Kimberly McCreight's Like Mother, Like Daughter is a tense exploration of the long-term impact of trauma, family dynamics, and the abuse of power wrapped up in multiple mysteries that are slowly untangled as the novel progresses. Switching between Katrina's point of view, the titular mother, and that of Cleo her daughter, we glimpse the heartbreaking rift that occurs when there's a breakdown in communication between two people but especially between a mother and daughter. Katrina's traumatic childhood experiences make her determined to protect her daughter but because Cleo lacks the awareness of what her mother experienced, she interprets protection as criticism. All of this is compounded by the immaturity of Cleo's father. When Cleo arrives for dinner with her mother and finds burning food, blood, and one of Kat's shoes, she is determined to do whatever it takes to find her.

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a truly exceptional novel that delves into a number of important issues. From a broad perspective it looks at power dynamics and social psychological pressures, particularly as they affect women. Kat discovers that burying the past rather than dealing with it taints your future, Cleo starts to question her perception and memories of her parents, and both women realize that the most dangerous lies are the ones you tell yourself. The course of the novel is filled with twists and turns of intrigue as we try to find out what happened to Kat and work out the smaller mysteries embedded in the main plot. McCreight pulls off a big conclusion to two of the mysteries that was a rarity for me --I didn't see them coming.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys mystery, thriller and/or books with strong female characters.


Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced review copy of this novel.

A daughter comes over for dinner at her mom’s house only to find her mom isn’t there, only shattered glass and a bloody shoe. Where is her mom….

This story involves Cleo the daughter, and mom Katrina. They have a challenging relationship, Cleo is involved in selling drugs and gets involved with the wrong guys, and the mom has a not so perfect past and a not so perfect job. The book dives into the mom’s job, where she is a lawyer who also “fixes” problems in a not so legal way. Cleo needs to find out if the reason her mom is missing is because of her job or her past.

I liked this book, I thought it was very fast paced and had a good story. I was genuinely interested in what happened to the mom. There are many players in this story who could be the culprit: the money hungry ex husband, the drug dealing boyfriend, the noisy neighbor or the high powered business men. This had one trope I don’t like in a book- useless police officers. I think the police could have helped a lot more in this story, but the daughter just wanted to do it all herself, like she was a miniature detective and the police were idiots. I’m not a fan of that. That being said, I thought this was a fast paced thriller that shows the strength of the bond between a mother and daughter.

Thank you to Knopf for an advanced copy of this E-book in exchange for an honest review.

Suspenseful and intriguing! This intense book kept me on the edge of my seat from the very beginning until the very last word. I thoroughly enjoyed it - the best thriller I’ve read this year! The story is told between Cleo (daughter) and Katrina (mother’s) perspectives with court documents, newspaper articles and journal entries intermixed, but not told in sequential order as Kat’s perspective is in the past, and Cleo’s is in the present. This kept the novel moving and engrossing. Kat and Cleo are such deep, rich, well developed characters and their relationship is amazingly realistic. Also, I read the prologue with tears in my eyes. I reread it. I sent it to my kids. It was just contained so much truth of a mother-child bond. It was a perfect opening for this book.

So many interesting threads interwoven to perfection! I was gripped from the first page and the great pacing, along with all the twists and turns kept me hooked until the very end. I loved the New York setting too, how the side characters came into play, and the complicated mother-daughter relationship. Another winner from Kimberly McCreight.

Suspense / family drama told from the mother and daughter perspectives. Cleo, NYU student grappling with her love/hate relationship with her overbearing mother Kat, discovers her missing and starts investigating her mother’s life if far from what she pictured. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this eARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Cleo shows up to her mother Kat’s Park Slope home to find chaos, and blood, but no mother. Cleo is only a college student, but she takes matters into her own hands. Well, looking for her missing mother she uncovers secrets about her unhappy childhood and estrangement from Cleo‘s father. Can Cleo find her mother?

I thought most of the book was good, but I was really disappointed in the ending. I thought the reveal was black luster, and there were some points that were not tied up properly in the end.

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

Daughter Cleo is estranged from her mother Kat, when Kat goes missing. The story is told through the mother; -BEFORE she goes missing. And the daughter; -NOW after finding her mother missing at home along with blood and her mother’s bloody shoe. I loved this rollercoaster of a ride, plus there were so many layers of story to peel back. Every member in this family has messy drama they’re involved in. Cleo’s involved with questionable people, and her dad.. well I won’t even go there. Our main protagonist, Kat, is not only a lawyer but is secretly a “fixer” for the firm she works for: -and let me just say there’s nothing she won’t do for a client. But that isn’t the only secret she’s keeping. She grew up in an orphanage.. and that’s all I’ll say about that without giving away spoilers.. so good!! 4.5 stars — Pub. 7/30/24

This mother-daughter relationship is fraught with issues! Kat, the mother in this duo, invites her daughter, Cleo, over for a homemade dinner to clear the air. But when Cleo arrives, Kat is nowher to be found. Food is burning on the stove and in the oven, and a bloody show suggests foul play of some sort. Chapters alternate between their different perspectives, sometimes in flashback to each of their childhoods, and we learn that Kat's law firm job was a bit more convoluted than she lets on, that Cleo was a part-time drug courier, and that several millions dollars have mysteriously gone missing from Kat's bank account, and that Cleo's exceptionally bad choices in lovers threaten to bring things to a very unpleasant conclusion.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this e-arc.*

Like Mother Like Daughter is a slow burn thriller that had me hooked from the beginning. It explores the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters, and the way your past can sometimes haunt you. Told in multiple POV’s and alternating timelines, I enjoyed watching the secrets and mysteries unravel. Like many thriller readers, I was suspicious of everyone but only started figuring things out only towards the end. Loved the plot twist of epic proportions! This was an entertaining read and a binge worthy thriller. Be sure to check trigger warnings before reading this one.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I don't even know where to start!

This book had me hooked from start to finish! I'm normally not a huge fan of multiple POV but in this case, it worked SO well.

Honestly, Kimberly McCreight can do no wrong and this book was no exception.

It had drama, it had twists, it had turns, and it kept you guessing until the end! I figured out at least a couple twists but that didn't stop me from enjoying the ride!

Like Mother, Like Daughter alternates between the two points of view—Kat, the mother and Cleo, the daughter as they each narrate events leading up to and just after Kat’s disappearance.

Kat and Cleo used to be close, but their relationship is strained as Cleo, a sophomore at NYU, now finds her mother a bit suffocating. Her intense dislike for her last boyfriend didn’t help things either. Kat, has a history her daughter knows nothing about as a child raised for the most part in the foster care system. Her upbringing helps make her particularly good at her corporate job as a “fixer” for a prestigious law firm in New York City. Their relationship will be tested to the limits when Kat mysteriously disappears, and Cleo attempts to find out what happened to her mother.

The two perspectives bridge the gap to the moment everything went wrong and eventually reveal all the details that led to that fateful evening. This twisty tale is filled with a ton of red herrings that will keep readers guessing to the very end. Like Mother, Like Daughter is a fast paced and suspenseful ride that will force readers to ignore their bedtime to get to the last page.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and the author Kimberly McCreight for the advanced copy of the book. Like Mother, Like Daughter is out tomorrow! All opinions are my own.

This book was a little more difficult for me to read. It didn't really grab my attention and get me invested like I had hoped it would.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this book, but unfortunately, I had a few of them figured out. I did, however, enjoy all of the twists and the fact that the teenage daughter was doing the investigating. This is one of the few books where kids were the ones trying to figure out what was going on.

This book has multiple subplots going on throughout the book, which is maybe why I couldn't get invested. There was almost too much going on throughout the book, like maybe there were multiple stories being told. I think if there was less going on, or this story be made into multiple books (each book has it's own POV's) it would have been easier to get invested and follow along.

I did enjoy this book though, and the author has a great writing style (use of words), just not very memorable.

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a fast-paced suspenseful read. It centers around the tumultuous and currently fractured relationship between a mother (Kat) and her daughter (Cleo). Except for similarities in their appearance, they seem to be polar opposites in every way.

Cleo, a college student at NYU, begrudgingly agrees to meet her mother at home for dinner. But when she arrives, the house is in disarray - food is burning in the kitchen, things are tossed about, and her mother's bloody shoe is found by the sofa. But where is Kat and who could have done this? Her mom may be too interfering and judgmental about Cleo's life choices for Cleo's liking, but she is a well-respected attorney at a good law firm, and her parents' marriage is a good one. Or so she's been led to believe. Not content to leave things in the hands of the police and spurred by regret and a need to do something to help find her mother, Cleo begins looking into things herself. What she finds is that nothing she thought she knew is as it seems.

McCreight has written a well-plotted novel with rich characters, especially Kat and Cleo. The story is told in two POVs and timelines: Cleo's in current time, and Kat's in the days leading up to her disappearance. The relationship between mother and daughter is portrayed quite realistically. The only thing that didn't ring true to me is the amount of Cleo's involvement in the case. I willingly overlook that however in support of the enjoyable read overall.

I enjoyed reading this book which kept me engaged from start to finish. I rate it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

My thanks to Knopf for allowing me access to a DRC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given. Publication is 7/30/24.

Loved this book so much!!! I wish I could read it again and again for the first time. Usually I get a sense of who is responsible for the crime about 2/3 through a book but I had no idea until the page before this time. Going to the author's event later this week - can't wait to hear more about the process. Highly recommend!

It was fine but never once was I invested in the story. There are a lot of red herrings in here, lot of possibilities of what's going on. I don't feel like it fully wrapped up either, there are questions I still have.
Also, I really hate the plot line of "20 something daughter is pissed because she doesn't know every fact about her mom's life." And that in with the "mom is the worst, and I trust dad 100% even though he literally did the bare minimum my entire life, he got to be the fun parent while mom had to be the responsible one. Ugh she's the worst." It just makes Cleo a dumb cliche.
There are no good characters in this book. Not a single person worth supporting.

Meh. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. This was a suspense story, heavy on the suspense. The writing was great and I enjoyed the twists. I just could not get into the teen daughter investigating though. Step back and let the detective do her job! This was an interesting story but a tad overdone. Sometimes, less is more. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I was hooked from the start, and found myself frantically turning the pages trying to figure out what had happened, and how all of the pieces of the puzzle would come together. Highly recommend if you're looking for a smart thriller.

I think this was a 3/5 star read for me. There are two alternating POVs that helped maintain my interest although I will admit sometimes I found myself overwhelmed with everything that was occurring between these two characters. Not to mention there were other subplots happening simultaneously that one needed to keep track of as well. Unlike Friends Like These, I did find the pace to be much better. All in all, it didn’t reach the level of appreciation and admiration I had for the book A Good Marriage. The author writes well but has failed to really captivate me the way she did with A Good Marriage. It was an enjoyable read, but just not as memorable.
Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for a copy in return for my honest thoughts.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by a favorite, Kimberly McCreight. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Cleo has a difficult relationship with her mother, Kat, but is shocked to come home to find a scary scene and her mother missing. She starts looking into a few things on her own apart from the police investigation, and soon discovers that she didn't know her mom like she imagined.

There is a lot going on in this novel, and it requires some concentration to keep it all straight in your mind; at least it did for me. But it's well worth the effort, because McCreight has once again crafted a multi-layered thriller with so many themes about motherhood, and especially the mother/daughter relationship. I'm always happy when fictional relationships between parent and child aren't all sunshine and light, but show us real feelings. I would suggest going into reading this book as blind as possible and left my synopsis short on purpose. Told from mostly the POV of Kat and Cleo, I loved the way the author also used therapy and legal transcripts, news reports, etc., to add critical elements to the story. Another highly recommended book by this author!

Like Mother, Like Daughter is my first Kimberly McCreight novel and won’t be my last. It is fast-paced, told in dual POV, two timelines, multi-layered and emotional. There are transcripts from therapy sessions, emails, articles and journal passages breaking up the story. The love/hate relationship between mother and daughter was portrayed very well. The way the suspense and tension were executed captivated me, however the end was a bit anticlimactic. It’s still a good story and I enjoyed it. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

#NetGalley #likemotherlikedaughter #kimberlymccreight