To say Kat and Cleo's relationship is complicated would be an understatement. After all, what mother-daughter relationship isn't? Kat has always strived to provide Cleo with the best life possible, going above and beyond to fulfill her dreams. However, Cleo sees her mother's efforts as overbearing and suffocating. As a college student, Cleo has often found herself in trouble, most recently with a trust fund brat turned drug dealer who involved her in his illicit activities and became physically abusive. Their relationship ended in an explosive confrontation, and Cleo suspects that Kat might have had something to do with it. Now, though, Kat is determined to rebuild their broken relationship.

When Cleo arrives late for dinner at her parents' home, she is met with a disturbing scene. The meal Kat was preparing is left forgotten in the oven, overcooking—something her perfectionist mother would never allow. Cleo finds no trace of her mother while searching her childhood home. The closet upstairs holds only her mother's clothes, with no sign of her father's belongings. Cleo's unease turns to alarm when she discovers Kat's bloody shoe under the sofa. Something terrible has happened. Kat, the embodiment of perfection—a happily married corporate lawyer with an idyllic life—has disappeared, and Cleo realizes that things are far from what they seem.

"A problem that starts with people usually has to end that way, too. And your mom is good with people. Very good. Just like you."

In Like Mother, Like Daughter, Kimberly McCreight crafts a mystery novel that delves into the intricacies of a parent-child relationship. Parents often aim to provide the best for their children but sometimes overlook that their child has their own unique desires and dreams. There's a fine line between wanting the best for a child and imposing one's own idea of what's best. McCreight explores this gray area, balancing the desire for a better future with the need to atone for a parent's past mistakes, adding a depth that elevates the story beyond a typical summer thriller.

As the novel progresses, McCreight expertly reveals small pieces of information, gradually uncovering the truth behind Kat's disappearance. I was impressed with how she unraveled the story, alternating between Cleo and Kat's perspectives. Kat's sections unfold in the days leading up to her disappearance, while Cleo's occur in the aftermath. These dual timelines converge in a conclusion that, while not the most shocking, brings both the mystery and the mother-daughter relationship to a satisfying resolution. Like Mother, Like Daughter is a gripping summer read that captivates with its intriguing mystery while offering a poignant exploration of a mother-daughter bond.

3.5 really...I went in to this w mediocre expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the story but honestly did get a little confused at times with the character hopping. It also was a bit predictable, but not to the point that I didn't finish it. I have never read McCCreight and, although I wouldn't be likely to seek out her other stuff, if I came across a title I would give it a read. It was light and quick and had enough twist to be entertaining.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc. This one definitely kept me guessing and there was a lot to figure out. I did figure out a twist. I liked the plot. The character development was amazing in this one. There were some things I thought I knew, but it turns out I didn't. Overall a decent novel.

Cleo is an NYU student and goes home to Brooklyn to have dinner with her somewhat estranged mother Kat. But Kat is missing, and all signs point to an abduction or murder. But with no body, the police investigate it as a missing persons' case. Could it be the lying husband who was having an affair and needs money, or the shady law firm Kat works for or Cleo's ex-boyfriend drug dealer or someone from Kat's foster care past? With so many leads to track down, Cleo tries to find out what happened to her mom and keep herself safe from the same fate.

I expected this to be more of a mystery but found it to be a faster paced thriller. The whole time I was reminded of the book that put McCreight on the map many years ago, Reconstructing Amelia, which I loved. It is clear that McCreight has still got it- I loved all the red herrings and possible paths that Cleo went down. It was clear and not muddled and just a tightly written book that I really enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

This was a very fast-paced and engaging thriller about a mother and daughter and the daughter’s journey to find her mother, literally and figuratively. I did enjoy the dual timelines of Cleo and Kat as they look back before and then lead up to Kat’s disappearance.

It was a solid book, but not one of my favorites.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book. This is the fourth book I've read by McCreight. I find her books to be engaging, fast-paced and entertaining. This was a good thriller with lots of twists and turns. It had a lot going on, which I sometimes find to be a turn-off, but in this case I enjoyed it because it introduced multiple suspects.

The book is told in dual POVs between mother and daughter with occassional journal entries, therapy session notes, and court transcripts. I found most of the characters to be realistic and felt the love/hate relationship between mother and daughter was a good portrayal of the difficulties of motherhood.

Anytime I'm surprised by the ending of a thriller I deem it a good read and this certainly did that!

This was really well done! I kept guessing parts, figuring out others as it went along. It was a tight story, lots of background. Great characters. Perfect summer mystery!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

This book was fast-paced and fairly short, which made for a very quick read. I liked the alternate timelines of Cleo and Kat. I didn’t care about a lot of the side characters so I just wasn’t fully invested in the story. Overall this book is fine but not something I’ll remember when I’ve moved on to the next one.

Would not go out of my way to recommend but also wouldn’t not recommend.

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a part mystery, part family drama. Cleo is a college student who doesn't have the best relationship with her mom. She arrives home to find her mom is missing. She then works to find out where her mom is while also dealing with her own drama. A very fast paced read with lots of twist and turns.

Katrina "Kat" McHugh lives in a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. She is separated from her husband Aidan and has a strained relationship with her daughter Cleo, who attends New York University. Kat is an attorney, and her daughter has been angry and frustrated by her mother's strictness. What she doesn't know is that Kat is actually her law firm's fixer, who skillfully makes problems go away for their wealthy clients. Cleo is also unaware of Kat's troubled childhood. When she arrives to have dinner with her mother at their home, Cleo discovers that Kat is missing, along with a bloody shoe and signs of a struggle. Determined to find out what happened to her mother, Cleo starts her own investigation, which leads to several suspects - including her father. And Cleo realizes she has put herself in danger. 

Kimberly McCreight, the author of Like Mother, Like Daughter, has written a tense, entertaining thriller. The story unfolds from the alternating perspectives of Kat, before her disappearance and Cleo, as she searches for her mother. Also interspersed are notes from Cleo's therapy sessions and Kat's childhood journal, which Cleo finds and reads. As she delves deeper, Cleo realizes that the woman she is learning about is vastly different from the mother she thought she knew. This fast-paced novel with effective red herrings and twists, satisfied. After reading it, you'll want to call your mother. 

4.25 stars.

Concept was good, execution was bad.

For the first 50% of the book, you don’t have a clue what’s going on or any potential suspects - you just know the mom is missing. There are too many things happening to even begin to guess: the mom’s current boyfriend dies; something with a drug company; husband had an affair; daughter has a drug dealer boyfriend; random neighbor and daughter…and I’m sure I’m missing something.

Then, there are random chapters of information from texts and news articles that are incredibly unhelpful without any context. It’s told from 2 non linear POVs - mom and daughter - which would be interesting, but it ends up getting too confusing when you add in the texts, therapy transcripts, news articles, etc.

The last 15% finally speeds up, but is relatively anti-climatic.

It felt a lot like telling and not showing. I wanted to know how it ended but it let me down. Also, the daughter just basically solving the case on her own and never contacting the cop that seemed like the one good person in the book (shockingly) was very annoying. Also, absolutely no wrap up for the annoying drug dealer boyfriend.

All in all, way too much going on, but also nothing happened?

I got an ARC of this book and got through it really quickly on a flight but other than that it wasn’t that memorable for me. This story started out and took hold of you with a lot of excitement and then between the two POV’s and multiple little sub plots going on it felt like a lot of information to keep straight and had me losing focus (and care) about the story at all. The start was the last bit of excitement for me.

Overall, I think I would like to try this author again but I don’t think I would recommend picking this one up!

This book was just okay for me. What I did like about it was the pacing and the mixed media elements (things like therapy notes, court documents, etc. were mixed into the story). The book definitely kept my attention and I read it in a day.

That said, the characters were almost all awful/unlikeable, though that doesn't really bother me, especially when reading a thriller. My bigger issue is that I don't like when books have red herrings solely for the purpose of being a red herring. Maybe that's unfair of me, but I want a red herring to have a reasonable purpose for being in the story aside from just to misdirect the reader. I want it to make sense in the context of the story. Most thrillers will have red herrings thrown in to mislead the reader, but I don't think I've ever read a book where there was so much time and energy given to plotlines that ultimately didn't matter in the end and were just sort of left unfinished. It left me asking myself what the point was of all the subplots, and they kind of felt like a waste of my time.

I don't think it's a bad book, and I still thought it was okay, but I didn't love it, would never reread it, and won't find myself recommending it to others. However, I do think there will be others out there that absolutely love it - it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

🔪⚠️⚖️
Book Review
4🌟🌟🌟🌟
📚35/100
📖Like Mother, Like Daughter
⚠️Genre:
Fiction/Thriller
✍️Author:
Kimberly McCreight
✨✨✨✨✨

📝Synopsis 📝
Kat is supposed to have dinner with her daughter in hopes of making things right. Cleo shows up, but her mom is missing and obviously something is very wrong. Cleo takes it upon herself to uncover what happened to her mother and find her.

💭My Thoughts 💭
This was such a great thriller that had me turning those pages as fast as I could. And just when you expect to assume the whodunnit, there’s another twist. It was my first book written by this author, and I loved the complex mother daughter plot to it, all the detailed POVs and side characters, and transcripts. I really think this would have been perfection if there were a few details left out (plot holes) and if the epilogue wasn’t so rushed. This book was an amazing read that kept me trying to figure out whodunnit till the very end, and it had me thinking if we truly know our own parents💭

✨Thank you @netgalley , @pantheonbooks , and Knopf
for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

📌Publication Date:
July 30, 2024
✨✨✨✨
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This book was fast paced though, which I did enjoy. Overall, it was a lot of fun, but it had a lot going on. I did enjoy this story very much but felt that a lot was crammed into the story and feel that some of the ideas could have been trimmed out. There were several sub-plots added in that made it harder to keep up with the storyline.

Cleo arrives home to find food burning, broken glass on the floor and her mom, Kat missing. After further looks she notices a blood puddle on the floor and one of her mom's blood soaked shoes. As Cleo digs in to find out what happened to her "perfect" lawyer mom, she starts to uncover a lot of secrets her mom has been hiding. More than one of these secrets are dangerous enough to be the reason Kat is missing, but where should she start looking first?

Pretty much every character was terrible. The mom was not bad, but her chapters were tough to read because of how repetitive they were. Cleo came around, but she was also very repetitive about her mom being over protective and it made her seem so bratty. That said, I appreciate how she was able to work to find out what happened to her mom and become more of a doer like her mom when she needed to.

I liked this book, but there were too many plots going on and the ending felt so far fetched. The parts about Cleo's teenage sexual history seemed so unnecessary to the plot. That said, I liked the mixed mediums of the book, with the doctor notes, case files, alternating POVs, which helped the pacing of the book. I was able to finish this in one sitting.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️: 3/5

Cleo, a college student at NYU, arrives at her mother Kat’s house in Brooklyn for dinner to find her mother missing and evidence of a struggle. As Cleo begins to investigate what happened to her, she finds that Kat was hiding things about her past and her present from Cleo, things that may have led to her disappearance.

I’m a fan of Kimberly McCreight. A Good Marriage was my favorite by her, but I liked her previous books as well. This one kind of missed the mark for me though. The mystery/thriller aspect of this one was pretty well done, with twists and turns and red herrings, so that was pretty good, but really it was the characters that let me down. Cleo was a caricature of a teenage idiot, who thinks she knows better than the adults, and thus makes stupid and ill-conceived choices that made everything harder, and who alienated her mother due to her selfishness. Katrina was also a little insufferable, since she was strangely fixated on certain things being true when it’s clear there’s alternatives. I also am not the target audience for “motherhood is the best thing I did” books, because I am happily and intentionally childless, and intend to stay that way, so it comes off a little preachy to my ears. That is 100% a me problem with this book though, and while my review/rating reflects my own feelings, I don’t think it should sway you from checking this one out if it sounds more up your alley.

Thank you to @netgalley and @aaknopf for this free eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Katrina and Cleo have had a strained relationship for years. At the request of her mother, Cleo agrees to come home for a dinner and to talk but what she finds terrifies her. Her mother is no where to be found and in her place one shoe and blood remains. Where is Katrina?

I truly enjoyed Like Mother Like Daughter. Not only did we get dual POV, we also got information in different forms for each situation. The thing that struck me most was the undeniable fact that no matter how close we are to someone, there is always part of those people we don't know I was hooked from the beginning, the opening was strong and captivating. The character development was so cool because we were able to look into the characters thoughts and emotions beyond the current developments throughout the arc. I found myself invested in both mother and daughter even if they were at odds.

If you like a who, what, and why type of thriller this is the pick. I was guessing until the very end.

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight is a riveting psychological thriller that explores the intricacies of a fraught mother-daughter relationship set against a backdrop of mystery and suspense. The novel begins with Cleo, an NYU student, reluctantly agreeing to have dinner with her mother, Kat, at their Brooklyn home. Upon arrival, Cleo is immediately unsettled by the sight of a bloody shoe under the couch and the absence of her mother. The chilling discovery sets off a harrowing investigation led by Cleo herself, driven by a mix of fear and determination.

As Cleo delves into her mother’s disappearance, she uncovers layers of secrets that Kat had meticulously hidden. Flashbacks to the days leading up to Kat’s vanishing provide a deeper understanding of her complex life, revealing a woman entangled in a web of lies, hidden relationships, and potential enemies. These revelations challenge Cleo’s perception of her mother and compel her to question how well she truly knew her.

The narrative is masterfully structured, alternating between Cleo’s present-day investigation and past events that slowly unravel the mystery. McCreight’s writing keeps the tension taut, with each chapter peeling back another layer of Kat’s enigmatic life. The psychological depth of the characters adds richness to the plot, making their motivations and actions deeply compelling.

One of the novel’s strengths is its exploration of the mother-daughter dynamic. Cleo’s relationship with Kat is marked by tension and unresolved issues, which are poignantly highlighted throughout her search for the truth. This emotional core makes the thriller not just a quest for answers, but a journey of self-discovery and reconciliation for Cleo.

The climax of the novel is both shocking and satisfying, delivering a twist that redefines everything Cleo has uncovered. The resolution ties up the intricate plot threads, leaving readers both surprised and contemplative about the nature of familial bonds and the secrets that can lie within them.

Overall, Like Mother, Like Daughter is a captivating read that combines psychological insight with gripping suspense. McCreight has crafted a novel that not only keeps you on the edge of your seat but also resonates on an emotional level, making it a standout in the genre. It's a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers who appreciate a well-woven mystery with deeply human characters.

This was an interesting read. The mother and daughter dynamic was very well written. Kat seemed like a helicopter mom and she bugged me a lot, but in the end I could clearly see why she was so worried about Cleo. And Cleo is the typical rebellious daughter, trying to escape her hovering mom. But as soon as her mother is missing, none of that matters to Cleo. She’s going to do anything she can to find her mom, even if the police investigating tell her to stay out of it. She doesn’t care if she’s putting herself in danger, as long as her mother comes home.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for my ARC of this book.