Originally published: 11 July 2019

Author: Aimee Molloy

Published by: Sphere

Genre: Thriller

Length: 317 pages

Reading dates: 9-12 July 2019

Set in the world of first time mothers in New York City, The Perfect Mother is a great psychological thriller.  Focusing on 4 of the mums, known as the May Mothers we have Francie who is determined to be the perfect mother; Nell who is hiding from a secret past; ghost writer Collette who just wants to be able to spend more time with her family; and Winnie who is a most secretive of the group.

When the mums decide to let off steam and have a night out together, most leave their babies with their partners.  Single mum Winnie is reluctant at first to go out but is persuaded by Nell, who suggests Winnie uses the services of Alma, her new childminder so that she can go out.

However, when Winnie arrives home at the end of the evening she finds her 6 week old baby Midas is missing, When the sitter fell asleep, someone got into her house and took the baby.

Everyone is of course devastated and when the police fail to come up with an leads, the May Mothers decide to try and find out what happened themselves, but soon damaging secrets come to light!

I really enjoyed the idea of using a group of first time mums in this story.  I remember clearly how those first few weeks were and the friends I met at post-natal group were the one’s who got me through that time!

The story catapults you into a world of New York mums.  We hear mostly from Francie, Nell and Collette as they deal with the devastation that the kidnapping of baby Midas has brought upon them but also the struggles they have as new mums, balancing work, partners and the other stresses that babies bring.

The conclusion took me completely by surprise and left me all sorts of conflicting emotions! Molloy is an expert at plot twists and misdirection and my lunch breaks were a bit longer than usual as I raced to finish this.  An exciting and engaging read, film rights have already been sold, with Kerry Washington set to star.

Many thanks to Millie at Little Brown for sending me a copy for review.

About the author:

AIMEE MOLLOY is the author of the New York Times bestseller However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph and the co-author of several non-fiction books, including Jantsen’s Gift, with Pam Cope. The Perfect Mother is her first novel.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aimeenmolloy
Website: http://aimeemolloy.com/