulp novels, but despite some salacious elements, this failed to live up to my expectations.
Surrogate mothers terrorising families or being terrorised themselves are a dime a dozen these days, particular in the land of made-for-TV movies, but this has to be one of the first. Back in 1983, nobody really knew what surrogacy was all about, so it was still quite controversial. Here, Amanda and Branch Whitney recruit the services of Dr. Barnard Borg, who implants Branch's sperm into devoutly religious mother-of-four Flora Butler. She believes giving babies to childless couples is a gift from God.
Except when her whole family is killed in a vehicle accident! Then she decides she wants her last child back!
It's a good concept - but it takes until page 200 (in a 272 page book) before Flora even faces off against the Whitneys for the first time. At which point they make the bizarre decision to let her live with them in the hope that might calm her down! Huh?
Like I said, I wasn't sure which direction this would go for about the first half. There's some mentions about how Dr. Borg wants to become a geneticist and create a superior race, which I thought might come into play, but never did. In fact, lots of subplots are thrown in that don't amount to much and really don't need to be there.
For example - Dr. Borg's incestuous relationship with his sister, Rochelle! He reveals that they're actually not related (he was adopted), and that takes the thrill out of it for him! Rochelle leaves her family to go live with him, and then goes home when she realises he doesn't want to marry her. It adds NOTHING to the central storyline. Why was it even there?!? The sections in the middle with Flora at the mental hospital got dull and helped drag the pacing down.
It's briefly mentioned that one of Dr. Borg's patients is an undercover FBI agent looking to arrest him for baby-selling, but that's also dropped and never mentioned again. A subplot involving Flora's daughter Amy not being dead and suffering amnesia worked in a soap-opera sort of way. The climax was disappointing, taking place with our main characters off-the-page! What's with that?
I love trashy 80s horror pulp novels, but despite some salacious elements, this failed to live up to my expectations.
August 8, 2024
Surrogate mother, passing on their child after being artificially inseminated. Dr Borg, the gynecologist for these women selling their offspring. Dr Borg had a incestuous relationship with his sister. Who was his only true love. One of these surrogate mothers loses her own family in a tragic accident and wants her baby she sold back. Mental suffering, religious fanatics, and desperation. Not one of the authors better books. I wanted gore and death.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews