When it comes to light that the incident is part of a new behavior pattern for her son, one complete with fake social media profiles with a lot of questionable content, Alice’s social standing is quickly eroded to one of “those moms” who can’t control her kids. Soon she’s facing the very judgement she was all too happy to dole out when she thought no one was looking (or when she thought her house wasn’t made of glass).
Then her mother unloads a family secret she’s kept for more than thirty years, and Alice’s entire perception of herself is shattered.
As her son’s new reputation polarizes her friendships and her family buzzes with the ramification of her mother’s choices, Alice realizes that she’s been too focused on measuring her success and happiness by everyone else's standards. Now, with all her shortcomings laid bare, she’ll have to figure out to whom to turn for help and decide who she really wants to be. (Pub Date: Mar 16 2021)
A lot has happened in Alice's life and they are certainly changing how she views her world, but it'll be all right as long as the other mothers don't find out.The thing is that she's not the only mother going through mind-opening changes and much less not the only one trying to keep it all under control.
3.5 rounded up.
To be honest, I was expecting something closer to Liane Moriarty, considering all the school/mothers/children drama, so for a part of the book I was disappointed the focus was very different even if the starting point was almost the same (no one was dead here). However, Kathleen West has this gripping style that makes you consider eating the pages to make it go faster so you'll know what she has prepared next.
I can't say I related to the characters. I'm not a mother and I'm not preparing to be one. I'm of course not a middle-school student. Though I did like some characters in the beginning, it doesn't seem to be the author's intentions to make that love last, because we will find out one can be worse than the other. By the middle, I was hoping for more wood on the fire, because it was sadistically fun to see all those long-lasting foundations from the beginning crumble down.
I'd say this book could have been much better. Like, some character that really made you like her—I do feel the author didn't want any saints standing in the end and that building a charismatic character strong enough for us to still cheer for her isn't an easy task, but that's one thing the book unfortunately lacked. Also, I would have liked a better point. I don't think this book was just for enjoying the ride and I enjoyed the ending, but it could have had more oomph. It's a book above average but once you're close to the end and feel you won't get much further plotwise, the read drags. For so many turnabouts in the beginning, the finish like was lackluster.
This was a pleasing read and also a quick one—I wasn't expecting to be done this soon. It's more of a women's fiction than a thriller, but it does give you some thrill. I feel curious about this author's works and will keep an eye on her next endeavors.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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