Reviews

The Good Mother by Rae Cairns

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robn_e's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

quaintrelle_chantelle's review against another edition

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2.0

I don’t know much about the history of the IRA in Northern Ireland & what the people faced during that war. This was a fictional but eye-opening glimpse into the mentality of those times.
On a more personal note, I sometimes wonder if I should read this type of book? Is it possible that my logical brain completely ruins the anticipation & sequence of events that ultimately makes these types of books the thrilling race-against-time that they are? I do understand that what makes these books work is the secret keeping, the error in judgement… but I find these traits so frustrating in a character & it really made it hard to enjoy this book, which was full of potential!
It wasn’t a winner for me, but it wasn’t because it was a bad book.

ela81's review against another edition

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5.0

Couldn't put it down. Loved

mandylovestoread's review against another edition

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4.0

Another incredible debut crime thriller from an Australian author. Rae Cairns draws on her experience as a youth worker in Northern Ireland in the 1990's during the troubles and has written an intense and heart pounding story of motherhood, living in fear and so much more. It is a page tuner that will shock you, you just have to read this book.

Sarah is a soccer single mum in Sydney. She is very protective of her children and is terrified when her 16-year-old son wins a place on an elite soccer camp in Dublin. She forbids him to go but is eventually persuaded to allow him. When his passport is scanned on arrival, it triggers an alert, and Sarah is soon visited by some scary men from Northern Ireland. He past is finally coming back to haunt her, and she must travel to Belfast to try to put an end to her fears after all these years. She has told nobody in her currently life about her past in Northern Ireland, and we soon learn what Sarah has been running from for so many years.

There is alot of violence in this story as you would imagine. It really was an eye-opening read, and I can see why Rae Cairns was shortlisted for the 2021 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction.

Thanks to Rae Cairns and Harper Collins for my copy of this book to read. The Good Mother is out now, go and read it, you won't be sorry.

christineasi's review against another edition

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1.0

Only finished as it's for my book club, otherwise would have been a DNF

I rarely like crime, it just seems so farfetched and this book was no exception

Aside from the story, I found the writing really basic and lazy e.g. "... her sapphire eyes sparkling"
"... the outdoorsy scent of his deodorant "
"she re-played every detail of her meeting with the
detective in her head, over and over, like a music track caught on repeat."
It reminded me of the internet posts of funny things kids write "he was as tall as a six foot tree"

I felt like the author made everyone so perfect so that when the problems were introduced it was SO SHOCKING that this could happen to a trim and lean mum with a Labrador puppy, her ex husband with the 15th floor law office looking over Sydney harbour, their talented son - 1 of only 2 kids chosen in Australia to go to an international soccer camp, etc etc... you get the picture

The most unbelievable thing of all was that the ex husband was "generous" in their divorce settlement