Wow! Excellent domestic thriller. Excellent translation that was hard to put down. Thrilling from the first page. When Helen comes home from work exhausted from her job as a nurse the last thing she expects is an intruder in her home. The events that take place that evening will haunt her for the rest of her life. But as Helen will come to realize things are not always the way they seem in this haunting thriller. I read a lot of suspense novels and I say this is the best one I have read in a long time. Highly recommend.

This definitely caught my attention at the beginning, but I had a hard time getting through the second half of the book. Overall I enjoyed it though!

This is a good book. And congratulations go to the translator also. This is one of those thrillers that are subtle and slow burning. It kept me a little tense throughout the story waiting for the next thing to happen. I believe this author did a good job with the writing and the character development. My only complaint would be with the title “Mother Dear”. And I guess that’s a big one. That comes from letters that the wife, Helen, writes to her dead mother. There are only a few and as far as I’m concerned, they could be left out of the book altogether. Apart from that, I would have no problem recommending this book,
Thanks to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review

Holy cow!! What a great book!! I was not expecting all of the twists. Little slow to pick up but I’m glad I did not set it down.

The beginning of this book caught my attention as my mind initially knew the characters made a huge mistake. I certainly wanted to continue reading as I wanted to see how this plot developed. The plot was a bit far-fetched.

Ralf and his buddy Brian plan to rob (Ralf would be the driver) a wealthy family's home. Ralf is an 18 y/o lost soul. His mother constantly nags him. He is out of work and quit school. Also, Ralf has a juvenile record. Brian is into drugs and dealing - also robbery, obviously. The robbery goes terribly wrong and two families are seriously affected. Ralf "inherits" Brian's $3000 Euro debt. Ralf is threatened. The thwarted robbery leaves Helen and her husband, Werner, with a very big problem...

Ralf eventually goes out with Brian's ex - Naomi and is invited to her rich friend (Sara) house. Sara's parents, of course, are Helen and Werner. They are the victim of the "robbery went bad" (and what happened to Brian.The rich and poor families are depicted in this fast-paced suspense/thriller. Both Sara's family and Ralf's family intertwine in interesting and unusual ways. Any more would be a spoiler!

A Great Read !

Many Thanks to Amazon Crossing and NetGalley for a wonderful read !

Excellent psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! Well-developed characters and plot. Highly recommend!

Chilling story about a husband and wife who murder an intruder. The husband insists their lives will be ruined of they call the police - the impact on their children, destruction of their business and careers. But why is the husband so insistent?
Told in the voice of the wife and close friend of the murdered intruder, this story is fast paced, great suspense. Enjoyable read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

I'm not sure what exactly i expected from the book, but it fell a little flat for me. I think i expected more "thriller" or "suspense." but i found myself bored at times.

The book touches upon on deceit and lies within the household.

Mother Dear left a lot on the table for me. I think I was expecting a little bit more because it was marketed as a thriller. I don’t know how I feel about the letter interspersed in the book. I felt a little forced. Especially because I feel like if they were left out, nothing in the narrative would change.

I was pleasantly surprised that each adult character was fleshed out as were the other perceptions of these characters through other eyes. The twist at the end was a little clunky but every bit as surprising as I thought it would be.

As for the translation, when we see Helen and Werner go to the English countryside of Sussex, a lot of their dialogue didn’t feel natural. It felt odd and superficial but I think that was the point at that specific point in the book.

It was also really long; it felt very drawn out. When I checked the details, it said it was 442 pages. I think it could have been done in about 350. Taking out the letters and the long drawn out scenes when Helen is thinking about someone else as a better match for her.

The one thing that I really appreciate is the nuance and complexity of such a young main character; I liked that he was an anti hero but there was too much emphasis about how he was so disliked by the police.

The ending was worth the 400 plus pages. I loved that the flaws of the characters were something that I could relate to. I think that the motivations were there and the drop was done very well.

4 stars

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2888095015

How far will one family go to protect each other?

Well....Helen kills someone. It's like if Funny Games was kinda boring bok.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

I was expecting more from this book....more thriller and sadly this book didn't quite hit it for me. Don't get me wrong, it was a perfectly fine read, I was just hoping for more. It's a fast quick read and may be a great beach/vacation read.

Just finished reading Mother Dear, wow what a good book! The author kept my interest till the end. Kind of sad to finish and hope I’ll be able to find another book as good as this one. I would give this 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Not what I expected, but a fun mystery with a domestic thriller twists. None of these people are remotely likable so the plot is more interesting than the characters, and we never find out if Ralf got a crack at Naomi’s boobs. That was the real mystery. 3.5