The Wrong Mother: the heart-pounding, twisty thriller with a chilling end

Product Information

Then she discovers a co-parenting app: Acorns. For men and women who want to have a baby, but don't want to do it alone. When she meets Louis through it, it feels as though the fates have aligned. Sally is married with two young kids while working full time. She is always stressed, tired and in a flap. But she wouldn’t change anything. When a work trip falls through Sally realises just how much she was looking forward to the break. So instead of telling her husband, she goes away for the week anyway for some “me time.” Forty year Faye is struggling with crying baby Jake, she’s on the run from his father wealthy Louis. The two meet via an app (‘Acorn’) which matches those who want co-parenting without a romantic relationship.

Kaylene's best friend Samantha seems to be onto psycho nurse, but what does she do? She loudly announces her peanut allergy for psycho nurse to hear, and thus plan her murder. The BMW Samantha drives would have a built in alarm system, it's completely unbelievable Vanessa would be able to access it. Emboldened, Maddie starts to boss around Nicole and takes away her phone. She also tells Nicole that “Life’s not fair/” (Which was my least favorite response when I was a kid.) But, Sophie Hannah has a way of SHOWING the reader that the police has solved the mysteries and the case and then TELLING how they solved it. It would've been better if it was the other way around. Cynthia and Michael get along really well. On their way from a meeting, Michael tells her that they make a great team. He doesn’t tell her about him dating Maddie. She clearly likes him. When Cynthia stops by to drop off some papers while Maddie and Michael are drinking wine, Maddie aggressively introduces herself. Cynthia is hurt that Michael wouldn’t have told her. Lily stops Cynthia before she goes and says that she is concerned about Maddie and has a bad feeling. Cynthia promises to look into it. (She later finds out that Maddie stalked another family and her real name is Claire.)

The Wrong Mother plot

This is a very straightforward and no fuss thriller. There are no unnecessary items or twists to get caught up on. I really appreciated this after reading a super twisty and messy book the other day. The pacing of this one was fantastic, and it kept me engaged throughout. I didn’t quite realize what I was getting into when I selected this one. I am not usually a huge fan of the whole “I need a child to be fulfilled” Also, reviewers complaining about how hard it is to keep the large cast of characters straight, are right. It was hard to tell when they were referring to the two jerk cops versus the nicer ones, because all the detectives seem to have names beginning with S. Zoey ( Arden Richardson) and Toby ( Cooper Dodson). There's family chemistry between these actors, and this makes the story so much more believable. Nothing here seems forced, and these people seem to really care for one another. I usually really enjoy Sophie Hannah's books and I would still recommend them to any new readers. Having said that, this particular instalment is the weakest I've read so far.

That thing with Stacey was convenient to how they solved the case and the reason why she came to Charlie's house wasn't brought up again. It was brushed away. Lily finally goes to Maddie’s house for about 5 mins and then finds photos of her family and a therapist card on a desk. Lily goes to the office of the therapist, who lets her come in and talk without an appointment. The therapist is trying to diagnose Lily with anxiety? Lily keeps trying to clarify that she doesn’t need therapy, she is trying to see if a patient is dangerous. When the therapist hears Maddie’s name, she is like… oh her? She is VERY dangerous. (The therapist should know, she gets murdered in the next scene.) This is one of those books that both excels past its genre and stays firmly in it. Hannah never breaks the rules of thriller in this book, but she expands the notion of what a writer of thrillers can do. All the things that you want from a thriller writer are here - tight and intricate plotting, suspense, and unexpected twists and turns. Add to those things compelling characterizations and deft writing and the book is successful.

Trailer & other videos

Is Sophie Hannah a literary genius? Nah. But hey, all you haters — I invite you to try constructing a plot like this one: twisty, intricate, and relentlessly leave-'em-guessing. I was engrossed, and I admired this thriller all the way through. This story also hangs on some deliciously nerdy hinges: idioms, the way in which a native versus a non-native English speaker writes, and — be still my heart! — the perils of find/replace in MS Word. What I liked about this one is we get all the answers. It sounds lame but I love it when everything is tied up, there are no loose ends. If you’re someone who likes to guess whodunnit you might not be impressed because there is info withheld so I honestly think the chances of anyone working it out in advance are slim. I thought the ending wrapped up the story perfectly. I may not have been completely wowed but I was definitely entertained. 3 stars!

Whenever I finally thought I had it all figured out, the author threw another twist into the plot, until finally, as the intrigue seems to be falling into place, it knots itself up again. Knives, added an extra for Ms. Vivica A Fox and Cindy Busby stepping outside of her Hallmark comfort zone.) I got given this book for free when a friend of mine was having a clear out. The blurb sounded intriguing but there isn’t even a synopsis on Goodreads for some odd reason. The story having characters who love the piano, not overly gone on about in the book but when it was it was magical and inspiring Sophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling writer of psychological crime fiction, published in 27 countries. In 2013, her latest novel, The Carrier, won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards. Two of Sophie’s crime novels, The Point of Rescue and The Other Half Lives, have been adapted for television and appeared on ITV1 under the series title Case Sensitive in 2011 and 2012. In 2004, Sophie won first prize in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her suspense story The Octopus Nest, which is now published in her first collection of short stories, The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets.I find it baffling that females in TV movies look like feminine and attractive, while "females" in mainstream movies look like men. It's crazy. You look at these TV-Movie actresses, then look at mainstream actresses, and you gotta ask what the hell is going on? But it was a gripping thriller with morally grey characters all with well built personalities - I even laughed out loud a few times at some of them.