Author: Aimee Molloy

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Synopsis:  A group of women expecting babies in the month of May, join a support group called ‘The May Mothers’.  These mothers form a friendship with one another, to help each other through this new adventure in their lives.  They meet regularly, at the park, with their babies to discuss all the usual things that new mothers talk about often.  Only one day, every parent’s worst nightmare becomes a reality for one of the mothers of the group.  Something goes terribly wrong, and one of the babies goes missing, right from his own crib.  This abduction happens while the group of friends are out together at a bar enjoying a much-needed night out for themselves.  The group is shocked to say the least! Fingers are pointed, and police investigations are botched, well according to some of the mothers at anyway!

This story takes us through the emotional thoughts of each of the main May Mothers group members after the abduction of Mitas.  We learn about each of the mom’s lives in turn.  How they each have their own issues, anxieties, and how each chooses to deal with their friend’s ordeal.   Are they overstepping legal boundaries getting involved, or are these women in their right to protect a friend?

We also get glimpses into one of the mother’s thoughts.  Some chapters are written from this one mothers perspective, making this quite interesting!

My Review:  The book was good overall.  However, I did enjoy the second half much more than the first half.

It took me well over 100 pages to get hooked and even then, I can’t say that I really felt it was a page turner for me until closer to the end.  Approximately 2/3 of the way through is when I finally got to the point that most thrillers impart on me.   I feel that the first half of the book lacked anticipation, and buildup.  I really wanted to love this book, the concept and plot intrigued me, and I was expecting to be blown away by this one; because of all the hype, only to find that I was reading more about the lives of the other members of the group, rather than about the crime itself in the beginning. However, I realized towards the end that this was necessary.  You need to finish the book to understand why and how the events in the first half contribute to the overall plot and theme.  Once I made this connection, I enjoyed the book more.

Here is what I did like most about this book:

• As a mother I could relate with trying to juggle a career, husband, children, and still trying to maintain a sense of one’s true self. This book deals heavily with that theme.
• I liked the writing style for the most part, it was natural, it did not feel forced, but it felt and read more like a drama for the first half than a Psychological Thriller.
• I liked the different perspectives. Different chapters focused on different characters, and there were even a few chapters written in the first-person perspective, from one of the mothers.  It was during these perspectives in the beginning that I felt the tension one typically feels in a psychological thriller.
• I loved the ending, it was a surprise, a shocker, and totally not what I had expected!

My issues with the book are as follows:

• I made little connections to the main characters for a long time. Since the connections were not made early enough for me, it was difficult to become invested in their lives.  I found it hard to keep the characters straight in my head at first, I kept having to refer back to figure out who was who.  I think that this is because I did not connect with any of them right away.
• I was bored at times, especially when the story deviated from the main plot of the missing child. I felt there was a lot of ‘filler’ information. Information added that did not exactly fit with the main plot.  However, towards the end it did come together for me.  While this filler information can be perfectly acceptable in a drama or other genres, I feel that in a psychological thriller, it takes away from the main issue.  At least in this specific book it overshadowed the main theme at times.

Closing Thoughts: I hope this breakdown helps to explain why I did not love this book, although I did like it.  I think that YOU will LOVE this book IF:

• You are a new mother
• You like slower paced thrillers
• You like thrillers with more drama throughout

Overall, I give it 3 stars out of 5 as I did like the book in general, and the second half of the book was much more in line with the type of psychological thrillers that I love.   I would have given this book 3.5 star rating however, half star ratings are not supported on Goodreads, and so I opted to round down to 3 rather than rounding up to 4. The second half contained the anticipation, and the constant wondering of what will happen next!  It really was the first part that I had my issues with.  So, in summary, the book ended on a great note!