Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy. These are my unbiased, honest opinions.
"Like Mother, Like Daughter" is a modern-day thriller that centers around Kat and her daughter Cleo. Marred by their strained relationship, Cleo keeps her distance from her overprotective mom. But one afternoon, after making dinner plans, Cleo discovers an empty home, charred dinner, and puddles of blood. Her mother is missing, and she may not even be alive.
What ensues is an unraveling of secrets kept and pasts thought to be buried. And when everyone is a suspect, including her own father, Cleo decides to take matters into her own hands - even if it means risking her own life. And her mother's.
As far as thrillers go, this was a solid read. Mystery was compelling, though, at times, the storyline dragged. The resolution scene definitely caught me by surprise. And I appreciated the hints of poetry throughout.
However, I just couldn't get behind how many scenarios were convenient or just coincidence. It would have made more sense for someone to develop an obsession and become a stalker than to oh so happened to be in the same room. Also, did Kat ever get her money back? And I'm still pondering how the headmaster played a role in Kat's past. I may have to re-read a few chapters.
Overall, I found myself intrigued within a few pages and I'm interested in reading more from the author.

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a thrilling story that will find you canceling plans so you can keep reading!

Kimberly McCreight had me flying through chapters to get to the next perspective and timeline. I loved how she switched between Kat and Cleo as well as before the disappearance and after. Surprisingly, it did not get confusing with each chapter change.

One thing that I did find confusing, were all of the characters that were introduced, between Cleo's friends and acquaintances to the many people in Kat's life, I was wondering that the point was for all of these side characters unless it was to distract the reader from discovering the twist too soon. I did figure it out, which may be why I was so annoyed with the seemingly superfluous characters. Looking back, I don't know if Jules was even necessary in the storyline.

Toward the last quarter of the book, my reading did slow down, but that was mostly because all of the parts were trying to come together, It got somewhat muddled for me, but I enjoyed the first three quarters of the book so much, I think it was worth the ride.

I will definitely look forward to future publications from Kimberly McCreight and have already had friends and family put this on their To Be Read list for this summer! It will be a great vacation read!

It's interesting that when I read McCreight's first book, Reconstructing Amelia, it resonated so hard with me because my niece was 13 and the main character's story hit me hard because of that.

And now, this book about parenting and holding too hard and doing anything and everything in your power, above board or not, to protect your child? It hit me hard for an entirely different child and I don't like it.

I like the book, though. So that's nice.

Also after a 4 year reading slump that has absolutely kicked. my. ass., I got my powers of whodunnit back. She almost got me. ALMOST. But I persevered. And I WAS RIGHT.

God, that feels good.

Cleo, after much eye rolling and foot dragging, goes home from college to have dinner with her overbearing, helicopter mother Kat. Her dad's not even going to be there. Ugh, what a nightmare.

When she gets there, the food is burning, her mother is nowhere in sight, and there's blood and broken glass.

Well. That could be a problem.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Kat and Cleo, 8 days leading up to and hours after, it's a race for Cleo to find out What the Hell Happened to Her Mother. In the process, she learns so much more about who her mother really is.

Successful A-Type Patent Lawyer? Nyope. She's a fixer. She does the dirty work we don't see but all of us know is happening behind the scenes in corporate America.

Happily married to her angel of a father? Hmm. Interesting story there.

Went to an orphanage for a little while but it's fine because she was adopted quickly by an eccentric but kind old lady? Umm.

As the layers of the onion reveal themselves, the red herrings are DEEP. A lot of people have reason to want Kat silenced, from Cleo's degenerate rich bitch boyfriend to family of her eccentric adopted mother to a pharmaceutical company staring down the barrel of enormous scandal involving INFANT DEATH.

How Kat managed to NOT go missing as long as she did is the real surprise.

I genuinely enjoy McCreight's writing style. It's smooth and flows so well, while keeping you engaged. I was absolutely captivated and making a note of each red herring as it dropped.

And I figured it out, and quite frankly, that makes this the best book ever. Because it's been so damn long.

Super good. Really, really good.

Kimberly McCreight’s 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 is a suspense-thriller told from two perspectives: There is Katrina McHugh, a busy, Type A lawyer who has recently separated from her husband and is trying to juggle a demanding career, life as a newly single woman, and a strained connection with her college-aged child. And there is Cleo, a restless, rebellious NYU student who is struggling to figure out herself and her familial and romantic relationships as a young adult. The novel begins when Cleo goes back home to the family’s Brooklyn brownstone for a reconciliation dinner with Kat, but when she arrives she finds the kitchen in suspicious disarray and her mother missing. From there, the point of view moves back and forth between Kat in the days leading up to her disappearance as she investigates both a work case and a personal matter to Cleo in the present trying to find out what happened to her mom. Over the course of a week and a half, they unearth secrets that will permanently alter their individual paths, their shared relationship, and how they see each other.

The good points about 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳: the plot is captivating, the pacing is smooth, and the characters appear flawed yet intriguing. I also appreciate what the novel has to say about parent-child relationships and the hardships of modern motherhood. But, unfortunately, there are some bad points as well. I think the book is convoluted—there are several different storylines happening simultaneously and producing new suspects and red herrings every which way; moreover, chapters are interspersed with snippets of court records, news articles, personal journal entries, therapy session transcripts, and text exchanges which may or may not be related to each other and be significant to the main mystery. The result of multiple subplots and mix of writing elements is a somewhat messy and disconcerting reading experience. It’s almost like the author is intentionally giving you an information overload in an effort to distract you from prematurely solving the puzzle (however if you pay attention to certain details the writer is 𝘯𝘰𝘵 providing, I think you will figure out one large piece of it).

Though I found the narrative unnecessarily complex and at least one plot twist detectable, it was still an entertaining read for me. And while some character revelations and plot developments strained believability, they were admittedly compelling. Overall, 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 is an engrossing story. I would recommend it to domestic thriller fans who are looking for a read-in-one-sitting book and who don’t mind muddling through some extraneous details to get to the meat of the mystery. Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight. This is a new author for me and suffice to say an instant add to my “insta-read” author pile. At its roots, Like Mother, Like Daughter is a story about family/relationships and resilience set as a fast-paced thriller in a New York City environment (with the hustle and bustle of a central character’s job as a “fixer” for a hoity toity law firm). I have to admit, the first 20% was a bit slow for me, a lot of characters to keep track of, multiple story lines, and perspectives from the past and present. However, at about 40% I really hit a groove and could not put this down! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good, bingeable thriller.

✨3 stars ✨

cleo and her mother, kat haven’t gotten along since she was a child. kat is over protective, suspicious, and doesn’t know how to let cleo learn for herself. but when kat goes missing, cleo learns everything her mother has kept hidden from her. she desperately tries to find her alive, wanting to fix their relationship before it is too late.

this book was such a fun and quick read! i was easily invested and wanting to follow along with both timelines, kat before the incident and cleo immediately coming across the scene. while it’s not my favorite, i think if you’re in the mood to read a mystery/thriller this will be a great fix.

if i could change anything, i think narrowing down the character list and background details would be helpful. there were almost too many possible solutions to the mystery, and at times it got overwhelming.

Cleo, a college student at NYU, thinks she knows her perfect, controlling and judgmental mother, until she arrives at her family home for a reconciliation dinner to find food burning in the oven and her mother’s bloody shoe. This fast-paced novel follows Cleo as she races to find her missing mother, uncovering secrets from her mother’s past and present.

Secretly separated from Cleo’s narcissistic dad, Aiden, and embroiled in dangerous secrets as her law firm’s corporate fixer, Kat’s present secrets collide with the secrets from her past, putting her in the crosshairs of someone who is desperate enough to hurt her or possibly kill her. And Cleo seems to be the only person racing to figure it all out. As she does, she learns that she and her mother may share a lot more than either of them could ever have imagined.

Told from the perspective of Cleo and Kat, both in the present and near and distant past, the story moves with breakneck speed toward a final twist, that, even if you might have seen it coming, is still shocking.

I enjoyed the author’s development of mother and daughter characters (both Kat and Cleo and two other mother/daughter relationships which reflected and contrasted with the main characters) whose difficult relationship was nuanced and added to the suspense in this domestic thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read an advanced review copy.

Great book! I couldn’t put it down. Books with alternating points of view are my some of my favorites. I thought Katrina was a very interesting character. The twists were great!! Looking forward to reading more books by this author.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book! However, I felt some things at the end were predictable, and I also thought there were too many random things thrown in that didn’t work with the plot. (Some of the texts, Cleo’s ex BF, Janine, etc.)

This is a real page turner. Once I got started I really had trouble getting anything else done. Kat's life has so many facets you really can't tell which one to focus on. Is someone from her past responsible for disappearance? Or is it about her job? Her daughter? Her husband? Once you wade through all the possible suspects, the ending is still a surprise.

This is a riveting thought-provoking thriller. I enjoyed being stumped to the very end with this one. Kat is a lawyer who handles problem situations for her firm.. She is also mom to Cleo. a college student whose behavior and boyfriend choices leave much to be desired. There is Cleo's dad, the soon to be ex-husband, who is among the list of suspects in Kat's disapperance. We have so much to dissect and the author does a great job laying out all the information. I devoured this book. I thought I knew the culprit. I even thought I knew the outcome, but nope. I was wrong. And I am not the least bit upset about being wrong. I love a mom who fights for her kid. I don't like bratty kids. especially kids who are old enough to know better, but that character trait added to the drama. I loved this book.!

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

A very interesting synopsis - what's not intriguing about a "fixer"?! The mother/daughter tension is this book is really great, very realistic and to experience the conflict from a dual point of view (and at different points of time) made the read enjoyable.

I did not love the subplots, felt more like filler than an actual contribution to the story. The sub plots have nothing to do with the ending and it left me a bit unsatisfied but it was still an exciting distraction.

I love a thriller that can hook me right from the beginning! This was a well developed, twisty thriller right from the start! Every few chapters I was questioning who the suspects could be! Enjoyed this one! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

From the moment I read the first few words to this book to the very last few, it sucked me right in page after page! Showing the dynamic of the two, mother and daughter, both individually and together was powerful. As much as I wanted to give this book a 5, I had to drop it down one due to how predictable it was. But it doesn’t take away from how great this story and mystery was!

2.5/5 stars. Overall, I'd say Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight is a book worth reading, but only if you don't have a book in mind you'd like to read.

A very quick read, Like Mother, Like Daughter is a decent thriller. However, the first 40% of the book was not captivating for me in the slightest; it was all about getting through it and hoping it would get better. As I hit the 50% mark and the action started to happen and the story thickened I did become engaged and curious as to what was happening. The last 25% was really good, but I don't know if I'd say it's a convincing reason to read the whole story. It is a quick read though so up to you!

Hello.

The beginning of the story was very slow. After Chapter 9: Cleo, the story starts to pick up. The story is about a mother and daughter having a strained relationship. The mother, Katrina disappears and the daughter, Cleo slowly learns about her past. The story is intriguing but fizzles out at the end. The middle of the story had a momentum that kept me wanting to read more but the ending is not satisfying at all. It is very anticlimactic.

They are two viewpoints throughout the book: Cleo's and Katrina's. As the story unfolded, I wanted to find out what happened to Katrina. Was it Cleo's drug dealing boyfriend, Kyle who threatened Katrina or even Janine, Katrina's friend who had something to do with her disappearance? The ending was unexpected and just did not match the interesting plotline.

Edit To Add: I edited the review in GoodReads and added more details.

A relatively good read with an interesting plot. I was not sure what to expect when I picked this one up but it was good! The first half was kind of slow before picking up in the second half. The characters weren’t overly likable, but they were tolerable enough to continue reading. There were times where I thought about not finishing, but I am happy I stuck with it. I was surprised by the ending!

I had just finished this compelling book when I saw a post of a beautiful Park Slope New York home. I love when books expose me to places I have never been, and wham there was the picture I hadn't been able to formulate in my mind. As NYU student Cleo tells her story, she talks a lot about her Park Slope childhood. Cleo and her mother Kat, have been estranged for a while, when she agreed to come home for dinner and found only a bloody shoe .
This was a good story of a the stress of a mother and daughter relationship and the secrets everyone keeps.
McCreight crafted a really good mystery with believable characters. Thanks to Knopf , the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

very similar to the author's previous book, a good marriage, i loved the complex characters of this one, bonus points that it's based in NYC! what i like most is that the ending wasn't predictable until like 80% through! plot a bit complicated but not disorganized. only thing i didn't like was the excerpts (psych notes, reddit, etc.) i feel it didn't really add much and contributed to being complicated than it needed to be.

Kimberly McCreight absolutely kills within her genre. From being captivated years ago by Reconstructing Amelia to giving my first ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ thriller review for A Good Marriage, I read every word she writes. Not to mention she's one of the coolest human beings ever. Anyone who follows her on social media knows this to be true.

How lucky was I to get an advanced copy of Like Mother, Like Daughter? (Thank you @netgalley! I always feel like such a publishing insider when this happens.)

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a story of relationships - between parents and children, husbands and wives, friends and lovers - set among a backdrop of corporate espionage, drugs, and murder. A Type A mother with secrets both past and present goes missing. Her disaffected daughter embarks on a mission to unearth the truth and find her mom.

The prologue in and of itself is ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ -worthy. McCreight brilliantly evokes the emotional roller coaster that is motherhood in just a couple of pages. While the ending left me a bit unsatisfied, I recommend you read this one. It's a gripping page turner that beautifully blends mystery and emotion.