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Baby Teeth

Seven-year-old Hanna tries to get rid of her mother, Suzette. While her father sees an angel, Suzette grows frightened of her daughter’s games.

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One of Entertainment Weekly ’s Must-Read Books for July | People Magazine's Book of the Week | One of Bustle's "Fifteen Books With Chilling Protagonists That Will Keep You Guessing" | One of PopSugar's "25 Must-Read Books That Will Make July Fly By!" | One of the "Biggest Thrillers of the Summer" ― SheReads | A Barnes and Noble Blog Best Thriller for July! | " New & Noteworthy" ― USA Today | " Summer 2018 Must-Read" ― Bookish | " One of 11 Crime Novels You Should Read in July" ― Crime Reads | " Best Summer Reads for 2018" ― Publishers Weekly | "The Five Best Horror Books of 2018-2019" ―Forbes

"Gripping" ― InStyle "Propulsive." ― New York Times Book Review " A wholly original and terrifically creepy story." ― Refinery29 "A twisty, delirious read" ― EntertainmentWeekly.com "A deliciously creepy read." ― New York Post

MEET HANNA: Seven-year-old Hanna is a sweet-but-silent angel in the eyes of her adoring father Alex. He’s the only person who understands her. But her mother Suzette stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.

MEET SUZETTE: Suzette loves her daughter, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. She’s also becoming increasingly frightened by Hanna’s little games, while her husband Alex remains blind to the failing family dynamics. Soon, Suzette starts to fear that maybe their supposedly innocent baby girl may have a truly sinister agenda. A battle of wills between mother and daughter reveals the frailty and falsehood of familial bonds in award-winning playwright and filmmaker Zoje Stage’s tense novel of psychological suspense, Baby Teeth.

“Unnerving and unputdownable, Baby Teeth will get under your skin and keep you trapped in its chilling grip until the shocking conclusion.” ― New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline

“ We Need to Talk About Kevin meets Gone Girl meets The Omen ...a twisty, delirious read that will constantly question your sympathies for the two characters as their bond continues to crumble.” ― Entertainment Weekly

“A pulse-spiking thriller.” ― PopSugar

First published: 2018
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Book tags

Content warnings

Emotional Abuse
Medical Trauma

Missing warnings do not mean other content is absent.

Horror profile

Scary: Not rated
Creepy: Not rated
Gore: Not rated
Disturbing: Not rated
Weird: Not rated

How we calculate this

These are editorial estimates of intensity, informed by reading and review evidence, then checked before publication. They aren't star ratings, reader-vote averages or a measure of quality.

Each dimension runs from 1 (low) to 5 (exceptionally intense). A 5 is reserved for strongly consistent evidence. People experience horror differently.

Scary: Fear, tension and immediate threat.
Creepy: Unease, dread and an uncanny atmosphere.
Gore: Graphic injury, blood and bodily detail.
Disturbing: Upsetting ideas and lingering psychological impact.
Weird: Surreal, strange and reality-bending elements.

We draw a filled profile only when all five scores have been reviewed. Unrated does not mean mild. Missing scores are not estimated from genre tags or your saved taste. This profile isn't a complete content-warning guide.