Really enjoyed this book, the characters are brilliantly written and the story really exciting and interesting. I particularly liked the character jax, the happy ending was maybe a little too perfect but would definitely recommend

First of all, huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher @amazonpublishing and the author @evawoodsakaclairemcgowan for an e-copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Published on 12th November, this is one to read if you, like me, enjoy a psychological thriller with lots of characters to keep you guessing. "The Push" centres around a rather random cast of characters who meet an an antenatal class led by the mysterious Nina Da Souza. I originally thought there were far too many characters but on reflection, and certainly when I hit around 40%, it became clear why there were so many characters and how they could impact on the story.

From the blurb, we are told "One party. Thirteen people. By 3.02pm one of them will be dead." A post-birth party held by the contemptible Monica is the scene of devastation as one attendee falls from the pristine balcony. Or was the character actually pushed?

The story is well-written with real insight into each of the characters and their disparate lives. Having only read "How to Be Happy" by Claire McGowan's literary alter-ego of women's fiction Eva Woods, I enjoyed this psychological thriller and have already downloaded another onto my Kindle.

My thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishers for a copy of “ The Push” for an honest review.

Another excellent book from Claire Mc Gowan .This grabbed me from the start ,and even though I had guessed elements of the plot, I still found it a really good read. I sometimes struggle with a book having so many different characters , but these were written so well that it was easy to become involved with them all .
A decent psychological thrillers that I will be recommending.

This is the first book by Claire McGowan that I’ve read. I’ve seen a lot of great reviews for it and I think that I’m in the minority. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it. It was well written but I felt it a bit slow to start. There were no surprises in it. All the plot twists were well signposted from early on but so much so I felt perhaps they were supposed to be. I didn’t hate it by any means and I would read more by this author.

It was a lovely day for a garden party. The sun was shining, the barbecue was hot, the drinks were cold, and all the guests were there. And then one of the guests fell off the balcony and landed on the rocks below.

Or were they pushed?

The party was for a group of new mothers. They had met in a supportive prenatal class run by Nina. In the group were Aisha and Rahul, who were married for only a few months before she got pregnant. Cathy and Hazel had been planning to have a baby together, Cathy carrying the baby thanks to the help of a donor. Anita and Jeremy are adopting a baby from America. Jax is a professional woman pregnant by her younger boyfriend. Kelly is the youngest, with her partner Ryan usually missing the meetings and making trouble the one time he does show up. And Monica and Ed, the wealthiest of the group, seem to be having an easier time with pregnancy.

It was Monica’s idea to have everyone over to their impressive house a few weeks after all the babies are born. She’d handed out the invitations the last night of class. She had no way of knowing what would happen. She hadn’t known then that two of those couples would lose out on their dreams. She hadn’t known then that each couple had secrets. She hadn’t known then that one of those people at the party would go over her balcony.

It’s up to Detective Sergeant Alison Hegarty to figure out what happened on that balcony. Everyone’s telling a different story of who was where during the barbecue, and that, along with Alison’s finely honed instincts, tells her that her gut is right—this was no accident. It was murder.

Claire McGowan’s new novel, The Push, is a fascinating study of secrets and how they can eat away at relationships. The bestselling author of What You Did and The Other Wife knows how to write a compelling story, and The Push keeps pulling you in deeper, trying to figure out the secrets and lies that are keeping this group together and pulling them apart.

I liked The Push, but I had been hoping to love it. I thought some of the secrets were telegraphed to the reader a little earlier than they could have been, so my attention waxed and waned. But I did keep coming back to it to find out what happened and what everyone else was trying to hide. It’s a good, solid read. Thriller fans will find some enjoyment in The Push. I was just hoping for a little more intrigue than I found.

Egalleys for The Push were provided by Amazon Publishing UK, through NetGalley, with many thanks.

The Push was a very slow paced book, definitely not a thriller, about a group of people that have met in a prenatal class. Loved the concept. Each character has their own secrets but none are very likable, except for Chloe, whose secret is easy to determine. The book seems to mimic Big Little Lies, but unsuccessfully in my opinion. The ending was fairly predictable. My thanks to Claire McGowan, Thomas & Mercer,and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read this book.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. If you have fertility issues this may not be the book for you. The characters in this book are drawn together by pregnancy and death. You find out about their wishes for babies while also trying to figure out which one of them is the murderer, or was it an accident? I figured it out, correctly, a little sooner than I would have liked, but overall a good page turner.

The plot for this story was good and well written. However I did not like any of the characters and did not fully engage with the story. They were horrible people and I just wanted to be rid of them.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this book despite me taking a little while to get all of the characters straight in my head. Some of the twists and turns were obvious but some that I thought were going somewhere did not. Recommended but not for new or expectant parents!

Enjoyed the drama while reading The Push. Trying to figure out who had died and who had committed the crime. Enjoyed the characters and the journey

One of the best stories I’ve read in a while! Claire knows how to write a timely and gripping psychological thriller. Highly recommended

The Push by Claire McGowan is an exciting mystery thriller set in London. It centers around a group of expectant parents (6 sets is parents) who are attending the same antenatal class. The group has a reunion party a couple of weeks after most of the babies are born. During the party, one of the guests fell from a high glass-sided balcony and dies. The story is told from a variety of points of view and travels between the very recent past (just a few weeks) to the present (the day of the party and the resulting investigation). The story centers around one of the expectant parents, Jax, and the one of the officers investigating the death, Alison.
I really enjoyed this story. I loved that I was able to get the differing points of view from the party goers as well as the officer investigating the death. It really helped to see the many different sides of the party and resulting investigation and helped to understand the motivations of each person.
If you like McGowan’s other books, you will definitely enjoy this book as well!

Wow! The Push by Claire McGowan was much better than I thought it would be, given the mixed reviews I had read. It reminded me a bit of Big Little Lies. It starts with a murder. The reader is left in the dark about the victim and murderer. The resemblance however ends there. Many of the unlikable characters are racist, sexist, ageist, classist, and homophobic. These unacceptable traits lead each to their downfall. This book proves that money and education have nothing to do with strong, moral character.
The plot picked up at the halfway mark, twisting and turning to the final jaw-dropping conclusion. Although some of the story was predictable, I still raced to the end, waiting to find out how this whodunnit would end. This book was slow to start, but definitely worth reading. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved The Push!! If you like books like Big Little Lies or Truly Madly Guilty, you should definitely put this book on your to-read list. The book starts with a murder, of course, at a party. Almost every person at the party has a secret and a reason to want that person dead - but who finally acted on it? It is up to Allison to find out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

This definitely needs your full and uninterrupted concentration for the first quarter of the book if you've got any hope of getting into it!

The list of character names feels never ending but once you've managed to wrap your head around them you'll have been drawn in.

This is a really compelling "who dunnit" which left me guessing right up until the reveal. I guessed completely wrong but that just added to all the intrigue of the book.

Personally I didn't like or connect with any of the characters which was a massive disappointment, I need a connection to really get into a story.

An entertaining enjoyable psychological thriller/domestic drama.

3*

Thanks to netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the ARC.

3.5 rounded up to 4. I was so excited to read this one, but ultimately it didn't live up to my expectations, I haven't read other books by this author, so I'm not sure how her other books compare. I don't regret reading this one, it was somewhat enjoyable,but it wasn't one of my favorites. If you are a Claire McGowan fan, or have Kindle Unlimited give this one a shot!

This was great read and I liked all the characters. I guessed a couple of the plot twists but this did not detract from the enjoyment of the story.
DS Alison Hegarty is called to investigate a death at a luxury home. A baby group have come together now all the babies have been born and someone falls from the balcony. It seems like everyone present has something to hide. It’s great as all the individuals stories slowly unfold.
Thanks to Amazon publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#ThePush #NetGalley

This is one of those books where it feels like many, many chapters are just repeating the same thing over and over with nothing actually happening. I felt like it took forever for the plot to advance but when we finally got answers I was satisfied. It was just a little too slow for the most part.

The Push contains everything a reader wants in a mystery/thriller: a story told from multiple points of view, a quirky cast of characters, and a (maybe?) murder. The Push is a story of six couples who are attending a childbirth and child rearing class in the UK. All six couples come from incredibly different walks of life but are brought together by one common thing: they are getting ready to care for a baby. The Push contains present day updates from the investigator on the case as well as flashbacks from the rest of the characters. This book is full of unexpected twists and turns and I honestly could not put it down! McGowan does an amazing job of brining a diverse group of people together-- learning about the lives of the different characters was one of my favorite parts! This book is perfect for fans of The Guest List and One by One.

The Push by Claire McGowan
Amazon Publishing Uk
Publication : 12 November 2020

No Spoilers

4.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this suspenseful domestic mystery from the first page. Told from multiple points of view in the lead up to, and after, a tragic incident, I found myself having to read “just one more page” rather than getting on with some work. Plenty of twists and red herrings, it built the tension to an appropriate and satisfying ending.
I’d like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for this advance digital copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.