A Good Mother (Hepburn)-BoT-Psychological Thriller-Available Now

Here’s another psych thriller that, while a good read, left me a bit confused.

I understand that a slow build up is often a good way to build tension, especially if the author is laying the groundwork for several twists and turns later in the book.

This one certainly takes a long time for the foundation to become clear. I had a difficult time determining what events were pivotal and which ones were just to move the story along…or were red herrings.

In that regard, the author did a good job of keeping me guessing. I was trying to map out the story, and I didn’t have a good handle on it at all.

Once the author starts using flashbacks for Nicci as a means of explaining her backstory, things started to become clearer. They were never jarring, and the pace of the plot continued to flow.

I will say that Nicola’s past was a surprise. It went much darker than I expected. I suppose that made the events in the present make more sense…to an extent.

In fact, it’s probably safe to say that some readers may have trouble with her past. There certainly was not a lot of good in it.

I thought that she was a sympathetic character for most of the book. It was obvious that someone was gaslighting her for some reason. I had my suspicions from the very first incident (I was right). But I still couldn’t figure out why until the author revealed it late in the book.

At a certain point, I thought the action went a little too incredible to be believed in the midst of the bigger plot. It made Nicola less sympathetic in my eyes, although I do understand why she went to the lengths that she did. They just weren’t entirely believable.

The twists that occurred in the latter half were decent. In fact, by the time I got to them, I had forgotten some of the beginning. It wasn’t until I was reviewing my notes that I realized the author had been dropping hints from the start. Well done on that.

All in all, it was a good read and I would recommend it.

Author Bio:

Sam Hepburn read modern languages at Cambridge University and, after a brief spell in advertising, joined the BBC as a General Trainee. She worked as a documentary maker for twenty years and was one of the commissioners for the launch of BBC Four. Since then, she has written several books, including psychological thrillers Gone Before and Her Perfect Life, and novels for young adults and children. She won the 2017 CWA Margery Allingham Short Story award and has been nominated for several other prestigious prizes, including the CILIP Carnegie Medal for her YA thrillers.

Sam has worked and travelled widely in Africa and the Middle East, and is a trustee of the Kenyan’s children’s charity, I Afrika. She now lives in London with her husband and children.