Thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This tells the story of 6 couples that all attended the same prenatal baby group. A few weeks after the last baby was born, one of the attendees hosted a gathering at their home for everyone to reconnect. Someone died at the party. Was it an accident and did they fall off the balcony or were they pushed? Everyone at the party says they saw "nothing".

Alison, who is suffering through her own issues with fertility, is the detective called in to investigate.

Told in alternating points of view, the story unfolds between a few weeks prior to the "event", the day of and afterward. Some of the couples get along with others do not. I did not particularly care for the characters (with the exception of Alison) - they all seemed to be full of themselves and none of them felt terrible about lying to the police about what they saw that day. There are addiction issues with some of the couples and one couple has a significant age difference between them.

The police procedural part was well done, but I had figured it out well before we got to the end but I wanted to finish the book.

This was an interesting concept of six different couples meeting at an anti natal group with nothing in common apart from the fact they are all expecting or gaining a baby, hopefully. After the arrivals, Monica throws a party which leads to one of the group falling off a balcony. DS Alison Hegarty is called in to investigate and she believes there is a lot that is being hidden as she interviews each of the couples.
I enjoyed the book as it had drama, suspense, intrigue and secrets and I couldn't work out until the end who had actually died! It was written in such a good way that it kept me reading!

Good mystery - kept me guessing - mine pick was wrong - I love a good twist!
Well written page turner.

Well worth the read.

Six couples join an ante-natal class, all with very different backgrounds. The story moves backwards and forwards in time between the day of a dramatic death, back to the ante-natal group and then in the aftermath of the event. The story moves along a a good pace, but the actual event and the stories of the characters are not quite enough to truly grip, and the ending is a bit anti-climactic. Well written, and quite absorbing, but did not live up to my early expectations.

The Push by Clare McGowan is going to be one of those books you either love or hate. There is no gray area.
This book did a lot of things right, it kept you guessing, it raised doubts on all the characters and oftentimes kept you switching alliances.
The author did a fantastic job tying up all of the loose ends. All of the characters secrets were revealed at the climax... well done.
My only complaint about this story is that it was very dense in themes. The story in it of itself felt negative. All of the characters with their secrets just lived in a giant cloud of doom. There was a lot of topics and situations in one story... it was a lot to take in.
That being said, the author did not skimp on the details. Once the story got going, this reader got hooked.

Highly recommend.

The Push by Claire McGowan assembles a dissimilar group of expecting parents together in a prenatal class. The instructor is anything but nurturing. It seems each of the couples are struggling with secrets of their own. The story's alternating timelines build suspense as the reader first tries to decide which character has died. Was it fate or foul play? Secrets surface and tensions build. Although I didn't particularly have an abundance of empathy for the characters, the plot still carried me along to a satisfying end. If you enjoy a story with a bit of a modern day Clue vibe, The Push will deliver.

Great police procedural told from the point of view of multiple characters. Murder mixed with pregnant hormonal women make an interesting mix. The author uses the differences in the couples lifestyles to highlight there incompatibilities as a group. There is drama throughout as each person is keeping secrets that is peeled back as you turn the pages.

This was my type of book - kept me reading to find out how it played out. Several books now use this way of telling the story - current/flashbacks/different POVs, but this had a few new characters too. My pet peeve is repeating what a character is thinking - give the reader credit to pick it up the first time - we get it, an older woman and a younger man sigh. But it moved along pretty quickly. One thing that I didn't like was the choice of the first person narrator. It really threw me each time it switched. Just seemed that it should have been Alison, but maybe that's because I love detective books.

I will recommend this book to my friends and book club. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This was a solid thriller, though overall it went on a bit too longer before the reveal(s), in my opinion. I enjoyed the premise of the story and got caught up in the various character’s lives. I was able to guess some of the twists but not all. 3.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Six couples join a prenatal group they saw advertised somewhere. Becoming parents in the next few weeks is the only thing they have in common. They differ in age, race, and economic status. One couple is not even pregnant; they are adopting a baby from America and really don't seem to know much about the whole process. There are some real personality clashes in the group that lead to some unpleasantness. The wealthy one decides to have an after birth barbecue more to show off her house than her baby. Someone falls from a balcony and dies. No one admits to seeing anything but DS Alison Hegarty's gut tells her it was not an accident. The story is told in alternating viewpoints which was an effective way of presenting the timeline and developing the characters. Some of the characters are complex but most are shallow and not very likable. I like the technique of not telling us up front who died but I had guessed most of the ending in advance, so there really wasn't much mystery. The book read more like a melodrama or reality show. It was okay but not one of my favorites. I do want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read it. I doubt I would have chosen it otherwise.

A who-done-it mystery that kicks into high gear right away with a dead character (who's identity is secret at this moment) at a post-birth party for all the parents from their community baby group. Throughout the book we meet the six couples who form this group under the tuteledge of their doula instructor Nina. While narrated mostly from Jax's point of view, we sporatically meet and learn about the other characters. However, I felt this was done in sloppy fashion and was one of the first times in years I had to write down names as the jumping around became very cumbersome. Each character was fairly flawed and unlikeable, so while the mystery was good, it wasn't a particularly enjoyable read.

This was a first rate thriller that I couldn't put down. Six couples find themselves in a prenatal class run by a woman with very specific views on child rearing. The couples seem to have nothing in common, except as it turns out, everyone has a secret. Throughout the book, I was wondering whether and to what degree each secret played into the death and coverup. This book was well-written, great tempo and few if any loose threads when it was all said and done.
This was a wonderful read and I thank NetGalley and Amazon publishing for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The push is a multiple narrator psychological thriller mystery centered around a murder (or was it) that takes place at a party for new mothers who met at a prenatal support group. It reminded me a lot of the show Working Moms except that is a comedy set in Canada and this is not a comedy (see previous statement) set in England. But the vibes, the mom-group, etc. reminded me a lot of the show (in a good way). I'm always looking for good thrillers that aren't just about men murdering women or jilted lovers, etc., so this also checks that box for me.

I almost very nearly gave this read 5 stars but because I had guessed a lot of the twisty 'surprises' and felt the ending was a bit too neatly wrapped up, I opted for 4.
Don't let that dissuade you from picking up what is essentially a VERY good read though.
I was pulled into the characters' lives instantly, felt emotionally connected and invested in what happened to every single one of them and wanted to know exactly what did happen on that balcony that leaves someone dead on the rockery below...
The book centres around a group of couples, from very diverse backgrounds and living in very different circumstances, brought together at an ante-natal class led by the attractive but slightly odd Nina da Souza. There is a couple who barely know one another, a couple who seem wealthy and privileged, a couple with a huge age difference between them, a couple who have arranged an adoption in America and don't even have a baby yet, experiences of IVF and one of home insemination and a teenage pregnancy.
I was fascinated by how every couple's relationship had serious flaws and secrets threatening to tear them apart. This makes the book entertaining, intriguing and compelling to read. I did not want to put the book down.
As I indicated earlier I sort of guessed where things were heading but even so there is sufficient mis-direction to have made me doubt myself.
Told mainly from either Jax Culville's viewpoint, one of the expectant mums or Alison, the investigating officer who also has fertility firmly at the forefront of her mind, we start the book with the incident and then travel backwards and forwards towards the fateful barbecue and some startling revelations.
The fears, desperation, worries, physical limitations and depression are features of conception, pregnancy, birth and new motherhood that so many people will identify with which also makes this an emotionally charged and convincing read. It does also leave the reader ultimately with a sense of hope though so it isn't depressing in any way.
I would definitely recommend the book to others and I think it is well worth buying or downloading.

Good storyline. Characters were relatable. Easy to follow. I would read more by this author. Overall, this book definitely worth a read.

A summer Bbq get together for an antenatal group ends in tragedy when someone falls from a balcony onto the rockery. Is it a terrible accident or did someone push them. If it was murder then whatever could be the motive.
Initially I found this book hard going. I can safely say if I had walked into this group of peoples antenatal class I would have turned straight around and out the door. None of the characters were particularly likeable.
However, I stuck with the book. I’m so glad I did. The story was very cleverly written focusing on different timelines. Half way through the book you find out who the person is who has died. The clues then gradually come together to form a great story. So many secrets and Lies. By the end I also started to quite like Jax.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc.

This book was just ok. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. The characters are largely forgettable and the storyline isn’t very intense. This is the kind of book you could read on a plane or in a waiting room to help pass the time and you wouldn’t really feel sad if you left the book on the plane or in the waiting room because you just aren’t that invested.

Not my favourite book by this author but I still found it enjoyable.

I liked how all of he characters were tied together through an anti natal class I found this quite new and refreshing however I didn’t find many of the twists and turns unique or anything new. Easy to read and a decent read overall.

Woah. This mystery novel reminds me so much of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. It was twisty, turny, and very vague, only letting certain details run through a collander before finally reaching the brain of the reader. I was kept guessing during the entire thing. I loved it!

This book is written in such a tedious style, with too many time frames, too many characters, all with their own sub plots, that are just not relevant to the main story. It is all just too much to try and keep track of. We know from the beginning that someone falls from a balcony, during a barbecue, that is supposed to be celebrate the birth of the babies belonging to parents of an antenatal group. As the story goes back and forth, we find out more of each couple, and their individual troubles, much of which having nothing to do with the incident at the barbecue. The police officer investigating what appears to be an accident, is quite suspicious because of all of the inconsistencies in stories and the behaviors of the barbecue attendees, as well as her instinct. I think in a better format, with less characters and random plots this book could have worked really well, unfortunately this isn't what we are given.