This is my first Claire McGowan book and not what I was expecting. A great thriller I enjoyed. My only regret is leaving it on my TBR list for way too long!!!

Brilliant thriller what a thrilling fast paced edge of your seat read it kept guessing right until the end this is definitely worth a read

thanks to netgalley & amazon publishing uk for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Push has a solid, if run of the mill, central psychological thriller set up. It features six different couples from the same prenatal group and the detective who is investigating a death that happens at one of the group gatherings. A theme throughout is pregnancy, motherhood, and partnership. There were moments where I felt like the writing inched towards something interesting, but the overall structure really fell flat. There were way too many POVs and timeline switches which meant the book overall felt muddled. There were several instances where the author was clearly obscuring information that otherwise naturally would be revealed (especially given the POV) in the interest of having an abundances of secrets and twists. There also was pretty much no character to connect with or like, which while it's fun to think about couples & mothers being flawed, it loses some degree of veracity when literally no one is liked.

The premise of this book is very intriguing
It’s a classic whodunnit mystery
There is a fascinating cast of characters. You are drip fed the facts slowly but it does keep your interest.
A compelling immersive book

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Infertility, pregnancy & motherhood all wrapped up in a thrilling read. You won't be disappointed in this book, from page 1 to the end. Highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys any of these topics.

The Push centres around an antenatal group of six expectant couples. After the babies are born, a barbecue is hosted at one of the couple's houses which results in one of the women falling to her death from the balcony.

As there are six couples there are a lot of characters to get to know and I did find it slow to start whilst the story built up. Each couple has their own secrets, with the main crux of the novel focusing on Jax who is a lot older than her partner Aaron and his search for his birth mother who gave him up when he was two years old. All the stories weave together and you start to put together what really happened.

For me, the pace wasn't great and I able to guess the twists a bit too easily. I wasn't a massive fan of any of the characters either which didn't help my enjoyment of the novel.

Great for those new to thrillers but maybe I've just read too many in my time! I have to include a trigger warning for baby loss and postnatal depression.

It starts with a woman dead on the rockery in a new mother's house hosting a party for the other couples in her pre-natal group. The question is: did she fall or was she pushed. The police officer in charge of the investigation is sure everyone is lying. All the couples say she must have fallen. But the reader is then given an insight into every couple's life and even the life of the police officer. Everyone's life is more complicated than they made it appear. A good whodunnit.

It was a decent read but missed the surprise/thriller element. My purpose of picking up a thriller after reading the blurb is to be surprised and when that doesn't happen it's disappointing. There were a lot of issues with this story, including racism and sexism. Not my favorite read by her.

On the plus side, I couldn't put this story down as I wanted to see what would happen.

On the less than positive side, I found the constant skipping around chronologically confusing and I figured out the twist just past the midway point.

I love twisty, suspenseful books, and I recommend this one to those who enjoy this genre! Thanks for my galley!

Kept me guessing until the end. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

The Push is a fast-paced, chilling psychological thriller by the bestselling author Claire McGowan.

The novel is set in the lush surroundings of a baby group gathering at a luxurious house, and McGowan quickly unravels a tapestry of secrets and conflicting emotions. In the center of it all is Detective Alison Hegarty, whose personal struggles with infertility create a tension throughout the investigation.

The plot moves forward quickly and McGowan keeps the suspense and intensity high by adding multiple characters to the mix, each with their own backstory. We’re brought along for a journey of uncovering what links the guests together and it leads to a jaw-dropping climax that takes all of their hidden truths and puts them together in a thrilling, unexpected way.

McGowan is a master of psychological thriller and she manages to draw the reader in from the start, leaving them with the nagging feeling that there’s something deeper at play here. The Push is a thrilling read with enough suspense to keep you turning the pages. Highly recommended.

DS Allison Hegarty is called to investigate a horrific scene at a gathering for a baby group. Ds Hegarty, who has been struggling with infertility, begins to suspect there was no accident and that some of the parents are involved. Ed and Monica have a newborn and a teenager who is not allowed to leave the house. Hazel and Cathy have finally conceived via sperm donor--or so Hazel thinks. Anita and Jeremy have planned to adopt a baby from America, but the child has not arrived. Kelly, who has a violent and abusive partner, has lost her baby but still came to the party. Pregnant Jax has been feeling strange lately, as though someone is trying to harm her. Which one has committed murder?

This one was just okay. The whole obsession with pregnancy and babies is not my favorite thing. The murder plot itself was fairly interesting, though.

3.5 stars.
This was a easy to read thriller that I sped through quickly. I kinda had the couple of plot twists figured out early on, and the end was a little pat, but still good. I would read more from this author.

An amazing debut! I could not put this down once I started it!!
This was an absolute page-turner, a gripping psychological drama! However, it was kind of dark take on motherhood. The main character was the narrator, and the readers are really in her head which was a little scary. She was incredibly frustrated, desperate, her fears, her longing for her daughter. The writing is pretty simple and the chapters are very short, but they pack a big punch in establishing the story and developing the characters too. This book definitely may not be for everyone because of the delicate subject involving motherhood, but I really enjoyed it and l look forward to her next book!! Definitely a fabulous read!!!

What did McGowan (and Amazon) think by publishing this book? Freedom of speech?
Besides the most terrible cover this book is filled with racism, sexism and find yourself some other isms, they are probably there...

The Push is the story of a group of strangers who originally all meet at an antenatal group held at a local community centre in London as they all prepare for imminent parenthood. The book opens and the post birth barbecue where a tragic incident, or quite possibly worse—murder, has occurred. The party was at Ed and Monica’s five-bedroom, ultra-modern, multi-million-pound home in the South London suburbs, the crew and their new babies come together for a catch-up, but before they know it Detective Alison Hegarty and her partner DI Diana Mendes have been called to the property when a ”fall” from a high, glass-sided balcony is reported. There's a body in the rockery directly below the balcony and strangely no one appears to have seen or heard anything out of the ordinary beforehand. Bizarrely, Alison is sure they are all lying, but what about and why, she can’t quite figure out. There are several suspects with a variety of possible motives and definitely enough opportunity so can Alison prove someone committed the crime or was it just an accident?
Fabulous read, with the story being told through several voices moving between the present and the past , all linking back to the rather strange antenatal group that suddenly appeared.

This was a really enjoyable read - I’m now going to look for more books by Claire McGowan because her style is just what I like. Enough intrigue to make it interesting, a diverse group of characters who aren’t always what they seem and a satisfying denouement. I did manage to guess some of the plot lines (no spoilers!). It took a while before we discovered who the victim was, then it was all about why. Definitely recommend!

This feel short for me, there was no shocking twists and turns and it felt very one note the whole book. The reviews were confusing because I did not find it fast paced at all

I will start with this…the alternating point of views is probably one of my favorite ways to read a book. And The Push is written this way. With as many characters as there was, you could be suspicious of every one of them. I went back and forth not really knowing who. But isn’t that the thrill of it? Of course it is. It wouldn’t be a really fun read if you knew who it was in the beginning. I really enjoyed this book. There wasn’t a lot that put it over the top but definitely one you should read.