I've had a terribly long run of vapid books in the past few weeks, which sucks because I have very little time to read these days. I literally only have time for my ARCs from 1 to 3 or 4 AM. Seriously.

Unfortunately, The Push failed to break my streak.
Hmmm...how to describe this book?

1. Full of horribly unlikeable characters - some are racist, some are sexist, some are ageist, some are homophobic, some believe parents shouldn't have the right to make decisions about their own children, and some suffer from classism and sizism. This book has it all, folks, and it's truly deplorable.

2. Every twist in this book will be easily intuited by the reader, despite the fact each borders on improbability.

3. I was actually thrilled when the victim was confirmed...this person was reprehensible and truly deserved to die.

I will say that I enjoyed the alternating points of view, which offer an alternate timeline.
Otherwise, this book was a hard pass.

Available November 12, 2020.

**Despite my less than enthusiastic review, I do appreciate having the opportunity to give my honest thoughts. Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for my review copy.

I just loved this book! The friends all met at ante-natal classes and all brought together for that shared reason; much like a lot of us, you get a very mixed group who might not otherwise have found each other... A body is found at the party they have to toast the babies arrivals, and we are taken on a journey to establish if it was murder or just an accident. Little clues are thrown in and we are led some twists too. I found this gripping and thrilling! It reminded me of the style of TM Logan in The Holiday.

Book Review: The Push by Claire McGowan
(Published by Amazon Publishing U.K., November 12, 2020)

3.75 Stars rounded up.

"...A multi-million pound house with blood spatter all over the rockery, and a dozen suspects screaming and complaining and having hysterics at various locations in the house and garden.

Not to mention the babies..."

The suburbs, Southeast London. Detective Sergeant Alison Hegarty and her partner DI Diana Mendes, a newbie from North London, investigate a death which happens during a barbeque garden party, the final meet of an antenatal group of parents showing off their newborns. Everyone's mum as the three wise simians: saw nothing, heard nothing.

Written in alternative first person and third person omniscient from the perspective of key protagonists, the novel begins ten weeks prior through the fatal fall over a garden-view balcony.

The author hides her plot secrets in plain sight rather well, not unlike what one may expect and relish in an Hercule Poirot classic. "Evil Under the Sun" comes to mind. Or perhaps "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". Not until the latter parts of the book is the identity of the deceased subtly revealed. And the final act is a sequence of twists neatly packaged with ribbons of surprises.

That being said, for a fan of British fiction and speed reader, it was frankly quite a chore to go through 400 pages of oft-repeated themes and minutiae, the hoi polloi shelf, much less enticing the nth time laid out. Yes, she married a jeune homme 14 years her junior. We got it! You'd think additional editing and perhaps a hundred pages lopped off the manuscript would do wonders.

Perhaps a hint could be taken from the grand Dame of mystery writing herself, whose books average 200 pages, seldom more.

Review based on an ARC from Amazon Publishing U.K. and NetGalley.

There are many strands to this story - concentrate or you’ll miss something! But all comes good in the end. This is a murder mystery (pool) party turned into a book and it really works rather well! It was interesting to read about how such disparate people came to be all at the same party!

This book turned out to be quite different to what I was expecting I wouldn’t really class it as a thriller but more of domestic fiction however it was an enjoyable read that kept me wanting to know if the outcome was what I was expecting. My main problem with the book was that I just didn’t like any of the characters I thought they felt very clichéd and I also guessed most of the twists quite early on which was a shame.
On the positive side this was a read that kept me entertained and although it wasn’t the best book I have read this year it was far from being the worst. So for me just a three star read and many thanks to to the author.
My thanks also to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book really adds a new take on family life, pregnancy, and just things in regular life that many of us deal with but don't talk about. I really loved how well the author, Claire McGowan captured just the feeling of being in certain situations and how the characters reacted to such a traumatic event. I also didn't mind the different POVs and getting to know the lives of all of these different characters. It's quite a skill to capture the readers' interest on such a high level.

A thank you to NetGalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly did not like this novel. I admit that I requested in the ARC based on the cover and the idea of another guilty pleasure creepy couple locked-room feel mystery. And, yes, the couples were creepy (and stereotypical, hollow, and shallow) but in a what I hope was over-the-top attempt to poke fun at prejudice that it proved 100% off-putting. I didn't care who died or why. Harsh, but true.

From the description, I got almost a little bit of a Big Little Liars vibe from it, but that was my interpretation. It wasn't though and to be honest, I was a little disappointed in the story itself. I've read Claire McGowan before and I have to say, I always enjoy her books, but this one missed the mark for me.

Thank you though to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

Six diverse couples living in a suburban area of London are looking forward to parenthood and sign up for a group for expectant parents. The couples don’t have much in common, but agree to a reunion at the home of one of the couples a few weeks after the group’s meetings have ended. The reunion has several awkward and tense moments and then tragedy strikes - someone at the barbecue has fallen to their death from an upstairs balcony. It appears to be an accident but one detective can tell the survivors from the party are hiding something and thinks she is looking at a case of murder.

This book has two main narrators. Jax Culville, one of the expectant mothers from the prenatal group, narrates much of the story. Jax is in her late thirties and is insecure about her relationship with her much younger boyfriend, as well as over past indiscretions. I don’t agree with everything Jax does, but I liked her from the beginning. The other main narrator is DS Alison Hegarty who is investigating the death at the party. I like Alison, too. She is determined to find out the truth even though questioning all the new moms is difficult for her since she has been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant. She has a new work partner as well that she isn’t sure about. I was slow to warm up to her partner, but by the end I really liked how well the two women worked together to get to the truth of the case. Mixed in throughout the book are chapters told from the point of view of the other women in the group. This allows us to get to know the other people in the story better. Many of these other people are very hard to like, but these chapters show the contrast between the lives of all the different women in the group.

“The Push” is one part procedural and one part domestic drama. This seems to be a standalone book, but I would love seeing Alison and Diana again handling a different investigation. The identity of the victim isn’t revealed at first creating some suspense, but I was able to figure it out fairly quickly and had an idea of why. Everyone had secrets, and I was able to figure most of those out as well. However, I was still surprised by some of the details that came out and especially one final twist regarding the death. I enjoyed this fast-paced book and found it entertaining even when I wasn’t shocked by the big reveals.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Thomas & Mercer. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

The Perfect Life....?
The perfect party has been arranged - six couples, six babies, a luxurious and yes, perfect, home. When a death occurs, secrets begin tumbling out. DS Alison Hegarty is on a mission to uncover a murderer. A well done psychological suspense. Credible characters and a solid plot. Enjoyable reading.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. I enjoyed this book. I thought the multiple POVs and the different ways everyone comes to parenthood were interesting. Some of the twists were predictable, but I read way too many thrillers/suspense books, so that is more on me than the author. Overall, this was a good quick read.

Several families attend a group to help prepare for the arrival of their babies. Not long after the births, a member of the group is dead and someone is responsible.

This story is mostly told by Jax and Alison, but all of the families have chapters from their points of view, both before and after the barbecue, where the death takes place.

The characters are all flawed but mostly likeable, although it can be hard to keep track of them all at first. There are bits that don't help, for example having two unconnected characters, one with a name that is the shortened version of the other's (e.g. a Ben and a Benjamin). I did wonder if this was deliberate but it doesn't seem to have been.

Overall, this was an engaging story and while I worked out some of what was going on quite early, there was enough to keep me interested. I will be looking at the author's other work.

Great read! Loved the premise, the babies and all & I really was unable to identify the villain. Keeps your interest, great writing.

I was excited for this thriller, but it ended up being sort of run-of-the-mill for me. Some of the "twists" or secrets were really evident from the onset. I felt like I've read similar books like this before; it didn't stand out as extraordinary. There were also some prejudices in the book that gave me pause.

A bit too slow and tedious to me. I also did not enjoy the constant virtue signaling throughout the book. I think it was all just too much unnecessary information for me to get really into it. Thank you for the copy though!

I probably should have been cautious of this as a new mum myself, but it was good and I wanted to read more. I usually dislike the flipping between characters set up, but thought it worked really well here and didn't confuse the story line. Didnt see the twists and turns coming but enjoyed disliking most of the characters whilst feeling sorry for poor Jax! Thanks for letting me read!

I enjoyed this psychological whodunnit type book centred around an ante natal class and I rattled through it. The story is told from multiple P'sOV. You can't really be sure whose body is in the rockery until a good way into the book...and even when you discover who you're still unsure of why! The parents are all different- age, culture, lifestyle - but what links them is they are all hiding a secret. Some of the characters are extremely likeable, and some are definitely not, but they all have a part to play in this well written story.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for an arc of this ebook.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC, which I received in exchange for my honest review. The Push, is a domestic thriller that explores a mysterious death in the complicated lens of motherhood. The novel begins with an antenatal group reunion/bbq which turns deadly. The question is, did the victim go over the balcony as the result of a tragic accident or were they pushed. Like many books in this genre, the author has chosen to tell the story using alternating timelines and points of view. The story features several characters and I must admit that it can be hard at times to keep everyone straight. Part of the problem is that some characters have very similar names and thus it is easy to conflate them.

The book is fast paced and I enjoyed that it was not only a who done it but also a why done it. I don't want to spoil the reveal but there are definitely plenty of twists and turns to keep readers hooked. While I figured out some of the mysteries about half way through, this did not detract from my enjoyment of the novel. In fact, for me I appreciated the underlying theme of motherhood more so than the mystery. The author makes some very astute observations about the way in which women are defined by their choices regarding motherhood. Every choice is explored in the book, the unwed teen, the career woman who fears she has waited too late, the woman who wants a baby to cement a relationship or her status in society and those who have decided to be childless by choice. All of these women and all of these choices are represented in this book and handled with great sensitivity. Women can sometimes judge one another so harshly and I appreciated the author's fearless depiction of those first few weeks of parenthood. Motherhood is messy and brutal and sometimes not as advertised, I found it refreshing to hear an authentic take on this topic.

Overall, I recommend that readers come for the crime thriller but stay for the enlightening commentary on motherhood. I'm glad I did.

The story revolves primarily around 6 diverse expectant couples whose babies are all due at similar times and who meet at a antenatal group, the leader of the sessions and 2 investigating police officers. After the birth of their babies they attend an event at "Monica's" house where one of the guests, not identified until well into the book thankfully plunges to their death from a balcony. The initial belief is that it was an accident however, Alison, one of the investigating officers believes the victim was pushed.

The story is told from different POV's both on the lead up to the death and post the death. Each of the characters had their own sub-story but It seemed a little incredulous that all the characters had problems hardly believable that this would be the case.

I struggled to like any of the characters with the exception of the investigating officers and unlike the author's other books this was a little predictable although I did not work out "who dunnit"

I have read other books by this author and really loved them but although this was a good read I was not quite as enamoured with either the characters or the storyline although on the whole it was worth a read.


XXXXXXXXX NOTE TO AUTHOR OR PUBLISHER. CARY GRANT IS REFERENCED AS BEING I N THE MOVIE REAR WINDOW BUT IT WAS JAMES STEWART. HOPEFULLY YOU CAN AMEND THIS IN THE BOOK BEFORE IT IS PUBLISHED XXXXXXXXX
Thanks to Netgalley UK and the publishers Thomas And Mercer for an advaced arc copy in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

A domestic thriller that kept me guessing! Six couples meet at a prenatal class, all very different. When they meet again after the babies are born, a tragedy occurs. Everyone seems to have a motive.