The Hush in Aussie Readers

Oct 28, 2021 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-release, reviewing-by-request, aussie-authors, 5000-2021, suspense, mystery, uncorrected-proof, arc, psychological-thriller, autographed-book

A decade after the pandemic that swept the world, the maternity hospitals started losing babies. Reaching full-term and being born only to not take a breath. The magnitude of the disaster was hitting all areas of the British Government, including the Prime Minister and her cohorts. Emma was a midwife, a compassionate and caring woman to have at the birthing mother鈥檚 side. Emma鈥檚 seventeen-year-old daughter Lainey was in her last year of schooling and suddenly she was in trouble. Her best friend ...more

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Jan 04, 2022 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, library-reads, mystery, fantasy-sci-fi, dystopian, futuristic

I鈥檓 just going to go ahead and file this one under 鈥榮o real it鈥檚 scary鈥�.

For many people, this would be every fear come true. Every small rolling back of human rights, of women鈥檚 rights 鈥� every Roe vs Wade questioning and debate, every negative that could come out of a pandemic or situation in a way that gives governments power to increase their monitoring of citizens, to restrict their rights and freedoms, to exert control over them by utilising fear and turning it into an excuse to 鈥榩rotect鈥� th I鈥檓 just going to go ahead and file this one under 鈥榮o real it鈥檚 scary鈥�.

For many people, this would be every fear come true. Every small rolling back of human rights, of women鈥檚 rights 鈥� every Roe vs Wade questioning and debate, every negative that could come out of a pandemic or situation in a way that gives governments power to increase their monitoring of citizens, to restrict their rights and freedoms, to exert control over them by utilising fear and turning it into an excuse to 鈥榩rotect鈥� them.

This is set about 10 years post the situation we are currently in. Citizens in Britain have slowly had their freedoms tightened 鈥� they now all wear watches that record things like their movements and are used to scan in and out of workplaces and schools. They are not allowed remove them and there are punishments for doing so. When babies, perfectly healthy babies are born and refuse to open their eyes or take a breath, it escalates the situation. You have to provide ID for a pregnancy test. Pregnant teens disappear. Abortions are outlawed. As the statistics for babies who are born this way go from 1 in 10 to 1 in 8 to 1 in 5 to almost 1 in 2, the panic escalates and the net tightens.

Emma is a midwife who has witnessed many of these births. Her job is now a mess of paperwork, everything documented to the nth degree in order for researchers to try and discover how and why this is happening -and how it can be fixed. It鈥檚 making it hard for her to do her job and there鈥檚 a creeping ideology of guilting mothers as well. I honestly can鈥檛 imagine having to do Emma鈥檚 job in this sort of situation and being a woman in labour during this sort of thing must鈥檝e been terrifying, especially as the statistics rose. The chance that you would not be bringing a baby home with you, the high chance, would make an incredibly stressful situation even more so.

Emma is a single mother to teenager Lainey, who not only sees the way the increasing stillbirths are affecting her mother but her pregnant friend has vanished. No one has seen or heard from her 鈥� and a well known YouTuber/activist who wrote and performed a song about teenagers who had also vanished, has now disappeared as well. Lainey knows enough that when she suspects something terrifying she has to keep it a secret.

This book really is very good but I do feel like perhaps I read it at the wrong time. Even if I鈥檇 read it a month ago or two, it might鈥檝e felt easier. Things at the moment feel like no matter what we do, it gets worse and I think that did have an impact on me, when I was reading this. It felt a bit claustrophobic and anxiety-inducing and look, that might be the point. To make you feel uncomfortable with how easily this all seemed to happen. How citizens complied with these new rules and laws, this new monitoring. The detaining of minors, the basically abduction of minors and lack of ability for their parents to do a single thing about it. The complicity of the press in aiding the governments in these methods, refusing to report on things that were critical or questioning.

In many ways, it鈥檚 so easy to understand how they ended up there. Scarily easy actually. And in other ways, it鈥檚 so incredibly horrifying that they did end up there. That these rights were eroded, that people were forced to register for pregnancy tests, that their every move was monitored and recorded. The fear of babies dying for some unknown and completely invisible reason is such an interesting idea for this book because it taps into the helplessness you feel sometimes when you鈥檙e pregnant, like you can do all the right things but still things can go wrong. Those odds these days, are quite small but they still exist. Enough for the 鈥榳hat if鈥� thoughts. This takes that and amplifies it into this ever-growing terror because won鈥檛 make people comply if not helpless babies dying?

I think this is such an excellent story and I really admired both Emma and Lainey. They are both smart, resourceful, caring people and supportive as well. Emma risks everything for Lainey and she doesn鈥檛 stop fighting. Sereena and Meera were excellent characters as well, fearless and loyal. Emma and Lainey both have a great support network of mostly women (but definitely also some male allies) who they can turn t for help, even in dangerous situations. If I did have one aspect that I thought could鈥檝e done with a little bit more fleshing out, it was the end. It felt a bit abrupt and sudden, I think I might鈥檝e liked another chapter or two 鈥� but I鈥檓 a person that likes that, rather than imagining things!

Did I think this was good? Yes. Would I recommend people read it? Absolutely. But I鈥檓 not 100% sure I can say that I loved the experience of reading this. But I鈥檓 still very glad I read it anyway. ...more

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Jan 16, 2022 Rina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars.

This was a wonderful female-centric thriller set in a post-covid, near future British, with a very intriguing premise. Women around the world started giving birth to 鈥榙oll babies鈥�. These babies were completely healthy and moving up to the point of birth where they would cease to breathe for no explainable reason. It got so severe that it affected half of the population, and people got scared of having kids. Of course, the political minds used the phenomena to assert control over women 3.5 stars.

This was a wonderful female-centric thriller set in a post-covid, near future British, with a very intriguing premise. Women around the world started giving birth to 鈥榙oll babies鈥�. These babies were completely healthy and moving up to the point of birth where they would cease to breathe for no explainable reason. It got so severe that it affected half of the population, and people got scared of having kids. Of course, the political minds used the phenomena to assert control over women in the name of 鈥榩rotecting鈥� the future. Women were no longer given choice about having babies, and once pregnant they became the property of the government.

Our main characters, Emma and Lainey, were mother-daughter couple who got thrown right in the middle of it all, with Emma鈥檚 job as a midwife and Lainey鈥檚 involvement in her school鈥檚 movement to find out why her pregnant friend suddenly disappeared.

With a setup like that, who wouldn鈥檛 be enticed to pick up the book?

I personally loved how the book highlighted the power of women banding together. It definitely had a parade of strong, intelligent women trying to navigate and solve the issue. Even the British Prime Minister in the book was a female. Unfortunately though, 50% through the book, I still felt like I learnt nothing new as it slowly gave readers details of what happened.

While the build-up was relatively slow paced, there were a few action-packed events that happened later in the book that I thought happened too fast! Without giving too much away, one of them was Lainey鈥檚 adventure at a secret place, which I thought could鈥檝e been flushed out a bit more.

Another thing that I wish was done better was around the scale of the story. Given the phenomena was worldwide and the plot involved British government and high ranked politicians (and someone else who was revealed to have an international pull in the story), I thought the stakes and scale could鈥檝e been much wider (even involving international waters, perhaps). Instead, the main conflict and resolution in the book were too localised and dependant upon just Emma and Lainey, who were supposed to be 鈥榥obodies鈥� in the grand scheme of things.

At the end of the day, I did enjoy this book tremendously. There was this one particular quote that I thought reflected today鈥檚 age quite well:
鈥淚n the information age, because we all have access to information, everyone considers themselves an expert. It鈥檚 a horrible twist to something that鈥檚 essentially so wonderful and should have finally allowed for classless access to education.鈥�

(Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for a free copy in exchange for an honest review)

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Oct 06, 2021 Janine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: for-review, net-galley

The Hush is the first Sara Foster book I have read and if this is an indication of her writing then I will definitely be looking up her backlist.

The story is set in London 7 years post COVID. Emma is a single mum with daughter Lainey. Emma is a midwife at the local hospital where disturbing things are happening. Quite randomly some babies are appearing stillborn, and no one knows why. At the same time young pregnant girls are disappearing with their families. This is now an era where everyone ha ...more

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