Member Reviews

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

When Cleo arrives home, late as usual, she finds her mother missing. They haven't gotten along for some time, but her mother specifically asked her to come over tonight, and even offered to fix dinner. So, where is she? But, on second look, there is an abandoned shoe, one she recognizes as her mother's, and a LOT of blood on the kitchen counter and on the floor. SO, WHERE IS SHE?

As the hours pass, the mystery deepens, and Cleo finds that she knows little to nothing about her mother - her job, her parent's marriage, her mother's past, not much of anything. As she slowly finds pieces of her mother's life, she realizes that her mother is not the monster she has thought she was, and her father is not the hero he pretends to be.

This book was alternately confusing, horrifying, a little "what the heck is going on?", and ultimately a good story. I had to make myself keep going at the beginning, but I am glad I stuck with it. It did go off in a lot of directions, and some of them were not relevant to the main story, but a good red herring just adds to the mystery, right?

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When Cleo’s mother Kat goes missing, she races to find out the truth of what happened. To do so, she has to explore both Kat’s past and current life.

There are a lot of stories within the story in this book and sometimes it felt like a lot of unpack. But this was a gripping, fast-paced book that really kept me guessing right to the last page.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available July 30, 2024.

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Overall, I think is a really solid thriller. I liked how the story flipped back and forth between Kat and Cleo's perspectives. I thought the reveal was handled well - I figured it out a little bit before the characters did and that's something I like in a thriller. McCreight set just enough clues for you to see the bigger picture. This was a fun thriller to read on vacation!

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I can’t stress enough how much patience is needed to get thru this book. Took a long time to get going but It ended up really good. Listened to it on audio- was not a fan of the narrator that voiced Cleo. Mostly reading, not much acting. The older voice was very good.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy. This was my first book by Kimberly McCreight. Like Mother, Like Daughter switched between the past and present and the perspective of Katrina and Cleo. Katrina is a lawyer who fixes problems for her clients. Cleo is Katrina’s daughter and a student at NYU. When Katrina goes missing, Cleo decides to look into her mother’s past and career to find her mother. I had a difficult time getting into the storyline. Once I got to around the 50% mark, I had an easier time. I did guess what the twist was as well. Overall it was an okay book that left me with a few questions at the end.

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Although I struggled to like any of the characters, it was a good thriller. There were so many assumptions made by all the characters that drove them to make multiple mistakes and engage in ridiculous behavior. The mystery itself was intriguing enough to keep me reading. I’m normally not a fan of alternating POVs, but it didn’t detract from the story. The ending was a little out there and more anti-climatic than expected given all the tension to get there.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and Kimberly McCreight for the eARC.

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Cleo, an NYU student, treats her dad like he’s her favorite pal while her mother, Katrina, has always been there for her throughout the years. And yet, Cleo feels like she’s never been good enough for her critical mother. Like many teenagers, she didn’t really see how valuable her mother was until something happened to her.

Cleo was supposed to have dinner with her but found blood on one of her mother’s shoes left behind and glass broken in the kitchen. Now Cleo had to put the pieces together and find her. Katrina, was a lawyer and while Cleo was searching for her, she came across various hidden secrets. While there was a detective on the case, Cleo was determined to find her mother without much concern for her safety. This kept me turning the pages.

There were dual POVs between Cleo and Katrina which worked well. The different layers of the plot made it compelling to find out more. It was full of twists and a sense that the clock was ticking. Cleo needed to be careful as she kept digging for clues. And yet, things just coincidentally occurred like someone showing up at the right time. I stayed up late to find out how everything would turn out.

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McCreight knows how to pace a story. I liked the dual timelines - one half of the story told from Kat's perspective, leading up to the day she disappears, and the other half from Cleo's perspective, starting from the disappearance and moving forward in time. But this isn't just a mystery about what happened to Kat; it's also the story of a mother/daughter relationship, how misunderstandings and lack of communication can lead to problems and assumptions.

"When Cleo, a student at NYU, arrives late for dinner at her childhood home in Brooklyn, she finds food burning in the oven and no sign of her mother, Kat. Then Cleo discovers her mom’s bloody shoe under the sofa. Something terrible has happened.

But what? The polar opposite of Cleo, whose “out of control” emotions and “unsafe” behavior have created a seemingly unbridgeable rift between mother and daughter, Kat is the essence of Park Slope perfection: a happily married, successful corporate lawyer. Or so Cleo thinks.

Kat has been lying. She’s not just a lawyer; she’s her firm’s fixer. She’s damn good at it, too. Growing up in a dangerous group home taught her how to think fast, stay calm under pressure, and recognize a real threat when she sees one. And in the days leading up her disappearance, Kat has become aware of multiple threats: demands for money from her unfaithful soon-to-be ex-husband; evidence that Cleo has slipped back into a relationship that’s far riskier than she understands; and menacing anonymous messages from her past—all of which she’s kept hidden from Cleo . . ."

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

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‘Like Mother, Like Daughter’, is my first novel by author Kimberly McCreight. This mystery story takes place in Brooklyn and Manhattan NY, where mom Katrina goes missing and daughter Cleo utilizes many of the skills she has learned from her mother over the years to find her mother’s assailant. The characters are well developed and relatable. I will definitely add Kimberly McCreight to my To Be Read author list.

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Like Mother, Like Daughter
by Kimberly McCreight
Pub Date: Jul 30 2024

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a family drama, mystery told in two POV’s alternating between mother and daughter. It also has diary entries, therapist notes, litigation paperwork, and then some texts from unidentified people which does make it a bit confusing at times. In theory, the story was intriguing, with great writing on the author's part. This is my first book I've read by this author and I did find it enjoyable.

Synopsis: Like Mother, Like Daughter is a thrilling novel of emotional suspense that questions the damaging fictions we cling to and the hard truths we avoid. Above all, it’s a love story between a mother and a daughter, each determined to save the other before it’s too late.

Many thanks to #LikeMotherLikeDaughter #NetGalley & #Knopf for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

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📒 Crime thriller
📒 Multiple POV
📒 Family drama
📒 Dual timeline (pre- and post-disappearance)

I was immediately pulled in to this twisty crime thriller that uncovers so many bad things from so many people. But what happened to Kat? And who is behind it all?

Cleo finds herself delving into the clues surrounding her mom’s disappearance. Throughout her search, so much comes to the surface. There are so many references to family dynamics, what we would do for the ones we love, cheating spouses, shady boyfriends, and a past coming back to haunt you.

There are sooooo many red herrings. I felt like I kept trying to guess the ending, but there were so many suspects! Plus in addition to the dual timeline and multiple side stories, the book also includes new articles, old journal entries, and transcripts from therapy sessions. There’s so much to unpack, and it gave great pacing to the book and kept me invested.

Thank you Knopf and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Title: Like Mother, Like Daughter
By: Kimberly McCreight

Genre:
Adult Fiction, Mystery, Emotional Suspense (per the author)

Red Flags:
Infidelity, Sexual Assault, Complicated Family Relationships

Summary:
Katherine McHugh, aka Kat, is a well organized lawyer for a prestigious firm. However, her personal life is a mess. Kat and her husband are having marital problems, her estranged daughter Cleo, who is a college student at NYU, is mixed up with the wrong group of friends, and Kat is uncertain how to handle the daily pressures of life. She reaches out to her distanced daughter and requests they meet for dinner. Cleo agrees to have dinner with her mom, however, when she arrives at her childhood home, the door is unlocked, dinner is burning, and her mom’s shoe is lying on the ground covered in blood. Where is her mom? What has happened to her? Is Kat alive?

Review:
Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight is a suspenseful, yet emotional read which will pull you in from the get go! Told from alternating points of view, and the novel delves into the complicated complexities of a real mother daughter relationship. As Cloe goes on the manhunt for her mom, she recognizes their similarities, and they are more alike than she expected. I felt some of the characters were unnecessary, and confusing as to their place in the plotline. As this is my first read by this author, I found it critical as the reader to pay attention to the chapters timeline. The book opens in the present day with Kat’s disappearance, and Cloe’s chapter are counting down the time her mom, Kat, has been missing. While Kat’s chapters begin eight days before in the past. This can create confusion and difficulty, as it did in the beginning for me, if the reader isn't’ careful. I did enjoy the additional characters which created difficulty for the reader to predict the ending. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy Ruth Ware or Frieda McFadden.

Thank you Kimberly McCreight ,Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, Anchor Publishing, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

#likemotherlikedaughter
#Kimberlymccreight
#knopfpantheonvintageanchorpublishing
#reluctantreaderreads
#advancedreadercopies
#netgalleyreviews #netgalley

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This was a fun thriller. It was a bit all over the place and heavy on the exposition. But the mystery itself was woven together in a way that was very intriguing and hooked me from the beginning. There were a ton of different threads so it was hard to figure out where it was going, which I appreciated. The dual timelines worked together effectively, and the mother-daughter relationship at the heart of the story was realistically complicated. And while the ending was absolutely bonkers, I had a nice time reading it. Definitely would make a good summer beach read!

Thank you to Knopf and Netgalley for this ARC. Like Mother, Like Daughter is out today!

3.5/5

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Steady paced and filled with suspense.

This is the first Kimberly McCreight book I’ve read but it won’t be the last. An intriguing story about a broken family, a mother’s complicated relationship with her daughter, and the traumatic past she left behind. I enjoyed the dual narrative/timeline between Kat and Cleo which created a lot of suspense, while the therapy transcripts/diary entries cleverly revealed details from Cleo and Kat’s past. I always prefer a non-linear structure when reading suspense/thriller because it feels like more of a puzzle to solve. And this book has a lot of clues and clever reveals which layer the suspense nicely throughout. Kat and Cleo’s characters were also very relatable, and I was rooting for both of them, desperate for them to be reunited in the end.

As much as I enjoyed the reveals, the pace was a little too slow for me. There were so many red herrings it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat but I wanted bigger twists at the end. Kat’s past was dark but not as shocking as i would have liked.

3/5⭐️⭐️⭐️
For readers who enjoy stories about family, complex relationships, corporate thriller vibes, and steady reveals.

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Cleo is a student at NYU and returns home to visit her mother, with whom she is estranged. Cleo and Katrina have a complicated relationship, but Cleo does love and miss being able to talk to her mom. When Cleo returns home, she finds food burning in the oven, blood on the floor, but no sign of her mom. From there, the story is told through multiple timelines and points-of-view and includes other media such as notes from therapy sessions, casenotes from a lawsuit, and an old journal. This causes the story to start off slowly as the reader is introduced to various characters and subplots. 

Not all the characters are likable, but a couple in particular are really vial and their actions are hard to take. However, I liked how the plot started coming together at the end of the and how intense things got. In addition to the mystery/theory element of the story, there is a strong theme of a mother's love for her child and how especially complicated mother/daughter relationships can be. I was surprised when the truth comes out about Katrina's disappearance and the motive since there were several suspects. Overall, I was entertained by the book. I like that the epilogue summarizes what happened to most of the characters. I think there was one important thing left unanswered, but it was a good wrap-up for the most part. Fans of the author will enjoy this Mystery/Domestic thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the advance copy of this ebook. My review is voluntary and unbiased.

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McCreight's forte is in-depth exploration of family relationships, and she excels again in her newest novel. Suspenseful but also thought-provoking and deeply moving.

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Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for access to this earc in exchange for an honest review. This was a great domestic thriller that kept my attention the whole way through.

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Like Mother, Like Daighter by Kimberly McCreight will keep you on your toes and turning pages quickly. We meet Katrina (Kat) and her daughter Cleo. They do not have the best relationship currently and as the story unfolds we will find out why. Cleo was going to have dinner with her Mom at her Moms house. When she arrives things appear odd. Then she finds a bloodied shoe that belongs to her Mom and then it’s off from there. This is not just a thriller but has family drama intertwined. This book kept me engaged and I thought the character development was well done. I read this in 2 sittings. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

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Like Mother, Like Daughter is another successful psychological family thriller from Kimberly McCreight. In the novel, Katrina McHugh disappears from her home under circumstances that suggest foul play. Her daughter Cleo, an NYU student with a rocky relationship with her mom, discovers her disappearance and decides to begin looking for her alone.

The story progresses through the use of two timelines and two narrators. Kat narrates the chapters dealing with events that took place a short-time before her disappearance, whereas Cleo narrates the chapters dealing with her mother’s disappearance forward. Each chapter brings new facts that cause you to reevaluate your own conclusions about what happened, and reveals that this is a family filled with secrets and lies.

The plot is complicated with many sources of conflict, besides the mother/daughter relationship, which could have played a role in Kat’s disappearance. Kat is no ordinary lawyer. She is a “fixer” involved in the investigation of a pharmaceutical company client accused of failing to disclose that its drug causes birth defects. Her soon to be ex-husband is strapped for cash and is a class-A liar and manipulator. There also appears to be someone from Kat’s troubled past who is blackmailing her. Untangling these threads leads to a fast-paced and propulsive narrative, with numerous twists and turns — especially toward the ending. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of an ARC of this novel.

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This was really good - the premise was sort of tried and true, but the execution is where this truly shined. Shone? Sorry I'm not the author! This was GREAT.

I really liked the way this started, the mystery that was built around it and the pacing was one in which you just couldn't stop.

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