The Push - What does this refer to. Is it linked to the theme of childbirth or is it indicative of what is to come? The book introduces several characters who take their turn in 'leading' the chapter. This is always a risky strategy in a book as it is important to ensure that individual characters have a strong enough voice. However, I think this worked well in this book. Personally I thought that the ending felt rushed in particular how the answer to the crime was discovered. Some questions from the book remain unanswered, although this perhaps reflects a reality of life but if there was a focus on fewer characters this may have been different.

Such a great book l absolutely devoured this in a reading binge could not put it down great characters all with back stories and yes l did guess most of the twists but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment one of the best books l have read this year

Claire McGowan is quickly becoming one of my go-to authors so I was really excited to read such an advanced copy of this book.....but it let me down a bit! It became a little predictable and unlike other psychological thrillers, it failed to keep me guessing right until the end, in fact I guessed the ending quite early on, there were too many obvious hints and clues and not enough red herrings or parts where I was kept guessing! It was difficult to engage with the judgemental characters and by the end I found myself not really caring about who had been 'pushed', I just wanted to finish reading. A 6/10 for the author and her writing style but sadly not one of her best.
Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for the ARE copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into romance stories and literary fiction however I wanted to take the opportunity to read something from outside my norm. And I am glad I did!! Thank you for  opening up my mind to something totally different.

A group of people meet at a baby group and have a party to celebrate the birth of their babies. What could possibly go wrong? Someone falls from a balcony and dies? We're they pushed? DS Alison Hegarty is called to the scene. The home owner claims the balcony has been recently cleaned and was slippery. DS Hegarty suspects murder. Each party goer have their own story making this a delightful read.

I'm a fan of Claire McGowan, but this was not one of my favorites. I figured out a couple of the surprises fairly early on, and really couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters.

What could be more innocent than an antenatal group meeting once a week to help new mothers understand the process of childbirth and caring for infants? But at a barbecue celebrating the birth of those babies a few weeks later, one of those women ends up dead. Was it an accident or was there a "push." Alison, the detective who must unravel the mystery is conflicted as she also is desperate to become pregnant. The story unfolds from present to past, the day of, and the weeks leading up to the incident. Of course each couple has their own secrets that must be unearthed to discover the truth. And while you may figure out part of the mystery, there are plenty of twists to enjoy!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited when I saw this book available because I've read 2 previous novels by Claire McGowan and they were both exceptional. While not many novels will top The Other Wife, this one sure comes close. I really enjoy her writing style of multiple characters pushing forward and going in reverse. It is never hard to keep up with and compels you to just keep turning the page needing to know more and more. She has gained a lifelong fan after reading 3 fantastic novels.

The blurb was interesting with six couples, a summer barbecue and then someone falls of the balcony and dies.
The only common thing between all these couples is they are "expecting". They all are strangers who happen to incidentally meet in a antenatal group therapy and become friends. Every character is different and have their own story. This event where the unfortunate death takes place is a party where they are supposed to be flaunting their squishy, tiny newborns.

Our investigating officer is Alison who suspects foul play and not accidental death. We still don't know who has died though, its just being talked about without any real names. Alison feels they are all making desperate attempts at hiding something under the nonchalant demeanour.

- I found the multiple POVs and timelines to be off- putting, they were just too many.
- Some parts could be obliterated and the story could have a short read.

It was a decent read but missed the surprise/thriller element. My purpose of picking up a thriller after reading the riveting blurb is to be surprised and when that doesn't happen I just cant be invested enough in the story.

3/5 stars

Thankyou NetGalley and Claire McGowan for n e ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and author Claire McGowan for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

I absolutely loved the cast of characters in this novel. The multiple viewpoints really provided an added extra to the story line and kept it moving. I found this really hard to put down once I picked it up and started reading. Definitely a good twist involved, and I really enjoyed it!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. This is my second book by this author and I've enjoyed both, possibly this one more. There were a lot of characters to keep track of but was fairly easy. A well done 'who dunnit' novel with each character having a reason and a backstory. I will say I read this while going through a reading slump so it took me longer to get through than it would have in normal circumstances, but overall, it's a good read!

This was an ok read. The cover is pretty cool and the premise sounded intriguing. It wasn’t particularly thrilling or suspended so I’m not quite sure what genre it would fall in to. I did guess fairly early on about the ‘surprise’ revealed at the end. Most of the characters were either pure stereotype or so over the top that you couldn’t believe them if you tried. There were a few too many For me to keep straight, although that could easily be a reflection on me as a reader. In the end this was just so so. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows six couples, all as different as chalk and anything that is not-chalk, as they come together for weekly antenatal classes and form some unusual friendship ties. We have the older Mums, the posh mums, the young broke Mum, the waste of space boyfriend, the disinterested Dad, the culture divides the lesbian couple and the couple who can’t have children … you know, every single type of character was covered. All that was missing was someone in a wheelchair, and we even managed to shoe horn that in at the end!
That said, it did make it interesting to have a huge variety of people to read about, especially when the story is told from differing POVs throughout. The addition of an investigator who is struggling with fertility seemed to over-egg the pudding for me a bit though.
This was an interesting and hard to put down read for me. I particularly liked the way the story moved around, and it wasn’t too hard to keep track of who was who. Equally, it was a genius move to hide who the victim was for so longer, keeping us on our toes, and unsure. However, that was probably the only real “reveal” as everything else was painfully obvious and make this less mystery and more general fiction.
The Stars
Despite the things that I felt were obviously wrong with this, I actually really enjoyed the book, and because I wanted to keep reading it I have to give it 4 stars. It did have me feeling invested, despite the fact I couldn’t like a single character (the babies, when they arrived were probably alright, to be fair).
An interesting concept, if a little hammy at times.

This was a great fast paced read from McGowan, she never seems to disappoint.

Told from the different views and backstories from most of the characters, that slowly unfolds and gives us a good twist.

Firstly, i'd like to say thankyou to Netgalley for allowing me an advanced reading copy of this book.

This is the first time i've read a book by Claire McGowen and i was pretty impressed. The storyline was good, and as much as i thought i knew what was going on there were lots of revelations that completely caught me unaware! I will give a small spoiler as a trigger warning- Baby loss- just because it is a theme within the book that came up suddenly and i'm fully aware that it could cause distress to some, as well as adoption in the book- which can be equally distressing.

It took me a while to really get into the book, possibly the first 150 pages, but that's mainly because there were lots of characters introduced in a very short space of time with only a small amount if description or backstory (although that did get built upon as you read on) which made it hard for me to remember who was who and how they were connected to the other characters.

Overall i did enjoy it, and the second half had me riveted and i couldn't put it down until i had finished. The twists are good and nothing that you'd expect and the character development is strong, by the end you really have feelings for certain individuals. I wouldn't widely recommend this in my bookshop to every customer because of the sensitive nature of some things but i would recommend it to the right customer!

Six couples attend weekly birthing classes for their pending babies. At the final meeting, someone meets an untimely demise and this is where our story kicks off. I think my favorite thing about this book was the diversity amongst the couples and the different takes on pregnancy. The only thing that stopped me from giving it five stars is that it needed to be fleshed out a little bit more instead of spotlighting one couple. I found the couple with the arranged marriage far more intriguing and would have loved knowing a bit more about them. Overall, it was a good book and though I had about 95% of the mystery figured out halfway through, I didn't see that final twist coming.

I really enjoyed The Push by Claire McGowan. An intriguing mystery with enough character intrigue and twists to keep me guessing right till the end. A refreshingly different thriller.

A tragic incident at a baby group party leads to an intriguing death investigation.
The only thing these couples have in common is that they have all joined the same antenatal group but they are all from very different backgrounds and everyone seemingly has a secret or something to hide.
This read gave an honest insight into being a new parent and did not paint the picture of perfection that the couples anticipated it to be.
I enjoyed the gradual unwinding of everyone's story, the author flicks between the couples while they are being investigated and we get a more thorough glimpse of what it is they are hiding and why.

This was ok. Not horrible but not especially gripping, unfortunately.

I liked the premise. It had potential to be a proper thriller but for me it fell a bit short.

There wasn’t a great deal of suspense as the main twists were glaringly obvious throughout. The characters were stereotypical and their portrayal was shallow.

It would have been far better if the hidden secrets were not as easy to find. The identity of the victim was hidden to begin with then revealed without fanfare which I found unnecessary and distracting.

The police officers again were not strongly characterised and did not come across as particularly competent.

Having said that I did read it all and I was interested in elements of the storylines.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for this review. As an aside, I know the copy was not yet corrected, but the overuse of the word probably as a fronted adverbial was jarring.

I needed a fantastic story after the last book I read bored me half to death! I’m pleased to say The Push is that incredible thriller that we’re all searching for!

Full of suspense and I had no idea what to expect! Claire McGowan has done it yet again!

It’s so good I recommend to everyone! If you’re the type of reader that only grabs one book a year then make it The Push!!