The Perfect Mother
A gripping thriller with a nail-biting twist
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3.8 • 31 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
***Don't miss this instant New York Times bestseller***
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Scandal's Kerry Washington.
'Wonderfully nuanced and compulsively readable' KERRY WASHINGTON
'Thrilling . . . you'll think you have all figured out - until you realise you don't' MARIE CLAIRE
'An electrifying thriller' PEOPLE, BOOK OF THE WEEK
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We all want different things. Francie wants to be the perfect mother. Nell wants to escape the past. Collette wants to spend more time with her family. All Winnie wants is to have her baby back.
When Nell suggests a night out in Brooklyn to her new mums' club, the others jump at the chance. But the evening takes a tragic turn when Winnie learns that her six-week-old son Midas has been kidnapped.
As the investigation hits a dead end, Nell, Collette and Francie make it their mission to succeed where the police are failing. But as Winnie and those around her come under scrutiny from the media, damaging secrets come to light and friendships are pushed to the limit.
Because people will do almost anything to protect the ones they love . . .
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'A true page turner!' B.A. PARIS, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE BREAKDOWN AND BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
'A fast-paced, twisty, engrossing read - I loved it!' MEGAN MIRANDA, AUTHOR OF ALL THE MISSING GIRLS
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this bracing thriller, the members of a mothers’ group become both suspects and detectives when a newborn is kidnapped. Aimee Molloy takes the uncomfortable peculiarities of new motherhood—hypervigilance, self-doubt, the need for certainty, the craving for distraction—and lets them fuel her characters’ obsession with the mysterious dispossessed mother and her missing child. The outcome isn’t so much a plot twist as a total upending of our expectations—after we finished, we were tempted to drop everything and read Molloy’s dazzling debut again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this promising first novel from nonfiction bestseller Molloy (However Long the Night), the May Mothers, a parenting group, gather at a Brooklyn bar for an adults-only Fourth of July celebration. The outing's organizers Nell Mackey, Colette Yates, and Francie Givens are intent on showing harried single mom Winnie Ross a good time, so they arrange for Nell's nanny, Alma, to watch Winnie's son, Midas, and delete the baby monitor app from Winnie's phone. Drinking commences and Winnie wanders off, leaving her phone and house key with Nell, who misplaces them. Shortly thereafter, Alma calls Nell to report that Midas is missing. When the NYPD fails to find him, the media turns its attention to Winnie and the other May Mothers, prompting Nell, Colette, and Francie to launch their own increasingly reckless investigation. The mystery of Midas's disappearance may be the skeleton on which Molloy's plot hangs, but it's her characters' anxieties that give the story life and substance. Molloy doesn't fully earn her book's big twist, but her clever narrative structure heightens tension and creates uncertainty while spotlighting the solitary struggles of motherhood.
