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A review by hayleybeale
The Push by Claire McGowan
2.0
Fairly standard but mildly entertaining mystery with a few, easily guessed, twists.
When somebody falls from a balcony at a party being held for a group of new parents who met in a prenatal group, it’s not clear if it’s an accident. The novel moves between the point of view of Jax, one of the mothers-to-be, in the weeks leading up to the birth of her baby, the police investigation, and the events on the day of the fall, told through the eyes of different participants at the party.
There’s lots of not particularly likable characters and it took me quite a while to differentiate them. They all have secrets which is somehow meant to make you think they could all have instigated the push. The prenatal group is diverse: there’s a lesbian couple, a couple who are having a baby with a surrogate in America, and there’s a wide range of class and economic circumstances. Jax, who we get to know the best, is an older woman with a much younger partner.
The police investigation, prompted by the well-worn literary device of the leader’s feeling that something is not quite right about an apparently accidental fall, is made more interesting by the two women officers reflecting on how children would affect their careers and lives.
Overall, it kept me reading but I don't feel the need to seek out any other books by the author.
Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
When somebody falls from a balcony at a party being held for a group of new parents who met in a prenatal group, it’s not clear if it’s an accident. The novel moves between the point of view of Jax, one of the mothers-to-be, in the weeks leading up to the birth of her baby, the police investigation, and the events on the day of the fall, told through the eyes of different participants at the party.
There’s lots of not particularly likable characters and it took me quite a while to differentiate them. They all have secrets which is somehow meant to make you think they could all have instigated the push. The prenatal group is diverse: there’s a lesbian couple, a couple who are having a baby with a surrogate in America, and there’s a wide range of class and economic circumstances. Jax, who we get to know the best, is an older woman with a much younger partner.
The police investigation, prompted by the well-worn literary device of the leader’s feeling that something is not quite right about an apparently accidental fall, is made more interesting by the two women officers reflecting on how children would affect their careers and lives.
Overall, it kept me reading but I don't feel the need to seek out any other books by the author.
Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for the digital review copy.