Mother, Mother

An electrifying debut novel about what happens when the one who should love you the most becomes your worst enemy. Sure to appeal to fans of GONE GIRL and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Meet the Hurst Family.

Meet Violet Hurst -16 years old, beautiful and brilliant. So why is she being accused of being a danger to herself and others?

Meet her brother Will Hurst – the smartest and sweetest twelve-year old boy around. But does he really need all that medication he is being told to take?

Meet oldest sister Rose – the one who got away. She disappeared one night in her final year of school, never to be heard from again.

My opinion: I was very intrigued by this book and just had to give it a go. It was also the change I needed to get me out of a deep reading slump!

The Hurst family are screwed up from the moment we meet them. Violet has been admitted to a psychiatric ward after taking drugs and attacking her brother who is very much still the baby of the family, mother Josephine who is blatantly a bit "different" and dad Douglas who is noticeably disinterested and possibly distracted elsewhere. And there is big sister Rose. She disappeared with her boyfriend and hasn't been seen since and is a taboo topic for discussion with the family.

Right from the very outset I had the feeling that something was wrong and everything wasn't quite as it seemed. I kept trying to figure out what the secret was in the family, but I wasn't able to guess it in its entirety. It was so intricately woven and just kept unfolding all the way from beginning to end, it really kept my interest and kept me guessing! I really didn't like Will from the very beginning. I could tell that he had been conditioned in a certain way and he was so pretentious sometimes. Josephine was a great character, even though she is one that you just love to hate. To be able to craft a character who is so obviously deranged but in a way that you can't quite figure her out is a mark of real talent.

Violet was my favourite character. I loved the way she developed through the book from wild teenager to someone I really felt a connection to. This was a great book and I'm so glad I read it and it got me out of my reading slump. I'd recommend this to fans of Room and Before I Go to Sleep. It is compared in the blurb to Gone Girl, but don't let that put you off. I hated Gone Girl, but loved this book!

If anyone has any recommendations of similar psychological thrillers that you think I may like then please get in touch!!

My rating: Five stars