Review: Hush | Sara Foster

I picked up The Hush on a whim while searching for a thriller to listen on Audible. The Hush being an Audible Original; it didn’t cost me any credits to listen. The overall plot seemed very topical given our state of the world, and I wondered how Sara Foster would tell this story.

Sara Foster did two smart things when crafting The Hush. Foster set the story in a future that is so near it could happen tomorrow and nothing would’ve change in the story. The second was the main issue that is driving the plot, babies failing to thrive at birth, causing the government to panic. Which is very much like what we are seeing with falling birth rates in some nations today. Both these elements allow the readers to connect with the world and the main characters, Emma and Lainey. It doesn’t force the reader to speculate how the world got to this point at the beginning of the story. The reader already knows if they follow current events.

The strongest part of The Hush was Sara Foster’s character work. When stories are told from multiple points of view, I often think one character is more developed than the other. Not the case with Emma and Lainey. They were both well developed. Lainey was a typical teenage girl, trying to understand and respond to a world and future that was becoming more restrictive to girls and women. Emma was a labor and delivery nurse, struggling as a single mother to a teenager while trying to soothe the fears of expectant parents. They had very distinct voices enhanced by the two narrators for the audiobook.

It feels off to say one of the struggles I had with The Hush was it’s an average read. Average should be good and it is. But for a thriller’s average can squash intrigue. I never found myself intrigued about what was causing the failure to thrive in newborns. I really didn’t care what was happening with Ellis and if she was going to be found. The only thing I found myself intrigued by, and by intrigued I mean mildly curious, by was how Foster was going to bring this all together and the role of the grandmother, which was disappointing.

The Hush was like a watching a Lifetime movie, good enough to keep my attention while I was watching it. But I had no problem pausing to do other things and no urgency to get back to it. I was there not because it captured my attention, but because I needed something to keep me from boredom. And it served that purpose. It was good for what it was.

This was my first Sara Foster, so I have nothing to compare it to. Based on my reading of The Hush, I will read her again with the knowledge that it might be a little Lifetime-y and a good read to just past the time.