About Books: A tale of social climbing and suspense

This is London-based, award winning journalist Katherine Faulkner’s second novel. She has worked as an investigative reporter making this British domestic thriller right up her alley. Her story’s main character, Tash, a freelance journalist is juggling a toddler, her marriage, a job, and her new friends that she has found at her son’s play group.

Tash James has recently left her job as a journalist to stay home with her toddler and launch her freelance career. She lives in a modest basement flat with her husband Tom, a doctor, and her 2-year-old son, Finn. Tash enrolls Finn in a play group, hoping to meet other mothers and form friendships for herself and her son. Unfortunately, Finn is experiencing separation anxiety when Tash drops him off leaving her feeling helpless and frustrated (many of us can relate). Then she spots the “other mothers,” a group of obviously sophisticated women who surely live in beautiful homes and share a social life that Tash envies. When Tash is welcomed into this group that includes, Laura, Claire and Nicole, she is swept up into their wealthy world of fancy brunches, cocktails, spas, and social play dates.

While Tash is racking up credit card debt (unbeknownst to her husband) trying to keep up with her new friends, she takes on a case about a young girl, Sophie, who supposedly, accidentally drowned in a local reservoir. Sophie’s mother thinks her daughter was murdered and asks Tash to investigate her case further. Tash’s interest peaks when her investigation quickly intertwines with her new life as she learns that Sophie was Claire’s nanny prior to her death. She becomes even more intrigued when Laura tells her not to mention Sophie’s name to Claire. As her investigation progresses, she receives anonymous messages to back off this case. She begins to feel uncomfortable around the other mothers. Are these women really her friends?

The story is told in two different timelines by two narrators: Tash narrates the present and Sophie tells her own story in the months, days, and even minutes leading up to her death. The author does a good job of presenting possible suspects and motives that keep readers guessing . Everyone is hiding something, and all the characters are untrustworthy. Dark secrets from the past begin to emerge and when another person dies, the female friendships are pushed to the breaking point.

There are a lot of characters in this book, and I suspected many of them along the way. It is a fast read with lots of twists escalating to a dramatic ending which I am still not sure about. It is more of a cliffhanger that presents two conclusions. Start your New Year off with a bang by reading this compelling suspense novel.

Questions

• What character did you admire the most?

• How did your thoughts about Sophie change throughout the book?

• Who made your list of suspects?

• Is there just one villain in this story? Is there a hero?

• Were you surprised by the ending?

• What do you think Tash will decide to do in the end?

• Do you believe that the truth is subjective?

REVIEW

The Other Mothers

By Katherine Faulkner

4.0 stars

***

Jacquie O’Neil and her daughter, Times Leader Media Group Publisher Kerry Miscavage, contribute to this column.