Like mother, like daughter is a much hyped suspense thriller of the summer season. Cleo and her mother Katrina have a strained relationship and struggle to understand one another-especially in the wake of a divorce between Katrina and her husband. Cleo arrives to Katrina’s late for dinner as usual one and finds her mom missing and all that is left is a bloody shoe. Believing her mother to be in danger,
Cleo tries to find out what happened to her and finds much more than she bargained for on her quest for the truth.

Told in alternating pov between Cleo and Katrina and through various timelines, the heart of this story is truly the relationship between mother and daughter. As a thriller, the novel is suspenseful and information is slowly revealed. The pacing is pretty good-but I feel like there are parts where it dragged a bit. Overall, a well- done thriller that will please thriller fans and gain McCreight new fans!

Thanks to the publisher for providing this arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great read. Started off strong and kept my interest.

Cleo thinks she knows her strict, boring mother. But when she suddenly vanishes, Cleo quickly learns she knew very little about the woman she calls “mom”.

This book is great for mystery fans.

Thanks to #netgalley for the advanced copy #likemotherlikedaughter

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight is a domestic thriller that shows what someone will do to protect family.

"Cleo and her mother, Kat, have a contentious relationship. Cleo shows up late for dinner and finds her mother is missing, leaving nothing but a bloody shoe. Something is definitely wrong.
Kat is more than a lawyer - she is a fixer for her firm. And she has made some enemies, inculding some from her murky past."

This book has a familiar setup. Something happens - then we get the backstory from the different characters and finally arrive at a conclusion. McCreight makes this one entertaining by keeping us guessing and giving us characters to yell at and dislike. Fictional characters often make terrible decisions (just like real humans) You won't guess the big twist (I guessed a part of it) There's a wild ending. I liked the resolution.
There was one thing that was left open that I wanted to know. (No spoilers though)

An excellent thriller from McCreight.

I absolutely loved Reconstructing Amelia when I read it a few years ago, so when I saw Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight was available, I jumped at the chance to read this thriller by the same author. Like the earlier book, this new one focuses on a mother/daughter relationship, this one was quite strained at the time of the mother's sudden disappearance. As Cleo investigates what may have happened to her mother, she discovers that a lot about the woman she had been so angry with was not what she had thought, and becomes more and more concerned for her mothers safety.

The book is written in two timelines, and from the differing perspectives of Cleo and her mother, Kat, with text messages from unidentified people and diary entries of Kat as a young person interspersed in the story. The overall effect is quite unsettling, as Cleo's story occurs after the disappearance, and Kat's happens in the days leading up to it. The twists were unexpected, and although some of it seemed not entirely believable, the resolution was for the mot part satisfying. There are several intertwining stories, leading to a lot of misdirection, so readers need to pay attention to avoid confusion.

Readers who enjoy domestic thrillers will love Kimberly McCreight's Like Mother, Like Daughter. Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the digital ARC. The opinions in this review are my own.

There are secrets, tension, family secrets, lies, and relationship issues galore in Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Cleo arrives at her mother's home to find burnt food in the oven and her mother's bloody shoe under the sofa. Where is her mother and what happened to her after she called Cleo and invited her over?

Cleo's missing mother, Kat (Katrina), is a fixer at her law firm. She grew up in a group home and is intelligent, tough, and good under pressure. Days before she invited Cleo over, Kat has become aware of several things, including a cover up, which are alarming and then there is the blast from her past!

This book is told through the POV's of both Cleo (beginning the day her mother went missing) and Kat (beginning 8 days prior to her going missing), therapy notes, journal entries and paperwork.

There was a lot going on in this book and although it was intriguing, it failed to wow me. I did like the characters of Cleo and Kat. The author brilliantly shows the dynamics of their mother/daughter relationship. That was a plus. For me there was too much going on in this book which made it a little messy for me.

There were a few twists, some suspense, tension, and reveals which helped to move the pace along at a nice pace. The writing was also very good; unfortunately, I liked this one but didn’t love it.

This the first book that I have read by this author and I am open to reading more of her books in the future.

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight is a fast paced thriller set in New York. Cleo is a student at NYU, when she finally agrees to a family dinner at her mother’s house, she is met with food burning in the oven, and no sign of her mother, Kat. She quickly realizes something is very wrong when she finds her mom’s bloody shoe under the sofa. She calls her father who is just landing at the airport from a business trip, then she calls the police. Kat is a successful corporate lawyer, her house is perfect, her marriage is happy, her life is perfect, except of course for Cleo, who is nothing like her mother. She is rebellious, dating a known drug dealer who has Cleo helping with deliveries, she’s reckless, and her life is completely out of control. As Cleo becomes frustrated with the lack of support from the police department, she goes rogue and tries to find her mother on her own. What she uncovers is a past she had no idea existed. Kat grew up in a dangerous group home, until as a teenager she moves in with a woman who treats her as a daughter. Cleo also uncovers secrets her father is keeping, as well as a looming divorce her parents are headed for which she knew nothing about. When Cleo finds out her mother wasn’t just a lawyer, she was really the law firm’s ‘fixer’, and very good at it, but did she unearth something she shouldn’t have and that’s what has finally caught up with her? Cleo is beginning to understand she is very much like her mother, and she is determined to find her alive to right the wrongs before it’s too late.

This novel is a fast paced, suspenseful story that explores the sometimes difficult relationship between mothers and daughters. It’s a realistic portrayal of what can happen when you are more alike than different, but sometimes don’t see it until it’s too late. The plot is so well written, the mystery unravels and each turn is more shocking than the last. I never expected the ending, I thought I had it all figured it, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Well done, you really got me! Just a well executed story, with characters you will love, and many you will despise, and the shocking ending will leave your jaw dropped to the floor.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Knopf Publishing and Kimberly McCreight for an advanced ad copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A solid 4.5 🌟!

Though I have a couple Kimberly McCreight books on my bookshelf, I haven’t been able to get around to reading them, yet. So, when I had the chance to read this one as an ARC, I jumped!

This was a story about family dynamics and basically, how no one is perfect. It’s a good reminder that we all make mistakes, but it doesn’t necessarily make us bad people.

I liked the mother/daughter dynamics at play. I also enjoyed the “what it seems” vs “how it actually is” ideal throughout the story.

Katrina and Cleo look alike and, unknown to both of them, act very much alike. It’s what helps Cleo find her mother, who has gone missing.

There is A LOT going on in this story. Some of it is relevant and some of it is just red herring. It was difficult to see where things were going for a while, but it’s worth the read!

Definitely emotionally suspenseful like the author says. I enjoyed Cleo's POV and her finding out how she is more like her mother than she thought. There was a lot going on and at times it was hard to keep it straight and a few of the subplots were unnecessary. That being said, it was fairly fast-paced and I did like the story. I am interested in reading more by this author.

Review live now on GoodReads and StoryGraph

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a thriller with some interesting twists and turns, not all of them expected! Kimberly McCreight has written a book that starts with a kick butt opening as seen by Cloe the daughter. In Chloe’s case the story moves forward day by day after the opening. Her mother’s story, Katrina starts about a week before the day and traces the situation day by day moving forward. It is this juxtaposition that allows the reader to anticipate events, kinda.

Chloe and her mother do not get along. They haven’t since Chloe was a teenager. Chloe, a wild child, trying out things with no pause and not taking any advisor. Katrina, is a lawyer for a big law firm. She seems strict and buttoned up. Then Chloe came for dinner to see her mom and found the dinner overcooked and burning and no Mom. There was blood on the floor and blood on a shoe pushed under the couch. On top of this when she calls the police and her dad, she discovers that her dad is not living at home and has been lying to her. Suffice to say she began to realize that not everything is as it seems with her family.

Chloe takes to investigating her mother’s life to find out what happened and where she might be. The police keep trying to slow Chloe down, worried for her with some of the reckless people that could be angered. What Chloe finds out about her family and friends, that she thought she knew - well she didn’t know them.

Moving forward I am going to look for more books by this author. I love how Chloe searched for her mom. I loved how her Mom stood watch over her. I loved how there were twists and turns that were unexpected. I love how the author used the two storylines with each character starting from a different spot. Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberely McCreight was a good thriller.

Fast past, plenty of twists, and more secrets than I saw coming! Cleo, a busy NYU student, has been requested by her mom to come home for dinner. When she arrives at her mom’s home, her mom is gone, and Cleo finds a shoe that belongs to her mom that is now bloody. As Cleo rushes to discover where her mom is, she makes more revelations about her mom, dad, herself even, and friends than she could have even imagined. All of these revelations are swirling as she tries to answer: what happened to my mom?

As I am someone who loves these kinds of books, this one did not disappoint. Luckily, I went into this book blind, since I have read one other book by this author. I read the book summary after finishing the book and recommend doing the same too. Some of the information given in the book summary ended up being twists to me. I was hooked right away, and the ultimate ending was very unexpected while still being believable and satisfying. The book had both dual POV’s and timelines. The characters felt very real. All this created the perfect thriller I flew through.

This is the second book I have read by Kimberly McCreight (first was A Good Marriage). Like Mother, Like Daughter has solidified her as an author that I would read any future books she publishes. Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Kimberly McCreight, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Exquisitely capturing the mother-daughter dynamic, McCreight blew me away with Like Mother, Like Daughter. From the multi-layered, finely plotted storyline to the ever rising suspense, my eyes were glued to the page from beginning to end. But the alternating dual POVs were the highest of the high in a well-packed field for me. With one cliffhanger chapter after another, I was spurred to continue reading just one more page far more times than I could count as the foreboding intensified and the what-ifs swirled about in my mind.

While all of the characters were expertly crafted, Cleo and Kat easily took the cake in the fight for stellar personas. Effortlessly illustrating the love-hate relationship between mother and daughter, the slow IV drip of secrets also revealed a mind-blowing character arc for Cleo. In the same way, I was equally enamored by Kat’s clever, take-no-prisoner personality as she sought to find out the truth. To be frank, both of these characters were utter perfection no ifs, ands, or buts.

In addition to the first-person dual POVs, the plot was strengthened by its alternating dual timelines of before and after. In both of them, I was firmly in the passenger seat in a wholly realistic way. For Cleo, she was desperately searching for what could’ve happened to her mother, while Kat’s timeline was decidedly more complex. I can’t reveal too much without providing a much hated spoiler, so just know that there was many a delicious subplot and dark, twisted revelation. Two for two, they both had my fingers flying at speed thanks to a Hitchcockian feel.

All in all, this tale of psychological suspense hit all the sweet spots for me—a twisty, dynamic plot; sharp, tenacious heroines at the center; and a downright killer conclusion. But then, that’s no surprise considering it came from Kimberly McCreight’s virtuoso-like mind. After all, she’s the Queen with a capital Q at crafting hypnotic characters so real that they could walk right off of the page. Not to be outdone, however, the situations they found themselves in had me utterly transfixed. A nuanced stunner, it was, without a doubt, yet another slam dunk from one of my favorite authors. Rating of 5 stars.

Thank you to Kimberly McCreight and Knopf Publishing for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

When I tell you I read this book quickly, I mean I devoured it in an afternoon. I know we hear the cliché of "unputdownable" and whatnot, but I truly could not stop reading this.

Sometimes, keeping the secret is worse than the secret itself.

The action starts immediately, with Cleo finding burning food and a puddle of blood in her mother's home. Cleo and her mother, Kat, have a tenuous relationship, mainly from normal mother/daughter dynamics but also from secrets they both keep, some big and some small. There are also misunderstandings and not understanding each other's intentions.

This book has a bit of a dual timeline, but it's primarily the week leading up to Kat's disappearance, and Cleo in the present day, trying to find out what really happened to her mother. We also see a few snippets of journal entries from Kat's childhood, transcripts of therapy sessions, and articles regarding a lawsuit that Kat is working on. I hesitate to truly call this a "dual timeline" since I would consider it fairly minimal as the timelines are primarily all present-day.

The characters are well-developed, and it's interesting to watch Cleo's character evolve rapidly. She has this very strained relationship with her mother, and a more rosy dynamic happening with her father, Aiden. But then as secrets are revealed, we see Cleo take off the rose-colored glasses. What she sees is more terrible than she ever imagined.

What makes this story clever is there are so many shady characters. Not necessarily all bad, but certainly not good, and the severity ranges as well. There are affairs, business dealings, secrets, betrayals, etc. It keeps the reader guessing because you just never know where someone is heading or how they play into the bigger picture. Even our main characters, Kat and Cleo, get caught up in misunderstandings.

I would highly recommend this book. The writing style kept my attention, the story is relatable, especially from the overview of mother/daughter relationships and how small misunderstandings can have big consequences.

What a twisty ride this one was! This book covers a lot of thrilling aspects, old secrets, affairs, dangerous people, shady corporations.

Cleo and her mom Kat have not been getting along the greatest, but when Kat reached out to Cleo and said she really needed to talk, Cleo headed home. But when she arrived, Kat wasn’t there. Supper was burning in the oven, and her mom was nowhwere to be found.

I liked how the story was told. Cloe's view after her mom goes missing. Kat"s timeline prior. A lot of secrets. The Reveal of who did it was surprising. Would love a mystery with Kat and Vivienne.

To say that Cleo and her mom don’t get along is an understatement. After her mother Kat threatens to stop paying for her NYU education unless she breaks up with her boyfriend, Cleo hasn’t spoken to her mother in months, but Cleo has finally agreed to come home for dinner. Her mom says she has something important to discuss. But when Cleo arrives at home, she finds food burning on the stove, a bloody shoe, and her mother is nowhere to be found. As she searches for clues to her mother’s disappearance, Cleo quickly finds that beneath her perfect exterior, Kat was hiding a lot of secrets – some of them deadly.

This thriller novel contains an interesting exploration of the complicated love between a mother and daughter with a fraught relationship. Kat’s impulse to protect Cleo is understandable given her upbringing, but the trauma of that upbringing and her protective nature also leads her to try too hard to control a daughter who chafes at her mother’s heavy handed influence. Still, there is an undercurrent of fierce love that runs throughout, and Cleo’s quest to find her mother leads her to better understand her. This book was a well-written and quick-paced read, and though I did see some things coming I still found the plot really satisfying.

CW: Rape, child abuse, child sex abuse, imprisonment, infidelity, drug addiction

When NYU student Cleo shows up late at her mother's home for Sunday dinner, all she finds is her mother's bloody shoe under the sofa. As the search for Kat (Cleo's mother) beings, the story unfolds as told from Kat's perspective in the days leading up to her disappearance, and Cleo's in the present as she desperately looks for clues to what happened. Cleo finds out more than she bargained for, however, discovering long-held secrets about both of her parents, and the reader soon has almost too many suspects who could be behind Kat's disappearance, and no idea whether Kat could still be alive. Well written and fast-paced with a tight plot, lots of suspense, and a side-helping of dysfunctional family relationships, Like Mother, Like Daughter was a compelling read for me; in fact, I skipped the gym one morning because I was too close to the end to put the book down!

This was a pretty fast read just because it was intense the whole way through, which I appreciated. I remember really loving A Good Marriage and I'd been meaning to read more of Kimberly McCreight's other stuff so I was happy to receive the ARC of this. I did really enjoy this one, but I do think parts of the plot and the resolution could be a bit...far fetched. Either way, a nice legalish thriller with some corporate espionage and some interesting familial dynamics.

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a domestic thriller that is told in a "race against the clock" sort of way. Cleo shows up at the home of her mother, Kat only to find signs of her mother missing. With a bloody shoe and other small clues, Cleo thinks this is more than a case of her mother just leaving and ends up taking everything into her own hands to find out what happened to her mother, although they are on rocky terms.

Told from 2 POVs, we get to see the present play out with Cleo gathering clues and figuring out her parents had a very different relationship than they let on. Cleo's relationship with her mother was strained and she seemed to be closer with her father. But as Cleo uncovers some truths, she's not quite sure what to think of what she thought she knew. And Kat's POV is in the past days leading up to her disappearance and the mysteries surrounding her current case, mysterious texts, her relationship with her daughter and a life she left behind many years ago. There seemed to be a lot going on with Kat and a lot of little subplots that made the story a bit convoluted, but it also played well in this game of cat and mouse.

Even with a lot happening, I was eagerly anticipating each chapter and wondering what the heck happened to Kat in the past that had to do with the present and with Cleo. It was a bit unbelievable to have Cleo doing all the investigating, but since the story also included their strained relationship, this was the way Cleo could bridge their divide a little bit. You just have to suspend your belief with reality for the sake of the story.

Overall, this was a fast paced thriller in which I enjoyed following along with Cleo. I liked seeing her grow from the young woman she was and recognizing what her mother had sacrificed for her over the years. Kat's POV was a bit erratic and had a lot all thrown in and I wasn't sure how everything really mattered with all the info that was being poured out during her chapters. But everything DID come together in the end, just not as seamlessly as I would've liked.
3.5-4 stars.

When Cleo shows up at her mom’s house for dinner and finds food burning in the oven and a small pool of blood she knows something is wrong. There is no sign of her mother, Kat, anywhere. 

Cleo and Kat don’t have the greatest mother-daughter relationship. Cleo feels like she can’t do anything right in her mother’s eyes and Kat has always just wanted to protect her daughter. 

While trying to figure out what happened to her mother, Cleo discovers there’s a lot about her mom that she never knew. She also learns a lot about her dad who she’s always been super close with that has her questioning everything she thought she knew.

I really enjoyed the writing style in this book. The chapters go back and forth between Kat and Cleo with some snippets of some secret anonymous texts and bits of Cleo’s sessions with her therapist that get you thinking and fill in the blanks for parts of the story. 

I was really into this book in the beginning but somewhere between then and the last couple of chapters the excitement died down a bit for me. Not enough for me not to enjoy the story but I was expecting something more thrilling I guess. 


I liked seeing Cleo learn more about her mother’s past and drawing connections to things that have happened growing up and learning who her mother really is and realizing that her mom has always just had her best interest at heart.

If you’re looking for more of a mystery type of thriller this book is for you. 


Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked by the setup: a college-age daughter turns gutsy investigator after she finds her mom suddenly missing, evidently after a struggle or attack at the family home. The plot gets involved and twisty- lots of family discord and deception, lots of side stories to sort through. While the story had a few holes and loose ends, it was still entertaining with some energy and suspense.