In, Like Mother, Like Daughter, I went into it with high expectations– this was not only an author I had read in the past, but the editor had prefaced the novel by lauding the author’s manuscript as a highly coveted win by auction. I could feel the editor’s excitement through the page and excitedly dove into it.

Normally I can devour a book in a day if able, or a week if reading around “life”. This one took me quite a bit longer as I was simultaneously reading around ten books at once and this one was the latest addition. As I had to finish the others in order of their deadlines, it pushed me to finish this one much later. I lead with this to say that I had to start and stop it multiple times over the weeks, causing me to forget who was who when reading.

Once I got reacquainted and caught up to speed, I was in.

McCreight is a master at weaving a compelling story and keeping you guessing throughout. She kept the pacing tight and consistent and you wanted to keep reading to see how all of these situations from past and present would collide to matter in the here and now.

I feel that she did a wonderful job fleshing out the two MCs: Kat and Cleo, and gave them distinct voices as well as keeping us always focused on the main plot line.

Where I tend to always get lost in legal thrillers are the side characters– there are usually too many for me to keep track of and they take up such a small amount of real estate that they don’t stick in my head.

Speaking of sticky… a couple of sticky spots for me that didn’t quite add up were why Cleo was so irresponsible with and unattached to an exaggerated amount of “partners” (using the term loosely here as she admits that many were one night stands). She came from an upper class, two parent home, and had everything she could ever want. So that didn’t add up for me, personally. I couldn’t figure out why she was trying to be self-destructive.

I won’t spoil it, but the ending also left me puzzled. I found it to be anti-climatic and rushed. I wasn’t sure why it needed to end that way– I felt that it didn’t add anything to the story and didn’t warrant the high-stakes feel throughout.

Mild Spoiler Alert

I was a little confused as to how easily a major cover up of the pharmaceutical company ended– it seemed really easy to get a hold of major classified documents. I was also befuddled as to how Kat could start her own firm at the end after admitting that she was going to be disbarred.

Overall, the story was intriguing, the characters were mostly believable, and it did keep my interest. I think it just fell apart at the end and left more to be desired. I would still pick up a novel from this author in the future, despite this one not being my favorite.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book kept me on my toes and wanting to read more. I was anxious to find out what happened to the Mother and how all the characters played into it. It was definitely a fun read.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley. I don't read a ton of thrillers, but occasionally a description will perk my interest such as this one did. There are two POV - Katrina and her daughter Cleo. Katrina goes missing under suspicous circumstances and her estranged daughter Cleo tries to piece together her mother's life to find out what happened to her mother. Meanwhile, the story also flips to Katrina's actions in the days before her disappearance. There are lots of trails leading in different directions, but it has a satisfying ending.

Like Mother, Like Daughter, by Kimberly McCreight: Katrina and her daughter Cleo have had a fraught relationship since Cleo became a teenager; now, as an NYU college student, Kat is downright overbearing. But when Cleo shows up to their Brooklyn brownstone for dinner with her mom, and finds the food burning on the stove and her mom’s shoe on the ground – with blood on it – she calls the police and sets aside her own angst to investigate what happened to her mom. As it turns out, her mom has a lot of secrets Cleo didn’t know about. The book is told through two timelines – Cleo’s in present day, looking for her mom, and Kat’s, starting about a week before she goes missing. I liked this, but didn’t love it; the last third or so was pretty engaging, but before that, I was mostly finding the characters annoying with their inability to empathize with each other’s perspectives. The plot was really complicated, and while the author did a good job providing a bunch of red herrings, it was a little unbelievable to me that SO many things could all come to a head at once. Overall, I liked this, but didn’t love it.

This was a great book! It hooked you from the very beginning.

Mother and daughter are slightly estranged. Then (oh no) mom goes missing! What is she wrapped up into? Is she a lawyer? or a fixer? or both? This was a great story and I did NOT see the ending coming - like not one piece of me thought it would end like that.

It's a story that intertwines mother and daughter's stories from afar, however they are more alike the you know!

From the moment a college-aged daughter, somewhat distant from her mother, heeds her request for a visit after a long absence, this book takes you on a wild ride. She arrives only to find dinner forgotten on the stove, her mother vanished, and ominous traces of blood left behind—all within the gripping first chapter. This narrative instantly pulled me into its vortex. The intrigue is amplified by succinct chapters filled with ambiguous clues and unidentified narrators, while interspersed "transcripts" and text conversations ratchet up the suspense.

This book is an absolute masterpiece, captivating from the outset and maintaining its grip through a heart-pounding finale. I devoured it in a single day, unable to resist its pull. The narrative masterfully oscillates between the moments leading up to the mother's disappearance and the frantic hours following, weaving a tapestry of mini-narratives that enrich the central mystery. Questions abound: Where is the mother? What led to her disappearance? The significance of her last texts, and the weight of the secrets concealed, all contribute to the book's relentless pace and compelling allure.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this ARC. ✨

Kimberly McCreight's 'Like Mother Like Daughter' is a complicated yet emotional exploration of family dynamics and the complexities of mother-daughter relationships. With skillful storytelling, McCreight navigates through twists and revelations, keeping readers engaged until the very end. The characters are richly developed, and their journeys are both relatable and thought-provoking. While the pacing occasionally falters, the overall narrative is compelling, making it a worthy read. This was a solid 4-star read!

i read this in one sitting. i love how the characters was fully developed and all the interactive elements like the interviews and articles. this is one of my top books for this year. im just so obsessed with the book. i could see everything play out in my mind and i didn’t see anything coming in the book.

The relationship between Cleo and Katrina as mother and daughter is complicated and realistic. They are both strong willed women, stuck dealing with the trauma and consequences of their relationships with manipulative men, and have difficulty truly relating to one another.
Through Katrina’s disappearance, Cleo is able to learn more about her mothers life, and understand her on a much deeper level. While I don’t agree with a lot of the things that Katrina did in her relationship with Cleo, her past trauma does explain the thought process behind her decisions
This is a thriller, so I don’t want to say too much about Katrina’s disappearance and its outcome. There were a lot of intertwining personal relationships among characters that could be messy to keep track of; and the big twist was slightly disappointing. But still an engaging read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Like Mother, Like Daughter
by Kimberly McCreight
Pub Date: July 9, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
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.
I like twisty and convoluted thrillers, but this was too much. There are several POVs, plotlines, and in-between chapters, a dash of transcripts, therapist's notes, emails, texts, diary entries, etc. In this case, the book didn't need it.
Good book but a little all over the place.
4 stars

This had a lot of potential and I did enjoy the plot. I think it’s the writing that made it a bit confusing. It’s told in different timelines but also different “documents” like diaries and such. It felt like too much to keep up with. I had more questions at the end than I received answers.

Disclosure: Received an uncorrected ARC of this book from NetGalley and Knopf (Thank you!) in exchange for an honest review.

Fans of first person twisty-thrillers will take delight in this one told from the two perspectives of a mother and her daughter. The mom, with her many dark secrets, goes missing. The daughter, with secrets of her own, can't help but try to sleuth out what happened to her mother.

No spoilers here to ruin the fun for others. Was this an enjoyable read that kept me guessing? Yes! Were there elements that seemed implausible? Some, but not so much it jarred me out of the story as I was reading.

If you enjoy Gillian Flynn. AJ Finn, Ruth Ware or any story of that ilk, then this book will be right up your alley.

Cleo and her mother don’t have the best relationship. After reluctantly agreeing to come over for dinner, Cleo finds her mother’s house in quite a state when she arrives. There’s food burning on the stove and in the oven, there’s a lap top on the floor of the office, there’s blood on the kitchen floor and on a sole shoe, and no one is home.

this was fast paced and I liked the multiple POV’s and timelines. I felt drawn in pretty quickly. I feel like the litigation and texts kind of became a bit much and I found myself skipping over some of it. not sure it was all necessary. the ending I found a bit unrealistic and disappointing, but I liked it up until then.

thanks to netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If dissecting mother/daughter relationships is your thing then you will live this book! The love mothers have for their daughters can be overwhelming at times but it seems and daughters always think they are overbearing. This story isn’t so simple and I loved every minute of it!!

It took me a couple of starts (as it does with every Kimberly McCreight book i have read) but I think that is more on me. I am a mood reader but once I got in the right mood, I was able to get into the book and enjoyed it. It was fast-paced and kept me entertained. It was a page turner and I enjoyed the twists and turns.

I thoroughly enjoyed Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight. The mystery kept me on my toes, turning the pages to see what happened to a missing mother (a corporate "fixer"), who is at once odds with her daughter and estranged husband. I would absolutely recommend this book to readers of Liane Moriarty and Jodi Picoult, as well as other contemporary mysteries.

DNF at around 40%.

I don't know what it was about this book, but despite containing one of my all-time favourite tropes (mother/daughter relationship), I just couldn't get into it. Too many time and POV shifts. Short chapters, constant switching. So many characters constantly being introduced. New names popping up on caller ID every few minutes, jolting narrator out of their thoughts, filling them with dread. Not enough emotion or character work for me. I felt the book was too dense in some areas and then too sparse in others. It felt like a folder full of information someone might gather up before writing a novel, but not quite the final draft.

This was my first by this author. It's totally possible that I just wasn't used to her style, or I just wasn't in the mood. At this time, though, I just wasn't able to continue on with this book. Excessive POV shifting and 'past catching up with you' tropes have begun to irritate me in novels lately.

I would still recommend this book to people who enjoy mother/daughter relationships, familial secrets, and pasts catching up with you in the worst way.

Set against the glamorously scandalous backdrop of New York City, a corporate law firm fixer and her daughter must decide who's telling them the truth in this cat-and-mouse game that threatens to tear apart their family.

Domestic thrillers are a favorite sub-genre of mine so I automatically loved the premise! The twist in this one though - I was NOT expecting. I thought it was going one way, then it turned into something completely different, and I'm HERE for it!

**Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, Anchor, Knopf & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

Read this if you like:
-dual timelines
-mother/daughter relationship stories
-a good puzzle

Great thriller. Twists that I did not see coming. Complex mother/daughter relationships. Loved the dual timeline aspect. Also enjoyed the other pieces of info that told the story - news articles, transcripts, etc. - always a cool way to tell a story. Satisfied with the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kimberly McCreight, and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the ARC copy. All thought and opinions are my own.

This book is a true 3.5 to me. I went back and forth on rounding up or down but ultimately the ending fell a bit flat for me so I rounded down.

I think the concept of this book was really strong and the characters were well developed. However the pacing was disappointing and the mix of different media throughout was done in a way that ended up being more confusing than anything.

Overall this was a good book and if someone asked if they should read it I would say yes but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it either.