The Good Mother by A.L. Bird
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Read: 17th May 2018
Purchase: Amazon
★★★★★ 5 stars
Oh WOW! Where do I start? I read 90% of this book in one sitting and the final 10% the next morning.
THE GOOD MOTHER is a brilliant psychological thriller, with a somewhat bewildering narrative in parts, which is also quite disturbing. You begin thinking it will be "a mother searching for her child" thriller read...but it's not. It's even more thrilling, more disturbing and even sadder than that.
It begins with a "Prologue" that feels somewhat disturbing which leads you in a confusing direction once you begin the first chapter. You wonder "how on earth does that even begin to relate to the rest of this story"? It will...trust me.
So then it moves on to Susan, waking in a locked room in a strange house with no recollection of how she got there. She has an intuition that she has been drugged and that every meal or drink her captor brings to her is also drugged.
She begins to feel stirrings of recognition for her captor but she can't remember from where.
Then she hears her 15 year old daughter's voice through a grate and she is elated to hear her. But then that elation soon turns to fear as she realises her captor also has her daughter. And so they begin to hatch a plan of escape...
A cat and mouse game begins as Susan plots to drawn him closer and to give her daughter a chance to escape and bring them help.
The story keeps the reader just as much in the dark as Susan, as not everything is as you see it - or what you think it is. There are twists and surprises as the pages turn even faster...until you're not even sure of what's real and what's not.
Told from mainly two perspectives - Susan's and her captor's - but we also get snippets from Cara's best friend Alice...and it's through Alice that we begin to feel even more confused with yet even more questions.
Many times throughout the early part of the book I was tiring of Susan's tirade and tactics. I was even finding her a little annoying. Martyring herself with thoughts of blame and not being a good mother. Her answer to being one was to never let them out of your sight, wrap them in cotton wool and never let them go. HELLO!! This is just what you DO NOT do to children, and it is something that grates on me in "the real world". However, there are times when I completely sympathise with her and feel I am losing my mind trying to figure a way out for her!
Then at about 70% comes a real twist - which most won't see coming but admittedly I was beginning to twig to, or rather "wonder about" - and everything turns on its head. This is where it gets interesting. Then we see all of the players - her captor, his "friend", Cara and most of all, we see Susan, as the prelude to the climax begins. The prologue from the very start then begins to make sense. I didn't see the end coming...until just before it did! And BAM!
I definitely recommend this book for readers of this genre - though I'm sure some will find it difficult to get past the bewildering aspect throughout much of the book and give up. You will either love it or hate it. I was sure I was going to find it an average read throughout most of it, but the twist and the ending especially, changed my mind, my review and my rating.
THE GOOD MOTHER is a psychological claustrophobic thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat as all the pieces finally fit together and leave you breathless by the end. But the story is also a sad one and rather heartbreaking - for two reasons which will become clear by the end. This is a book one will definitely not forget easily...if at all.
THE GOOD MOTHER is a brilliant psychological thriller, with a somewhat bewildering narrative in parts, which is also quite disturbing. You begin thinking it will be "a mother searching for her child" thriller read...but it's not. It's even more thrilling, more disturbing and even sadder than that.
It begins with a "Prologue" that feels somewhat disturbing which leads you in a confusing direction once you begin the first chapter. You wonder "how on earth does that even begin to relate to the rest of this story"? It will...trust me.
So then it moves on to Susan, waking in a locked room in a strange house with no recollection of how she got there. She has an intuition that she has been drugged and that every meal or drink her captor brings to her is also drugged.
She begins to feel stirrings of recognition for her captor but she can't remember from where.
Then she hears her 15 year old daughter's voice through a grate and she is elated to hear her. But then that elation soon turns to fear as she realises her captor also has her daughter. And so they begin to hatch a plan of escape...
A cat and mouse game begins as Susan plots to drawn him closer and to give her daughter a chance to escape and bring them help.
The story keeps the reader just as much in the dark as Susan, as not everything is as you see it - or what you think it is. There are twists and surprises as the pages turn even faster...until you're not even sure of what's real and what's not.
Told from mainly two perspectives - Susan's and her captor's - but we also get snippets from Cara's best friend Alice...and it's through Alice that we begin to feel even more confused with yet even more questions.
Many times throughout the early part of the book I was tiring of Susan's tirade and tactics. I was even finding her a little annoying. Martyring herself with thoughts of blame and not being a good mother. Her answer to being one was to never let them out of your sight, wrap them in cotton wool and never let them go. HELLO!! This is just what you DO NOT do to children, and it is something that grates on me in "the real world". However, there are times when I completely sympathise with her and feel I am losing my mind trying to figure a way out for her!
Then at about 70% comes a real twist - which most won't see coming but admittedly I was beginning to twig to, or rather "wonder about" - and everything turns on its head. This is where it gets interesting. Then we see all of the players - her captor, his "friend", Cara and most of all, we see Susan, as the prelude to the climax begins. The prologue from the very start then begins to make sense. I didn't see the end coming...until just before it did! And BAM!
I definitely recommend this book for readers of this genre - though I'm sure some will find it difficult to get past the bewildering aspect throughout much of the book and give up. You will either love it or hate it. I was sure I was going to find it an average read throughout most of it, but the twist and the ending especially, changed my mind, my review and my rating.
THE GOOD MOTHER is a psychological claustrophobic thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat as all the pieces finally fit together and leave you breathless by the end. But the story is also a sad one and rather heartbreaking - for two reasons which will become clear by the end. This is a book one will definitely not forget easily...if at all.
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