Little Darlings

In British author Golding’s haunting if flawed debut, Det. Sgt. Jo Harper’s supervisor admonishes her to pay more attention to guidelines and less to her gut, but the Sheffield, England, officer can’t resist going rogue after new mother Lauren Tranter’s anguished emergency call strikes a chord with her. Though the authorities write off Lauren’s efforts to persuade Royal Infirmary staff and investigators that a wraithlike woman has just tried to steal her hours-old identical twin boys from the hospital’s maternity ward, Jo isn’t so sure. That golden gut tells her Lauren’s superficially solicitous husband is lying about something—and then there’s the suspicious shadow on the hospital’s CCTV tape. When the babies later disappear from a park, Jo discovers striking similarities to a 40-year-old case. Though Golding overly lards her chilling plot with snippets from folklore about changelings, she skillfully maintains suspense concerning just how much of Lauren’s nightmare might be rooted in the darker recesses of her own mind. Fans of psychological thrillers will look forward to Golding’s next novel. Agent: Madeline Milburn, Madeline Milburn Literary (U.K.). (Apr.)