This book wasn’t for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and the ending seemed more sad than anything.

3.75. Having loved the Couple in the Photo by Helen Cooper, I was super excited to dive into her latest "thriller." This one focuses on two women who are best friends and whose sons are also best friends - what a wonderful thing. Until on NYE one son pushes the other who hits his head and dies. Why did he push him? Was he provoked? Now the two women don't speak and one son is in jail.

Upon release from prison after two years the mom goes to pick up her son and he is gone. He was let out of prison earlier in the day and has disappeared. The search is now on. Why did he disappear? What really happened on that NYE?

I dove right in and was quickly reading it and enjoying it very much. Then some odd things happen in the book that just didn't seem right - just seemed a bit too unbelievable for me to absolutely love this book. Questions not answered and relationships that seemed odd with no explanation. If you can look past the oddities and questions going unanswered then this book is fantastic. I still very much enjoyed this book and read it quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley, Helen Cooper andb Penguin Group (GP Putnam's Sons)

This book exceeded my expectations, even with the many characters to keep track of. It wasn’t until the very end that things started making sense. But that’s the best kind of psychological thriller, if you ask me.

After Leo accidentally kills his childhood best friend, he goes to prison for manslaughter. This one act has caused extremes of dysfunction in the small town and unwarranted hatred towards Leo’s mother. Once Leo is finally released from prison, he disappears without a trace, and this starts more chaos and rumors.

Good luck keeping up with who did what and who said what. It’s a tangled web of wrongdoings that you must pick through to get to the real reason that Leo is missing. This book rates 4 stars and I can easily recommend to thriller lovers or anyone who loves a great whodunnit. Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

Helen Cooper has done it again! My first experience with her work came in the form of The Couple in the Photo. A chapter in and I knew I was a fan. My Darling Boy is the second work of hers I’ve read and I’m determined to get my hands on everything else she writes.

I devoured this book in one day! My Darling Boy tells the tale of two sets of best friends and a close-knit community. When Leo kills his best friend, Robbie, it sends the entire community into a spiral. Secrets that no one could have expected surface and relationships will never be the same. This book had all the twists, turns, and even a bit of satisfaction. 10/10! You’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t pick it up.

An emotional and heartfelt story about family bonds and loss. Cooper’s sensitive portrayal of grief and healing offers a touching and memorable reading experience.

This gripped me from the beginning and just wouldn’t let up. Every time I thought I understood what was happening there was another surprise. So many secrets that should have been shared. So many decisions that shouldn’t have been made. Sometimes really bad things happen to good people, and it changes how they see themselves and others. This is the story of friendships, relationships and marriages that are destroyed and how the truth can finally start the healing process.

Set in a small little village in England, My Darling Boy asks the question of forgiveness. Two best friends, and their two sons were as close as peas in a pod. But when Chrissy's son Leo killed Alice's son Robbie in the village pub there friendship ends. It's several years later and Leo is released from prison. The villagers are up in arms and Chrissy is receiving threatening letters. It all comes to a head when she goes to pick up her son and he has disappeared.

Where has Leo gone? Who can she convince to help her search for him? Cooper keeps the story moving as you ask yourself - what would you do?
#penguin #helencooper #mydarlingboy

On New Year’s Eve, best buds Leo and Robbie get into a fight resulting in Robbie’s death. Leo is convicted of manslaughter, and is about to be paroled after serving only 2 years, and the residents of his small town mount a campaign of harassment to convince his mother to move away. But when Leo is released from prison, he promptly disappears, and the small town secrets come to light. My Darling Boy focuses on the mothers of the two boys involved in the fight, once the closest of friends and now bitter enemies. As the plot evolves however, more and more layers of secrets emerge, and the book takes a turn into soap-opera territory, and it feels like overkill as the reader is teased with so many subplots that it gets frustrating. Eventually all the loose ends come together, and it’s a quick moving, though convoluted book, but definitely worth a read. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

You know a book is great when you’re constantly letting out a breath you didn’t know you were holding while reading. I was on the edge of the seat from the very first line, I kept having to tell myself to relax as the book was so intense I would find myself sitting rigid waiting for what was next. The plot of this book is utterly gripping from start to finish. There was twist, after twist after twist. At no point did I know where we were headed next, and my mind was absolutely blown when we got there. I would do anything to get to read this book for the first time again. 10/5 stars

This is the second novel by Helen Cooper reviewed by Bayside Book Reviews and both thrillers have earned five stars. My Darling Boy is another expertly written and plotted thriller, and this reviewer was drawn into the story from the first pages.

After Leo is imprisoned for two years for manslaughter of his best friend, Robbie, he and his mother, Chrissy, become pariahs in their town. Everyone is against them. No one acknowledges the extenuating circumstances surrounding the tragedy. Although the young men were arguing at the time, Robbie's death was unintentional. The hatred that Leo and his mother suffer caused this reader to empathize. A lot. I wanted forgiveness, healing, and redemption.

As the story unfolds, secrets and lies are revealed that changes everything. My Darling Boy is a compelling story and a recommended read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for providing an advance copy of the book to read and review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*

My Darling Boy by Helen Cooper is about two sons, their mothers who are best friends, living a quiet life until it all comes apart at the seams. One of the sons is dead, by the other's hand. Both mothers are in mourning, one for her son and the other HER son, both grieving the loss of the life they all once shared.

Let me start by saying I love Helen Cooper. She's an automatic author for me. I'll read whatever she puts out. My two cents for this one is a little different though. I wanted to find out what was going on, but honestly, it took me a little longer than I would have liked to finish the book. The "twist" was okay, but not too shocking. However, I will say that the way one of the characters turned out was more shocking to me than anything. All in all, it was good and while I have enjoyed this author's other books a little better, I did enjoy this one as well. Releases in the United States December 2024.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher! No review was required.

I really enjoyed Helen Cooper’s other books, but this one was a little flat. Somehow I felt like there was too much and too little going on. I wish we could’ve learned more about how the two women became friends. I accepted that they were but they were so different even from the very beginning before the trouble started. I would’ve thought that would’ve caused trouble long before they had children. The book also ended abruptly. I felt like we could’ve talked a little bit more about the relationship between the boys instead of the book just ended, Georgie‘s character was oddly more flushed out than the two main women but ultimately she didn’t have that much to do with the actual plot

Alice, Chrissy and their two sons used to be the best of friends in their small English village. They'd spend long nights together passing the time at Chrissy's pub, The Raven, watching Robbie and Leo play while shooting the breeze with the locals. But their friendship is ruined one dark New Year's Eve when Robbie kills Leo. When Chrissy goes to pick up Leo on his prison release date, he never shows, sparking panic across the village. Leo's disappearance leads to a number of secrets being revealed, and Chrissy and Alice being forced to face their own troubling past.
I didn't love this book. In the beginning I had a hard time keeping all of the characters and timelines straight. The secrets and lies seemed obvious from the start, and didn't really hold my interest. Many thank to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest feedback.

Helen Cooper’s books keep getting better and better she’s the new Queen of the psychological thriller. Kudos and thanks the the advanced copy!

This book had it all for me. The twist and turns through the whole book that I never saw coming were amazing. The ups and downs of friendships and family kept me wanting to read more! A New Year’s Eve party to a wrong turn and opened a floodgate of secrets and lies!
Thank you NetGalley for this arc!!

I received a copy of the book "My Darling Boy" from NetGalley. Chrissie and Alice had been friends for decades. They ran a pub together. They each had a son who grew up together. Then on New Years Eve one of the sons dies at the had of the other son. Leo goes to jail for two years for Manslaugther. the death of one son destroyed the friendship between the two women. When Leo is released from jail he immediately disappears. there are other odd things going on as well. There are secrets that have been kept for years that are now being revealed. I found this book pretty good for the most part. Don't want to give spoilers but all things come together eventually. I would give this book a 3.5.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
This was a great read! Chrissy and Alice have always been best friends and so have their sons. But one night Robbie said something to Leo and Leo punched him, he fell and hit his head and was gone. How can a relationship survive that? Leo goes to jail. Chrissy gets notes telling her to move etc. When Leo is released she goes to pick him up and he’s gone. Where would he go? Has something happened to him? There must be more to his disappearance!

The story line is great! I never expected the twist with Peter, very shocking but made the story line even better! At the beginning it was alittle hard to get into but things started to pick up and i ended up finishing it in one sitting!

I just could not get into this book. I tried so hard, but it was just <i>so</i> boring. I kept finding other things that I had to do instead of read this because I just didn't want to (I literally convinced myself to organize my bathroom closet last night).

It kind of felt like nothing was happening throughout the entire book, even though quite a few things were going on. I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts into words; all I can really say is that I was bored from beginning to end.

I thought maybe it would pick up after a while, but it never really did. Even after the ending it feels like "...that's it?". Nothing ever really shocked me and I figured out what had happened very early on.