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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
What did I just read?! You think you have it figured out based on the twists and turns taking you to a place a typically thriller does but then one shock twist after another just blows you over. I devoured this book in a matter of hours and it is so worth the staying up late past your bedtime. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
‘Everyone is hiding something.’
This story unfolds through the alternating views of two women: Gabby Burrell, mother of a teenaged son and Andrea Gately, mother of a three-year-old son and heavily pregnant with her second child. Andrea and her family have recently moved into the same street as Gabby. They are living in a rundown house for reasons that will soon become clear. Gabby runs a Facebook page on parenting and befriends Andrea. Gabby is lonely: she admits to having problems with her teenaged son, and her husband Richard she says is absent overseas on business. Andrea has her own problems: juggling pregnancy with the demands of a three-year-old and worrying about her husband Terry.
Gabby, it becomes clear, has mental health issues. And Andrea, because she is overloaded and worried ignores some of the discrepancies in Gabby’s account of her everyday life.
Okay. So how do I avoid spoilers but still convey some sense of the tension that builds as this story races to its conclusion? Suffice to say that Andrea’s trust is misplaced. She arrives home after a false labour alarm to find her son missing. And I will stop there.
This story kept me turning pages as I needed to know how it would end. While some aspects were predictable, there were a couple of twists I did not anticipate. And the ending? It made me uncomfortable, even though I recognise the truth in it.
If you enjoy psychological thrillers which touch on contemporary issues and challenges, then you may enjoy this.
‘It’s so easy to manipulate everyone, actually.’
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Gaslighting
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and Nicole Trope for letting me read “The Stay-at-Home-Mother” in exchange for an honest review.
Andrea and her husband Terry are moving into a new house. Andrea is heavily pregnant and feels overwhelmed. Her young son Jack keeps her busy and so is the new house. A family that is trying to get back into their feet. Andrea befriends her neighbour Gabby, a stay-at-home-mom, mother of a teenager.
One day the unthinkable happens. Jack is gone. Pouf! The police arrives. A voice message is left on Andrea’s phone. A woman claims, that the picture of Jack she posted on an international missing children’s page, is her son.
What on earth? How can that be?
Is Jack really Andrea’s son? Jos can an American woman know him?
How about the pictures, whose boy is in the picture?
Where is Jack and will they get him back safe?
What’s up with the kind of creepy neighbour, Gabby?! How are the women collected? Is Gabby as nice as she seems to be?
This was a fairly quick read. The story picks up really soon and throws a lot of red herrings at you. What’s up with husband Terry, shady much?! And Gabby’s husband Richard, who works overseas a lot… also shady?! Gabby herself? A lot of questions, right away. But the story has a good pace, you have no time to wonder for a long time. It swept me away. I kind of had an early guess about the ending, so it did not completely catch me by surprise, but that’s perfectly fine!
Moms like Gabby just annoy me, the kind that micro manages and knows better than anyone else. Sorry, that’s just me.
This is my second novel by Nicole Trope and I really like her style. The characters are easy to relate to and you’ll love to hate them. She will be on my radar for sure!
Andrea and her husband Terry are moving into a new house. Andrea is heavily pregnant and feels overwhelmed. Her young son Jack keeps her busy and so is the new house. A family that is trying to get back into their feet. Andrea befriends her neighbour Gabby, a stay-at-home-mom, mother of a teenager.
One day the unthinkable happens. Jack is gone. Pouf! The police arrives. A voice message is left on Andrea’s phone. A woman claims, that the picture of Jack she posted on an international missing children’s page, is her son.
What on earth? How can that be?
Is Jack really Andrea’s son? Jos can an American woman know him?
How about the pictures, whose boy is in the picture?
Where is Jack and will they get him back safe?
What’s up with the kind of creepy neighbour, Gabby?! How are the women collected? Is Gabby as nice as she seems to be?
This was a fairly quick read. The story picks up really soon and throws a lot of red herrings at you. What’s up with husband Terry, shady much?! And Gabby’s husband Richard, who works overseas a lot… also shady?! Gabby herself? A lot of questions, right away. But the story has a good pace, you have no time to wonder for a long time. It swept me away. I kind of had an early guess about the ending, so it did not completely catch me by surprise, but that’s perfectly fine!
Moms like Gabby just annoy me, the kind that micro manages and knows better than anyone else. Sorry, that’s just me.
This is my second novel by Nicole Trope and I really like her style. The characters are easy to relate to and you’ll love to hate them. She will be on my radar for sure!