The Boy Under the Table by Australian author Nicole Trope is about Tina, a homeless young girl living on the streets of Sydney's red light district, King's Cross. Tina's struggle to survive the Cross is contrasted with the grief and worry in outback New South Wales, as farmers Doug and Sarah desperately seek the return of their young son Lachlan, who disappeared at Sydney's Royal Easter Show.

Tina's day-to-day life on the streets as a sex worker and living a sober yet meagre existence in a squat were shocking and compelling, thankfully with a ray of hope Tina will work through her grief and reclaim her life.

There were countless times the author could have taken a misstep in this narrative, resulting in some serious eye-rolling from this reader, but she didn't! In fact, I was actually waiting for a disappointing turn in the narrative, fully expecting Tina to do something unbelievable or for Lachlan to act contrary to his age or character, but again, it never happened.

Instead, I found myself worrying about the two characters during the day, and wondering what their futures held in the remaining pages. We're given multiple character perspectives, and the plot kept me engaged the entire time. I was relieved to find a satisfying ending filled with hope without once glossing over any of the trauma that had passed beforehand and the healing still ahead.

Ultimately The Boy Under the Table by Nicole Trope is a story of hope and courage and I couldn't help but be moved by it. Highly recommended for fans of Australian crime writing, or those seeking a refreshing take on the missing/kidnapped child trope in fiction. ( )

This was a truly engrossing story , one that I was not able to put down. It is told in alternating chapters by the four main characters - Sarah, Doug, Pete and Tina. Tina is a fifteen year old girl living on the streets of Kings Cross, working as a prostitute, after running away from home unable to cope with the death through illness of her young brother Tim, and trying to escape the Christian fanatacism of her mother's new partner who says that all she needs to do is turn to God and pray and everything will be ok.
Doug and Sarah are parents of Lochie living in country NSW. They go to the show in Sydney with their children so Sarah can enter her cake and while she is getting her prize they look away for a moment and Lochie is gone when they turn around
The last character is Pete, a policeman and family friend of Doug and Sarah.
One night Tina breaks a rule and goes home with a client and when she enters his house what she sees horrifies her. Under the table is a boy in terrible condition, bound hand and foot - a prisoner. Tina returns later to try and free the boy which she does but not before the man has confronted her and she has killed him. She then sees it as her mission to somehow return this boy (Lochie) to his parents, a real challenge for her as she has no money, and he is starving and needs food and clean clothes.
This is a gut wrenching story. It horrifes me that anyone could treat a child the way Lochie was treated but we know it happens. The book tells of the effect of Lochie's disappearance on his parents and Pete. It must be a parent's worst nightmare for thier child to go missing and they not know what has happened to them. I was with Tina every step of her journey willing her to succeed and was happy with the way the book ended leaving her in a situation where she did have hope for the future. She was a girl with ability and determination. ( )

A difficult subject handled really really well. ( )

This is a novel that is both utterly shocking and unbearably moving which makes for a compelling tale. Told primarily from the alternating points of view of Tina, Sarah, Doug and Pete, a moment of inattention is the catalyst for tragedy in The Boy Under the Table.
With stark realism, The Boy Under The Table relates a horrific reality for two lost children. Tina ended up on the streets of King Cross at barely fifteen when she left home to escape the religious zealotry of her mother and stepfather, and her grief at losing her younger brother, Tim. She shares a squat with a group of young boys, showers at a local gym and prostitutes herself, trapped in an endless cycle of poverty and despair. On a cold winter's night she accepts a client's offer to go home with him and discovers his horrifying secret, a malnourished and filthy child huddled under the man's kitchen table, tethered by ropes around his ankle and neck.
While Tina's family is indifferent to her circumstances, Doug and Sarah can only imagine how their son may be suffering. When eight year old Lachlan disappeared from the Sydney Royal Easter Show, his parents were distraught. They each blamed themselves, and the other, existing in limbo, desperately hoping for news. As time dragged on with no clue as to his whereabouts, they were forced to return to their farm at Cootamundra without their precious son where Sarah sunk into depression while Doug tries simply hold everything together for the sake of their daughter, Sammy.
The Boy Under the Table is a confronting read, highlighting the vulnerability of our children. As a mother I can't imagine the heartbreak of a missing child, I once lost sight of my youngest son for just a few minutes at a local fair when he was three and I well remember the suffocating panic and terror. For Doug and Sarah there is no relief from the worry and fear, in just seconds, in a situation most parents would not think twice about, these good parents have found themselves in a living hell. In contrast the parents of Tina, and the other 'lost' children of the Cross, are contemptible human beings who for one reason or another have practically thrown their children away. It's a heartbreaking reality that society too often fails to care for it's most vulnerable children and The Boy Under the Table is a stark reminder of that.
Despite the emotive issues, the author deftly avoids sentimentality with a spare writing style, her characters don't wring their hands and wail uselessly, they simply put one foot in front of the other intent on surviving the next minute, the next hour, the next day. It does mean that the story lacks some subtlety but it's brutal realism is powerfully affecting. The lives of Tina and Lockie collide in the most shocking of moments. Trope spares us nothing, she doesn't pretend Tina is anything other that what she is which is, both a jaded street whore and a young teenage girl who still dreams of possibilities and Lockie will never be the same carefree and innocent child he was on the day before he disappeared. The bond that forms between these two children is incredibly touching in part because there is no pretense just simple, desperate need.
I found The Boy Under the Table impossible to put down once I had started, the pace is unrelenting and the story is utterly engrossing. The conclusion is tinged with both hope and sadness and I held my children a little tighter and a lot longer when I had finished. The Boy Under The Table is a confronting story, but one that is well worth reading. ( )