What do you think?
Rate this book
Sins of the Child
"I know what you did thirty years ago."With those words, Polly Darby's hard won peace is shattered. Now an ordinary wife and mother, she hides a terrible secret someone is determined to expose to the world. Who is Polly's mystery stalker? And what do they know about the events that occurred in the woods that long ago July day?
223 pages, Paperback
First published August 20, 2019
680 people are currently reading
561 people want to read
About the author
Shannon Heuston
12 books66 followers Shannon was born in Boston, MA but grew up in Somers, New York. She attended the State University of New York College at Potsdam, graduating with a BA in English Writing and Sociology. She mainly uses these locations as the settings of her novels, although UNDER GOD'S BIG SKY is set in Montana.
Shannon knew she wanted to be a writer at a very young age. By the age of six she was writing and illustrating stories in her spiral notebooks (to the glee of her older sister and her friends).
At the age of eight she enjoyed a brief interlude of local notoriety when she won the Best Fairytale of the Year at Primrose Elementary for THE POISON TULIP, which she had written and illustrated herself. The story was published in THE NORTH COUNTY NEWS and for a short period of time she enjoyed a taste of fame.
Shannon has wanted to be an author all her life and the ability to publish and share her novels has been the culmination of a lifelong dream.
Shannon knew she wanted to be a writer at a very young age. By the age of six she was writing and illustrating stories in her spiral notebooks (to the glee of her older sister and her friends).
At the age of eight she enjoyed a brief interlude of local notoriety when she won the Best Fairytale of the Year at Primrose Elementary for THE POISON TULIP, which she had written and illustrated herself. The story was published in THE NORTH COUNTY NEWS and for a short period of time she enjoyed a taste of fame.
Shannon has wanted to be an author all her life and the ability to publish and share her novels has been the culmination of a lifelong dream.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
September 6, 2020
Sins of the Child is a cleverly written story about an eighth grade girl who murders her best friend, and 30 years later is targeted by a stalker for her crime.
Who’s actually telling the tale is part of the fun of the story. Another part of the fun is how well the story’s told. The author is skillful in expressing with both wit and wicked humor her narrator’s conflicted and complicated thoughts and feelings, before bringing her book to a surprising conclusion.
It’s too bad that to date only 47 readers, myself excluded, have bothered to review this book, and not all of them favorably. It’s also too bad that I dropped a star from my score because of the author’s careless editing. Evidently her book was not worthy of enough of her time and attention.
Still, Sins of the Child is an entertaining but sad story about how a lack of parental love can ruin lives and *is* deserving of *your* time and attention, even if the child’s parents thought that she was unworthy of theirs.
Who’s actually telling the tale is part of the fun of the story. Another part of the fun is how well the story’s told. The author is skillful in expressing with both wit and wicked humor her narrator’s conflicted and complicated thoughts and feelings, before bringing her book to a surprising conclusion.
It’s too bad that to date only 47 readers, myself excluded, have bothered to review this book, and not all of them favorably. It’s also too bad that I dropped a star from my score because of the author’s careless editing. Evidently her book was not worthy of enough of her time and attention.
Still, Sins of the Child is an entertaining but sad story about how a lack of parental love can ruin lives and *is* deserving of *your* time and attention, even if the child’s parents thought that she was unworthy of theirs.
October 8, 2019
This was not a book I enjoyed. I gave it a two star rating only because I did finish the book in hopes that the twist everyone mentions in their reviews would be cleaver and reasonably satisfying. It wasn’t, nor did I find the book a page turner. For me it just sort of plodded along. Since everyone mentioned the twist I knew right up front that what the author was wanting you to believe was not what was really going on, so I had pretty much expected the twist that came when I was only half way through it. For me the question was how was she going to make what you believed not true at all, and bring it about in a believable manner. Well she did a fairly plausible job of that. Then she went further piling more and more events on top of the twist that for me were just over the top too much. Also if you are a stickler for editing, the kindle version seems like it was spell checked, but not proof read by a real person, as a few of the words in sentences are totally wrong. Such as “A red zit was forming in the color of her mouth
January 6, 2020
This is a dark realistic fiction of a woman's journey to forget the sins of the past by becoming a new, better person. It alternates between her present life and that of her teenage years, the ones which had a twisted impact on her and everyone she knows. The story is unrelenting in its delve into the psyche of broken woman determined to find happiness despite the transgressions of her youth. However, when she must once again confront the person she was, will the truth of her being keep her trapped in the life of a treacherous outcast? It's a gripping tale from start to finish with an incredible twist that quite literally changes everything both the reader and the characters have believed and felt up to that point.
January 7, 2020
This is easily the best book I've ever read the characters were incredible and the plot twists just kept coming I have honestly never read a book like this before I couldn't predict what was going to happen and every time I tried the plot would change. Everyone should read this book. Phenomenal!
January 30, 2020
In addition to multiple grammatical errors, in some cases on consecutive pages, the author’s attempt to create an intricate plot fails due to inconsistencies. The result is a piece of work that lacks any literary value.
October 5, 2019
Young girl, kills her best friend and goes to the Youth Authority until age 21. She then, changed her name and married. This had a twist, I never saw coming.
July 24, 2024
free ebook
kept me guessing till the end
3 kids lived in the same area. the one girl was pretty and popular, with parents who didnt care about her or her sister
the other girl was fat and just wanted to be her friend, but the other girl was only friends at home, not school
the other kid was a boy the fat girl liked, but he only wanted the popular girl. when she found out the fat girl wanted him she went to bed with him and the fat girl saw them having sex
the pretty girl made the fat one chain her in the cabin in the woods, she wanted it to look like she got kidnapped so her parents wouldnt send her to boarding school. but her parents didnt even notice her missing. the girls got in a fight and the pretty one killed the fat one
they sent her to prison
when she was released she moved in with a minister and his daughter became her sister. when he died they both inherited
she changed her name, got married and had a girl. she ran a cleaning business with her 'sister
but she thought she was the girl that got killed, she thought that girl had killed the pretty one, her
she started getting notes saying they knew who she was and what she did. it turned out to be the boy , and he wanted her . he told her who she was and she saw it was true
she ran from him, her husband found her and it turned out he was going to bed with her 'sister'
he killed the other man
he got off as they thought that man , the stalker, was out to get her
she ended up going back with her husband and her 'sister' was dead in a 'accident' full of drugs
never thought it would end like that!
kept me guessing till the end
3 kids lived in the same area. the one girl was pretty and popular, with parents who didnt care about her or her sister
the other girl was fat and just wanted to be her friend, but the other girl was only friends at home, not school
the other kid was a boy the fat girl liked, but he only wanted the popular girl. when she found out the fat girl wanted him she went to bed with him and the fat girl saw them having sex
the pretty girl made the fat one chain her in the cabin in the woods, she wanted it to look like she got kidnapped so her parents wouldnt send her to boarding school. but her parents didnt even notice her missing. the girls got in a fight and the pretty one killed the fat one
they sent her to prison
when she was released she moved in with a minister and his daughter became her sister. when he died they both inherited
she changed her name, got married and had a girl. she ran a cleaning business with her 'sister
but she thought she was the girl that got killed, she thought that girl had killed the pretty one, her
she started getting notes saying they knew who she was and what she did. it turned out to be the boy , and he wanted her . he told her who she was and she saw it was true
she ran from him, her husband found her and it turned out he was going to bed with her 'sister'
he killed the other man
he got off as they thought that man , the stalker, was out to get her
she ended up going back with her husband and her 'sister' was dead in a 'accident' full of drugs
never thought it would end like that!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2020
This story goes back and forth from childhood to older years. Three friends who lived close by. Zach, Cynthia, and Molly ( Or real name is Polly) Cynthia was always the popular rich and Polly was the chubby friend who was poor. They werent friends in school tho,. Zach was liked by Polly but Cynthia always play with his feeling to get her mad. Molly grew up got married to a man and had a girl named Dara. She run a house cleaning business. She never told her husband about her past. That she was in a detention home for years because she accidently killed her childhood friend. Weird strange ending I thought for her , Zach and her husband Steve.
July 11, 2021
I was really enjoying this book and the storyline...until it took a nosedive! I think, maybe the author did this to keep the reader riveted. This very well probably did happen with some readers, but not this one! I got to the point where I just wanted to put this book down and not finish reading the rest because , to be honest, it was not as enjoyable to read. Well, I had to finish it. That was a mistake! Huge disappointment in the storyline after half way through to the end. I wish the author had of kept the storyline flowing like it was at the beginning.
June 6, 2022
The story was good but the writing at times drove me crazy. Polly is being stalked and out of the blue she thinks perhaps get husband, whom she makes love to every single night, may be her stalker. She rules him out, but really?!? For no reason at all she goes to see an old neighbor in a nursing home to see if she might be able to help her determine who her stalker is. Half way through I wanted to give up on it but the other part of me wanted to see where this story would go. The ending is very far fetched. Doubt I'd read another of her books. Maybe this is her very first one she wrote??
December 1, 2021
Polly Darby remembers killing her best friend when she was a teenager. She spent her time in jail and is now in a marriage with a little girl. Nobody knows her secret since she’s changed her name, but now someone knows and comes back to stalk her. The story is told in two timelines; when she was a teenager and now. I was okay with the book until the last ten percent. Suddenly other people were the problem and Polly goes back to being a psycho.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 7, 2020
The crappy ending is what got this a mediocre rating. The story was interesting all the way through, until the twist as revealed - - and then another twist - - and then a resolution that was so far-fetched as to be ridiculous. I read this on kindle for free from bookbub and I'm so glad I didn't pay any money for it.
February 27, 2022
Unexpected last quarter
I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. The first half of the book read like a young adult novel and then came the twist and turn in the story.
The second half of the book kept my attention which is why I gave it 4 stars.
I would recommend it as a casual read.
I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. The first half of the book read like a young adult novel and then came the twist and turn in the story.
The second half of the book kept my attention which is why I gave it 4 stars.
I would recommend it as a casual read.
April 17, 2020
Twisted twisted
The book started pretty slow, I could see a lot of readers giving up on it. DO NOT. The way it twists and roils and twists again at the end is worth every long slow early chapter.
The book started pretty slow, I could see a lot of readers giving up on it. DO NOT. The way it twists and roils and twists again at the end is worth every long slow early chapter.
May 26, 2020
That was.... interesting :/
The twist was FANTASTIC. Never saw that one coming. But the end was ho hum... like the author ran out of steam and just phoned it in. I re-read a lot of books. This will not be one of them.
The twist was FANTASTIC. Never saw that one coming. But the end was ho hum... like the author ran out of steam and just phoned it in. I re-read a lot of books. This will not be one of them.
July 28, 2020
Sins of the child
Interesting story plot with many twists and turns In the end, it was surprisingly shocking and unbelievable at the same time You had to believe Cynthia was very coniving or beyond stupid Interesting book.
Interesting story plot with many twists and turns In the end, it was surprisingly shocking and unbelievable at the same time You had to believe Cynthia was very coniving or beyond stupid Interesting book.
January 26, 2021
Twisted Story!
I loved this book! I was certain it was going to go one way but went another. I won't go into details so it doesn't spoil it for you but Shannon has wrote a magnificent page turner of a book. I hope to read more of her books soon.
I loved this book! I was certain it was going to go one way but went another. I won't go into details so it doesn't spoil it for you but Shannon has wrote a magnificent page turner of a book. I hope to read more of her books soon.
March 30, 2021
Strange ending
I feel strange. The ending was so random! I never saw it coming. I don't know if I like it. But the ending makes the whole story much lighter.
I don't think I'll read this writer again.
I feel strange. The ending was so random! I never saw it coming. I don't know if I like it. But the ending makes the whole story much lighter.
I don't think I'll read this writer again.
February 16, 2022
A twist I did not expect
Cynthia the girl who is popular and has everything. Then her friend Molly who lives next door and is scorned by Cynthia while at school. Molly is so angry that she isn't good enough to be accepted as a friend in front of others. Great book!
Cynthia the girl who is popular and has everything. Then her friend Molly who lives next door and is scorned by Cynthia while at school. Molly is so angry that she isn't good enough to be accepted as a friend in front of others. Great book!
March 27, 2022
The story held my interest. That said, I was disappointed that most of the characters were unlikeable, and some were despicable. The truly good one died. The ending provided a revelation of a repugnant pact between a couple with no morals. Made worse by the fact they were raising a little girl.
May 21, 2020
Good read
Good read. The characters were interesting.The ending we all i can say is wow I did not see that coming. I recommend
Good read. The characters were interesting.The ending we all i can say is wow I did not see that coming. I recommend
July 28, 2020
Interesting and strange with an unexpected twist. Ending however needed a bit more to be truly satisfying. 3.5 stars
December 26, 2020
Chilling story
I enjoyed this story and the character development. Just when I thought I knew what would happen, more details were shared to make me question what I thought I knew.
I enjoyed this story and the character development. Just when I thought I knew what would happen, more details were shared to make me question what I thought I knew.
February 22, 2021
Great thriller
This book kept you on your toes until the end. What a twist you never saw coming. Would definitely read more from this author.
This book kept you on your toes until the end. What a twist you never saw coming. Would definitely read more from this author.
July 8, 2021
An interesting read...I thought the scenario was believable and finally had the “AHA” moment when the twist was revealed. Worth the read.
October 16, 2021
A unique story
What a different and unique story. A look into psychology depraved characters. I really loved the way the story ended.
What a different and unique story. A look into psychology depraved characters. I really loved the way the story ended.
March 21, 2020
This was a quick read, an escape from more serious reading while sheltering in place. Two 8th grade girls, who had been neighbors since they were very young, have a typical middle school, adolescent relationship where one day they are friends, the next day they hate each other. Over the summer one of the girls, Cynthia, comes up with a plan to stage her disappearance and kidnapping in a bid to keep from being sent to boarding school. She enlists her friend and neighbor, Molly, who has her own agenda. Only things go terribly wrong and one girl ends up dead. Is it Cynthia or Molly? Now, 30 years later the murderer is receiving notes from someone claiming to know her past. This book had twists and turns I did not see coming. While I don’t generally care for thrillers this one kept my attention.
October 24, 2020
Three childhood friends, Cynthia, Molly & Zach do everything together until they reach Middle School. Cynthia will only be their friend outside of school. Shortly after 8th grade graduation things go wrong. This story goes between 1989 when they were teenagers and the present. There are many twists in the story. I would recommend this book.
March 5, 2020
This book had a twist that I never saw coming.
February 24, 2020
Intense book
This was a really good book. Had a very surprising ending. Very intense thriller about friends or frenemies. How someone you counted as a friend manipulated and bullied u. Worth the read.
This was a really good book. Had a very surprising ending. Very intense thriller about friends or frenemies. How someone you counted as a friend manipulated and bullied u. Worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews