‘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.

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.

📒 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.*