Every one of us should have someone we can call to help bury a body (figuratively, you understand). Bella, Chrissy, Sky, Electra and Jen are a rather unlikely group of friends, but they have each other. They’ve stayed together despite not having very much in common: entirely different personalities, living and financial conditions and parenting styles.
After meeting up at an ante-natal group, they formed a close bond that three years on, is stronger than ever, and when Bella’s husband Ewan goes missing she turns to her friends for help. These women have become her tribe and her only source of support – where else would she turn?
I loved this gripping page-turner! It brought back memories of my own days of being part of an ante-natal group (not the psychological thriller part – the part where you meet people who become life-long friends).
Ewan isn’t the most likeable of characters, and quite honestly, the more the plot develops and the more I learnt about him, I increasingly felt that Bella was surely better off without him and that she should have considered herself lucky that he’d done a bunk. But the police are inclined to think differently and are sure she knew about his illicit dealings at his company, implicating her in his disappearance. The less she claims to know, the more suspicious they become.
DI Iona Chatwin, who we hear from, along with the points of view of each of the mothers, was the one person I found most difficult to like. She lacked the confidence that I felt a person in the police force, on a case like this, should have displayed. She seemed so uncomfortable in her own skin, and so at odds with each of the mothers. She had no clue what to make of them and couldn’t seem to figure anything out. Too much was made out of the fact that she was gay. I appreciated that this was pointed out to the reader, but there was too much emphasis on it, which did more to detract from the story than anything else.
Apart from this though, the other characters are all complex and their lives and problems (oh, so many problems) are easy to absorb yourself in. The difficulties of everyday life, living with children, trying to fall pregnant, dealing with perceived societal pressures were all so well highlighted.
Ms Naughton keeps the twists and turns coming from every angle, and each of these women has her own back story to keep you on your toes. It’s one of those ‘just one more chapter’ books that keeps you up reading late into the night because you just keep turning (or swiping) those pages!
I highly recommend this 4-star read. The plot is well constructed and had me guessing right until that final reveal.
Thank you to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for inviting me along on the blog tour. Take a look at what other bloggers think of The Mothers …
Jan's Book Buzz 
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