10. Lullaby by Clair Seeber

Jess Finnegan is finally more relaxed about being a new mother to her eight-month-old son. On a lazy summer afternoon, she and her husband take the baby to the Tate Museum, where the day quickly changes their lives. After getting separated from her husband and son, Jess thinks they are still in the museum, yet after a few hours of not seeing them, realizes that something horrible has happened. Her husband’s cell phone is mysteriously answered, then switched off, and when she arrives back to their home, no one is waiting for her. Her husband is found later, severely beaten and unconscious in the hospital, with their son still missing.

This debut thriller from a British journalist starts out with a great plot and lots of intrigue and speculation, but it eventually grows outlandish. Possible kidnappers include the brother of Jess, who mysteriously appears after years of drug abuse and being estranged from the family. The Finnegan’s nanny, a young French woman, suddenly might have been having an affair with Jess’s husband and when pictures of her and the family’s young son are found, suspicions point to her. Add a cold, calculating ex-wife into the story, and unfortunately the book begins to meander. While the beginning is suspenseful and the modern London setting perfectly described, hopefully Seeber will use more realistic characters, such as a mother who seems truly upset at having her son go missing, in her next mysteries.