The Perfect Mother by Claire Allan
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 2nd February 2025
Published: 5th February 2025
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
All I wanted was to help women become mothers. When I met Alice Monroe, we instantly connected. She was as passionate about motherhood as I was, and I couldn't wait to support her through this life-changing experience.
But the day that should have been Alice’s happiest, turned into a nightmare. And after Alice’s dreams were shattered, she blamed me. Even though there was nothing I could have done, she wanted to ruin me. I lost my business, my reputation. My world fell apart.
Then, I discovered I was pregnant. That’s why we moved hundreds of miles away to the remote Derry countryside. Now, with this beautiful baby, we can have a fresh start.
But then Alice sends me a message. She knows where we are. And I realise, it doesn’t matter how far we’ve moved, I am not safe from her. My baby is not safe.
She would have been the perfect mother. But if she can’t have her happy family, she's not going to let me have mine.
Don't miss the brand-new nail-biting thriller from Claire Allan! Perfect for fans of Valerie Keogh, Andrea Mara and Claire Douglas.
MY THOUGHTS:
The first thing I noticed in the opening pages of this book is that it is partially set in Carrickfergus, a town just out of Belfast I had not heard of before befriending a lovely Irish couple who emigrated here over 40 years ago (to Sydney not Melbourne as in the book) from which they also hail. It's not a place that is often mentioned but I did catch it referred to in the very first episode of "Grantchester" some years ago. I was quite chuffed to see it mentioned and find it peppered throughout the book that I can't wait to tell my friends when I see them next.
So...a year ago, Mel Davison had a thriving business as a doula who practiced hypnobirthing (I'm with Mel's mum on this one) which all came crashing down after the tragic loss of a child for which she was blamed. Mel had left her job as a teacher to follow her dream of becoming a doula and hypnobirthing after the traumatic birth of her daughter Tilly. She wanted to relieve other women of the trauma she'd endured.
Alice Munroe approached Mel and hired her to be her doula as the two women formed a close friendship which was then threatened after Alice's labour went wrong and Mel was left without her friend and ultimately her business. What ensued was a hate campaign directed at Mel both in person and online. She became a shadow of her former self, jumping at shadows and scared to let Tilly out of her sight. When her daughter's safety is threatened once again, she and her husband Ed move a hundred miles to Derry where they undertake the mammoth task of renovating a period farmhouse whilst living in an onsite caravan in the interim.
But Mel is heavily pregnant again and she hopes much of the renovating will be complete for them to move into the farmhouse before the baby arrives. And then strange things start to happen again. A funeral wreath designed for the loss of a baby is delivered to her parent's door and a memorial is erected on their own gatepost, all designed to unsettle Mel. And it's working. Is Alice behind this new hate campaign? Or is it one of her many followers?
This book showed real promise and started off steady but then slowed down to a mud crawl. It picks up again but it's like being stuck behind a slow driver - pace picks up then slows then picks up then slows. And there is quite a bit of repetition. To be honest, I skimmed a lot of the repetition and wordiness, finding more answers in dialogue. I didn't warm to Mel at all and found it difficult to sympathise with her. She constantly complained about what was happening and yet continued to make things worse for herself. I did suspect who was behind it from early on but didn't work out the entire endgame until just before it happened.
At 291 pages, this is a relatively quick read, though slow in parts, making it a slow quick read...or a quick slow read? The premise was promising but I'm not sure it completely delivered though the ending was satisfactory. Not one of Allan's best but still OK.
I would like to thank #ClaireAllan, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #ThePerfectMother in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
A former journalist, she published eight contemporary women’s fiction titles with Poolbeg Press in Ireland, establishing herself as a multiple Irish Times Bestselling Author.
Her novel 'The First Time I Said Goodbye' - based on a true story of a love affair between a Derry girl and a US marine became a US Kindle Top Five bestseller.
However in 2016, Claire decided to change genre and to write domestic noir - this secured her her a book deal with Avon, an imprint of Harper Collins.
Her debut thriller Her Name Was Rose has sold more than a quarter of a million copies and has achieved bestseller status around the world.
When not writing thrillers, she can be found penning romantic comedies under her alias of Freya Kennedy.
Claire is currently working on a TV adaptation of her 2020 novel ‘The Liar’s Daughter’ with Hat Trick productions, and as a story consultant for the new BBC cop drama ‘Blue Lights’.
Her sixth thriller ‘The Kindling’ is scheduled for publication in January 2022.
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