Name: The Wrong Mother
Rating: 4.166666666666667 (6 reviews)
ISBN: 9780143131670

Sophie Hannah

Originally published in 2008 by Hodder & Stoughton as The point of rescue.

A Zailer and Waterhouse Mystery

The Wrong Mother

The wrong mother

window

This was a real page-turner to the point that I found myself pulling it out to read at a stoplight. 

Sally, a mom stretched too thin by the demands of work and home, turns a cancelled business trip into an opportunity to get away for a week. The problem is that her husband still thinks she's on a business trip - oh, and she has an affair while she's there. She successfully hides this all from her family until the man she has an affair with, Mark Bretherick, ends up on the local news. His wife has killed herself and their daughter. Sally watches the news and is compelled to investigate the man. His name, address, and the names of his wife and daughter all are the same as the man she had an affair with but he‚Äôs not the same man.

It turns out that the man on the news is the real Mark Bretherick and now Sally feels that she must find out who the imposter was that she slept with. After she's pushed in front of a bus and finds out that she‚Äôs being followed, it becomes critical to find out who the man really is and why he would impersonate Bretherick. The mystery deepens as the police rule Geraldine‚Äôs death a homicide. As Sally investigates Geraldine and Lucy Bretherick‚Äôs personal lives, she discovers that one of Lucy‚Äôs school friends and her mother suddenly moved away ‚Äì the same friend and mother who are in photo frames behind pictures of Lucy and Geraldine in Mark Bretherick‚Äôs house. 

The author does a good job of tightening the suspense until Sally finally comes face-to-face with the imposter and discovers that he has developed an obsession about her. At that point, the story takes a turn towards creepy as the depth of his delusion is revealed.

My only criticisms of the book are that I was not all that interested in the personal lives of the police involved in the investigation of the murders. I didn‚Äôt feel that the subplots added anything compelling to the story. I also thought that the author could have placed a few clues as to the murderer‚Äôs identity or cast suspicion on a few characters to give readers a chance to puzzle things out. There were no suspects until the end when ‚Äì voila - the killer is revealed. I like it when the bad guy‚Äôs identity is unexpected, but I like to try to figure out who the bad guy is as I read.

The Wrong Mother A Zailer and Waterhouse Mystery

Reviews

Highlights