The Mother's Fault: A totally addictive psychological thriller full of twists

Name: The Mother's Fault: A totally addictive psychological thriller full of twists
Rating: 4.400000095367432 (40 reviews)

Nicole Trope

Oct 2021 · Bookouture

4.4

40 reviews

Ebook

350

Pages

Eligible

About this ebook

‘OMG!!!… WHAT HAVE I JUST READ!?!?!?… Truly unputdownable… I did absolutely NOT expect that humongous bombshell at all. What an absolute twist!!! I can hand on my heart say that I cannot remember when I was so gobsmacked… If you read one book in your life, make sure it is this!!!!… An absolutely heart-racing, nail-biting, unputdownable psychological thriller with a bombshell you will not see coming!!!’ Bookworm86, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

She’ll do anything to save her son. But what if telling the truth means losing him for ever?

On a crisp winter’s evening, Beverly is cooking for her son. Eight-year-old Riley is climbing a tree in the garden, and Beverly smiles as she watches him. Nothing makes her happier than her precious child having fun – she never thought they’d be happy again.

The water on the stove is boiling, and Beverly slides in a handful of spaghetti. When she glances out of the window again, Riley is not there.

She races outside, her heart thumping. Riley is nowhere to be found.

Instinctively, Beverly knows that her son has not just run away. She knows this because of her secret – the one she has kept for eight years. The one that means she has no choice but to keep neighbours at a distance, that stops her sleeping at night.

She thought she’d made the right decision, that she was protecting her son. But now he’s gone. Could this be all her fault?

She’ll do anything to save him. Yet if she tells the truth, she could lose him for ever…

A totally gripping psychological thriller that will get your pulse racing like crazy as it hits you with twist after twist after twist! If you loved The Wife Between Us or The Girl on the Train you’ll be utterly glued to this page-turner.

Readers love The Mother’s Fault:

‘OMG!!! SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!.… The most heart-racing book I’ve read in long time, if not ever!!! It had me hook, line and sinker from the first page and I could not put it down!!! Every time I said one more chapter it ended on a cliffhanger and I just had to know what was going on!!!… Clear your day because it is truly unputdownable… If you read one book in your life, make sure it is this!!!!… LOVED it.’ Bookworm86, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Absolutely amazing with huge twists and turns – I defy anybody not to love this book! I devoured this.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Loved, loved, loved!!!!! You cannot go wrong when you pick up one of Nicole Trope’s books. My world literally stops. I finish in just one sitting with a box of Kleenex by my side… You are in for a shock of all shockers.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wow! A book packed with so many twists and turns it’s impossible to put down!… Tugs on so many emotions.’ NetGalley reviewer

‘Amazing! This was a tense book that I read pretty much in one sitting, and late into the night! Jammed packed with tension and suspense that kept my heart racing. Whenever I had to stop reading I couldn’t wait to get back to it!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I was on the edge of my seat from page 1… I honestly thought I had figured out the twist early on but boy was I WRONG!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Kept me up well past my bedtime!’ NetGalley reviewer

‘This is my first by this author & it won’t be my last!!!!!!!!!!…The twists & turns had me zipping throughout the pages!!!!!’ Goodreads reviewer

‘Wow, what a page turner!! I could not put this book down!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I was hooked… Wow – this is the kind of book where you start reading and think you have a pretty good handle on things, then, WHAM! A twist gets thrown in there and knocks you off your feet.’ Ebookbnerdreviews

‘Wow what a book!… Had me hooked immediately… Unputdownable... The twists keeping me on the edge of my seat.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Finished it in less than a day… I was hooked and captivated until the very ending… This book deserves more than 5 stars!’ Jessica Bryson, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A brilliant, cliff-hanger of a read… I just kept turning the pages desperate to find out what was going to happen next, enthralled from the first page to the last.’ Charliebeesbooks, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Oh wow!… Absolutely fantastic!… It made me shriek a little more times than I’d care to admit.’ Goodreads reviewer

Ratings and reviews

4.4

40 reviews

Suzi Makowski

October 15, 2021

Beverly is a young single mother raising her eight-year-old son, Riley. They live a quiet life and Beverly shies away from any relationships that get too close, even breaking off an engagement. Soon after, mysterious gifts start arriving in the mailbox for Riley. The sender doesn’t sign their name, and although he has been told his father died, Riley secretly hopes the gifts might somehow be from his dad. The gifts become more expensive, and soon after receiving a particularly extravagant gift, Riley goes missing. Beverly has a lot to hide and a lot to lose, but she is frantic to find Riley and knows she must call the police for help. Will she risk losing everything in order to save her son? Nicole Trope is a master of the psychological thriller. The suspense in this novel is pulse-pounding from the start, and the tension really ratchets up when Riley disappears. The author does a skillful job of weaving the past and the present together, revealing all the secrets and tragedies the characters experienced that led to the current drama that unfolds. Lots of twists to keep the reader guessing, and finding out who took Riley and why was a real shocker. All of the loose ends are neatly tied up in the epilogues, but even then there’s one more twist to surprise the reader up until the very end.

A Google user

September 8, 2021

My Review: Loved, loved, loved!!!!! Another great book from a fantastic author. You can not go wrong when you pick up one of Nicole Trope’s books. My world literally stops when I’m reading her books. I will usually finish in just one sitting with a box of Kleenex by my side. Her books get me so emotional and I love it. I look forward to reading more of her books. I want to start off by saying how great this author is. I have read almost all her books now and she sure does not disappoint in any of them. Every book I have read has felt like I was right there with the characters living their happiness and in some cases their worse nightmares. In this book I really felt the pain and tragedy that all of these characters went through. Each character in the book had it rough in some way, shape or form. Now on to my favorite part, that ending. There were so many secrets throughout the whole book and I loved how it all came out in the end. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. When you get to the end you think you know where it is all going but you don’t. You are in for a shock of all shockers. I love the fact that this author continues to shock me with every book I read of hers. I can’t wait for her next book. Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

1 person found this review helpful

Duchess Sarah Ferguson

October 15, 2021

The Mother's Fault is Aussie author Nicole Trope's follow-up to the well-received The Family Across the Street, released in August 2021. Trope has obviously been using her time during Sydney's lockdown productively! There are several themes in common between the two books, including a dramatic seige/detainment situation, a character suffering the long-term effects of abusive parenting and a well-imagined point-of-view from a character suffering from a delusional psychosis. There's also the useful - dare I say it - trope (!) of an elderly neighbour of the central character(s), whose involvement adds pathos and moves the action forward. Also similarly to The Family Across the Street, The Mother's Fault is told from alternating perspectives and contains plenty of misdirection, red herrings and surprising twists. Young single mother Beverley lives in her own childhood home with her 8-year-old son, Riley. Her parents were both killed in a car accident when she was 16. Her only other relative - her older brother James - died two years later, in traumatic circumstances that are slowly revealed over the course of the book. Beverley and Riley are alone in the world, and while there are some financial and social struggles, are a close family unit. But Beverley is nervous that something in her past might one day be revealed and tear them apart. Riley has been told that his father is dead, but Beverley is reluctant to give him any more than scant detail and has hidden all photographs of the man away where Riley can't find them. Perhaps understandably, imaginative Riley entertains fantasies that his father is still alive somewhere and will one day reappear. One morning, a wrapped parcel appears in their letterbox, addressed to Riley and containing a small gift and a cryptic note. On succeeding days, more - increasingly generous - gifts appear, delighting Riley but causing Beverley deep concern. At first she suspects her former partner, Ethan, with whom she'd recently broken up over her inability to open up about her own and Riley's background. But he's not responding to her repeated texts and phone calls asking him to stop. Then Riley disappears from the back yard one afternoon after school... While The Mother's Fault contained plenty of tension, good character development and several unexpected twists, I didn't enjoy it as much as I did The Family Across the Street. Perhaps that's because the underlying plot of The Mother's Fault felt just a little too much over the top and there were several plot/character inconsistencies which I felt stretched credibility. That said, it's a fast and engrossing read. Potential trigger warnings for readers include: child abuse (physical and emotional), violence, family trauma and mental illness. I'd recommend The Mother's Fault to readers who enjoy domestic thrillers with lots of twists and turns. My thanks to the author, Nicole Trope, publisher Bookouture and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this title in advance of its publication on 15 October 2021.

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