Good Bad Mother by Anya Mora
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic suspense
Read: 13th July 2025
Published: 17th February 2025
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
As I push my baby down the street in her pink stroller, I look up and smile at the security cameras. Because I know they are watching. And I need to play my part as the perfect mother.
It’s been a year since my husband and I moved into our new home on the exclusive Cutter’s Island. This is where the rich and beautiful live, and where we plan to raise our baby. It couldn’t be more different from my old life.
But soon, my new life begins to shatter when I find a handwritten note in my mailbox: How can you live with yourself? I glance up and see curtains twitching in my neighbors’ windows. Someone knows what I did.
Clutching the note in my hands, I run inside, locking the door behind me. But later that night, smoke starts to fill the house. I run to my baby’s room and find my worst fears come true. Someone has taken her.
As my dream home goes up in flames, I know that whoever discovered my secret wants me to pay for what I did, to remind me that I was never meant to have this life. But they have no idea who I really am. And just how far I’ll go to get my baby back…
An addictive and gripping thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Packed with twists you’ll never see coming, this is perfect for fans of Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid, Shari Lapena and The Girl on the Train.
MY THOUGHTS:
Perfection is the best disguise...except when it isn't...
For a quick read this was a slow read. I mean, our protagonist Amelia Sterling spends half the book lamenting on how she fears her past being discovered by not only the rich and powerful she has married into but that they would see her for who she really is. And Amelia doesn't like the person who she used to be...which is why she has spent so long running from that past she has left behind. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so frustratingly repetitive and with no real direction except a mother with a newborn who was constantly tired and didn't want to be the centre of attention. Oh, and a secret to hide. Those were pretty much the only clues to go off.
Until the THEN chapters began. Suddenly, we are given a glimpse into the past through a young girl's first person narrative but the identity of that girl isn't clear until further in. So naturally it is left up to the reader to guess. Actually, I much preferred the THEN chapters to the present ones. They seemed to have much more happening than Amelia's life now. But it was the prologue that really drew me in...after that, the rest fell a bit flat until it began to fall into place.
So the players we have in the present are Amelia, husband Timothy, baby Clover, parents-in-law Alexander and Isabelle (though Alexander I think has one line "It's so good to have you have you back at the table again Celeste" was the sum of his involvement), sister-in-law Lydia, neighbours Eleanor and Celeste, Amelia's only friend Tabitha and reporter Jack. In the past there are just four - Hazel, Meadow, their mum and Hazel's boyfriend Tommy. So how do all these people and their stories come together? It wasn't overly difficult to piece together and the story was fairly predictable but it was still an OK read. I didn't not like it but it wasn't edge of your seat either.
Honestly? I couldn't stand any of the Sterlings. They were fake and pretentious and too powerful for their own good. They didn't care about Amelia, though it's hard to care about Amelia as she is hard to like. Isabelle was controlling and condescending, Lydia was fickle, Timothy was a two faced hypocrite - only Alexander didn't register anything as he didn't feature long enough to do so. This was all about girl power - or rather bitchiness. I felt like I was watching some Real Housewives reality TV rubbish.
When the pace picked up there was tension, secrets and lies that aren't entirely difficult to unravel once you piece everything together. It was a quick read that I devoured in about four and a half hours of an afternoon though it was filled with unlikeable characters that made it hard to like anyone. But I enjoyed it for the most part and it gave us a good satisfactory ending, even if not entirely believeable.
I would like to thank #AnyaMora, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #GoodBadMother in exchange for an honest review.
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