For me, this read more like a domestic drama than the psychological thriller it was marketed to be. The novel takes place in two time frames. In the recent past, we meet six couples who have gathered together at a local London community center for a pre-natal class led by Nina, a snarky, somewhat self-absorbed facilitator. Each couple is expecting a child, most by birth but one through adoption. I have to say that I didn’t really like any of these characters. They displayed a mix of racist, homophobic, classist, and sexist attitudes during the sessions that were hard to stomach and the main pairing, Jax, a 39-year old professional and her husband Aaron were particularly one-dimensional. The fact that the story was told from multiple points of view, (which seems increasingly common nowadays) meant I didn’t really feel close to anyone, but instead felt bounced around without serious depth given to any one person’s situation.

The second time frame is a few weeks after the babies are born. It’s a BBQ held at the mansion of one of the well-to-do mothers and it’s there where a murder occurs. Someone falls off the balcony but their identity is kept secret until halfway through the book, reminiscent of a Big Little Lies trope. There are no shortage of suspects in the vicinity and we then read forward to see who the guilty party is and why they committed the crime.

In my opinion, the pacing in this novel was erratic – slow in the first half, a bit rushed in the second as secret after secret unfolded, some telegraphed so early it was irritating and others terribly convoluted and unrealistic. The solution to the murder, rather than being a twist we could figure out, seemed to come out of nowhere. The novel initially seemed more of an Agatha Christie whodunit but toward the end became more of a police procedural as another POV character, the policewoman investigating the crime and who has issues of her own, entered the scene.

It’s always hard to pull off juggling upwards of 15 different characters – the couples, the group leader, the daughter of the wealthy woman, the police detectives – and make them more than stereotypes. In this case, I didn’t feel the author succeeded, which was a shame because I felt the bones of a good story were there. Perhaps some pruning was needed to shape the novel into a more cohesive whole. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t all that memorable.

My thanks to Net Galley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Good book in the psychological thriller genre. Kept me guessing until the end. I haven't read anything by this author before but I'll seek out some more.

This book was ok. Nothing too crazy and was hoping for more honestly. I still liked the story line and characters though throughout the book. It was a fast and easy read and definitely a mind free read. Thank you for this drama book advanced copy.

The Push by Claire McGowan is a thriller about six couples from a baby group. They have a party to celebrate most of them welcoming their babies, and someone falls (or is pushed) off of the balcony. It turns out that they all have something to hide, so figuring out the culprit (if there is one) is quite difficult. This story was drawn out quite a bit, and none of the characters are likable. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.

The premise of this book is that six couples and a group facilitator are coming together for a series of pre-natal classes. The members are not friends and, in fact, they did not know each other before the class started.

To the disgruntled reviewers that did not like the characters that displayed racism, sexism, ageism, and homophobia, what kind of people do you think would be found in any group made up from the general population?

The author was trying to incorporate a variety of personalities. Some were likable while others were not. All of the characters were hiding secrets making the situation more complex.

There was a death during a party where this group was celebrating the births of their infants. The police investigate and try to determine if the death was an accident or a murder. Who had a motive? Were the couples willing to cover up for each other? It is a twisty plot that will keep you guessing to the end.

Six couples are at a party to celebrate their newborns. When one of them falls to their death secrets start to come out. They all have things to hide and for one of them it’s murder. It’s a whodunit with a cast of unlikable characters. I read the book to the end but it was filled with a lot of nasty secrets, nasty personalities, nasty parents and nasty partners.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I love the premise and the set up; I especially love thrillers told from multiple perspectives. However, there were just SO MANY, I didn't have a grasp on who was whom until 2/3 of the way through, which detracted from the story for me. It also meant the characters weren't as flushed out as I wanted.

My main issue though was the not-great handling of the issue of PPD. Jax clearly was struggling with this before and after birth, and she had people in her life who knew something was wrong but no one did anything to help her. This just kept infuriating me, which again, detracted from the story.

These issues just ended up making this not a book for me. It wasn't a bad book nor a bad thriller; just not my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC, it is much appreciated.
Unfortunately, I could not finish this book. I tried. I really tried. I read over 35% and it just was like pulling teeth for me.
Who pushed the parent off an outdoor second floor high end extended porch? So many suspects,all new parents, so many secrets, and the DI investigating going thru her own IVF challenges......makes for a great mix, but it never moved forward for me. The characters just seemed not just unlikable, they weren't fleshed out to anything reasonable. I not only did not care about the characters, I didn't care enough to find out why or how about anything.
I was disappointed, as I know this author has a great reputation.
For me, I would not waste my time with this story. Our TBRs are crying, there are many more stories to be experienced. This one is not for me.

A great thriller. Couples having babies, held hostage by baby mothers, wanting a child so bad good judgement flies out the window. All these subjects are fair game in this thrill ride of a novel. Each couple comes with their own undercurrent of desire and resolve. Each intersecting story tugs at a different string of emotion. Each tale resolves in its own way.

I found this to be a fast, interesting read. I liked the way the author told the story with chapters from the past and the present. Six couples have been meeting in a baby group in anticipation of their newborns. A party is planned for the group to meet after the couples have their babies. Everyone included in the group has secrets. These secrets are slowly disclosed throughout the book as the characters narrate chapters giving accounts of what has happened in the past and up through the day of the party when one of the attendees is pushed off a patio. Then you have the chapters narrated by the detective investigating the incident who also wants to have a baby but is having trouble conceiving. I will be interested in reading more by this author in the future.

This was such a great who dunnit book. It was fast paced and easy to follow. The story kept me intrigued from start to finish with a great surprise.

Great book! Couldn’t wait to read it, and it didn’t disappoint! Grabbed my attention within the first two chapters, and then I didn’t want to put it down. Excellent character development - I think that every reader will find a character to whom they relate. I enjoy books where there is character development, and then also a surprise, and this book provided both! Looking forward to reading more from this author!

Read finished copy from Kindle Unlimited
Content Warning: Ageism, sexism, and racism.

The Push follows a group of people who were in a prep for baby class and the police detective who is investigating the potential murder of someone who was apart of the group. The point of view switches each chapter from person to person that is in the group but Jax does appear to be the main character as we get to see things the most from her. Each of them seems to have a slightly different perspective of what happened, and it also seems like they might be covering up for someone as not all the stories match up completely and it seems to nobody at all saw what happened which is weird considering how many people were at the party.

Overall I thought this book was okay. I did find myself expecting more from it, The Push has so many different characters that I never felt like I really got to know anyone and I kept finding myself getting a few of them mixed up. I did like some characters more than others and I found myself getting annoyed at times because just as we really started to get to know a character more it would switch to a different one and it would be back to square one. This book is packed full of so many different secrets that are between couples and just lack of communication that it was realistic in that sense. I could have done without all the ageism and sexism that the other characters were putting onto each other just to be annoyed with another member of the group. I sadly wasn't surprised by the racism that happened in this book but it was disappointing to see all the same.
I did like how this book briefly touched on depression and how it can even happen before the baby is born, I do wish it had been addressed more but it was still nice to see it mentioned at all.

This book just ended up not being one that I loved, but I do think others will that are having babies or have had babies and know more about all the feelings that come with that. I'm just not at that stage in my life.

While the pace seemed a little slow at times, the mystery here had plenty of unexpected twists and I never saw the conclusion coming. Overall I enjoyed reading the book.

CM has smashed it with this book. It's fantastic from beginning to end. The story slowly reveals itself and you get to know the characters, some of which you either love or hate. There is one particular part in the book that is really predictable but the rest of it is full of shocks and twists. I certainly wasn't expecting the final twist. The plot was consistent and it was impossible to put down. It was so sad in parts but that just adds some more drama to the story. .Every body should read books by this amazing, clever author, you won't regret it. I would highly recommend this awesome book, you won't regret it.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley, and for some reason, I let it sit on my to-read list for wayyyy too long. I love suspense novels, and McGowan gave me exactly what I want in a good mystery - lots of details that I could piece together to figure out the upcoming revelations just before the author revealed them. I don't know that it's a story that would be appealing to the readers in my high school library, but as a mother myself, I could see pieces of my own first pregnancy in each of the characters. Excellent read, and I'll be looking for more of this author's work.

Wow 🤩 what a cracking read that kept you guessing right to the very end ! The storyline was highly original and told from many different points of view with each character having their own storyline as well. This just made you want to keep on reading to find out the outcome! Really enjoyable read !

This was a brilliant read. Thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and the characters and was hooked right from the beginning. Have read others from Claire McGowan and this, as her latest, does not disappoint. This definitely is for anyone that loved 'Big Little Lies' and anything similar to that.

Highly recommended and well deserves the 5 stars.

Thank you Amazon Publishing and Netgalley.

This fabulous new novel by Claire McGowan is the first book of hers I have read, but it definitely won't be my last. A prenatal group meets once a week to discuss pregnancy, delivery and baby care. The group is comprised of couples in very different stages of their lives who are all hiding some secret. When one of them falls to her death at a party, their lives and secrets begin to unravel as the police investigate the fall. Was it an accident or murder?

My favorite aspect of this novel is the different narrations. The reader enjoys a first person narration from Jax which allows the reader to know what she is thinking and feeling throughout the story. The other characters' stories are told from the third person which promotes the mystery and intrigue of the novel and keeps the reader guessing until the end!!!

I was hoping to love this, sadly I didn't love it as much as anticipated. I like reading books that go between past and present time setting and reading from different POV but this one had too many characters to follow along for me. I did want to know how everything turned out by the end and I will say that unfolded in a grand way, I enjoyed the last quarter of the book better than the rest. I like the whole idea and suspense behind the story since I read until the end, but I don't like I didn't connect enough to any of the characters. Jax wasn't that much of a stand out character to me, or Aaron or really any of the characters I think because there were too many to focus on. It seemed like more than one book was being put together there is just so much to try to keep track of with who is who and who is doing what. Thank you Netgalley for the chance to rate and review. I hate to give such a disappointing review but I really struggled to make it through this one. I think there is so much potential as I seen towards the end the unraveling of all the secrets of the group but the initial introduction was overwhelming.