Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2018
336 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
An addictive psychological thriller about a group of women whose lives become unexpectedly connected when one of their newborns goes missing.
A night out. A few hours of fun. That's all it was meant to be.
They call themselves the May Mothers - a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn's Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time.
When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar, they want a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed.
Thirteen days. An unexpected twist. The Perfect Mother is a "true page turner." — B.A. Paris, author of Behind Closed Doors
"Starred Review. For lovers of cunning narrative suspense in the vein of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, this debut novel... Will keep readers turning the pages."- Library Journal
"Molloy, a master of clever misdirection, deftly explores the expectations, insecurities, and endless judgement that accompany motherhood in this fast-paced thriller featuring a bevy of strong, smart, and realistically flawed women who, refreshingly, have each other's backs when it counts the most. Mesmerizing." - Kirkus
"Readers who can't get enough of suburban suspense along the lines of Liane Moriarty B. A. Paris will want to give this a try." - Booklist
"[A] promising first novel... Her clever narrative structure heightens tension while spotlighting the solitary struggles of motherhood." - Publishers Weekly
"A riveting psychological thriller that takes a sharp, insightful look at motherhood, The Perfect Mother explores the pressures, the hopes, the fears, and the secrets between a group of friends who realize how little they know one another when a crisis strikes. A fast-paced, twisty, engrossing read - I loved it!" - Megan Miranda, author of All the Missing Girls
"For a charmed group of new moms, a girls' night out ends in one mother's worst nightmare. In twist after masterful twist, secrets and lies begin to unravel; The Perfect Mother is a tense and riveting page turner with an ending you won't see coming." - Liv Constantine, author of The Last Mrs. Parrish
"I raced through The Perfect Mother, desperate to find out what would happen. Both the writing and the characterization are excellent, and it was so easy to identify with these women and the pressure they are under. I absolutely loved it - a true page turner!" - B.A. Paris, author of The Breakdown and Behind Closed Doors
"A captivating and deeply insightful page-turner, The Perfect Mother is both a riveting mystery and a satisfyingly sharp social commentary about what it means to be a good mother." - Kimberly McCreight, author of Reconstructing Amelia and Where They Found Her
"The Perfect Mother is a gripping page turner that explores the pressures of modern motherhood, as well as a mother's absolute worst nightmare. At once wonderfully nuanced and compulsively readable, it keeps you guessing at every moment up until the very end. I could not be prouder to be bringing this thriller to the big screen." - Kerry Washington
This information about The Perfect Mother was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Aimee Molloy has collaborated on seven books, including Maziar Bahari's Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival and Pam Cope's Jantsen's Gift: A True Story of Grief, Rescue, and Grace. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two daughters.
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