It was a lovely day for a garden party. The sun was shining, the barbecue was hot, the drinks were cold, and all the guests were there. And then one of the guests fell off the balcony and landed on the rocks below.
Or were they pushed?
The party was for a group of new mothers. They had met in a supportive prenatal class run by Nina. In the group were Aisha and Rahul, who were married for only a few months before she got pregnant. Cathy and Hazel had been planning to have a baby together, Cathy carrying the baby thanks to the help of a donor. Anita and Jeremy are adopting a baby from America. Jax is a professional woman pregnant by her younger boyfriend. Kelly is the youngest, with her partner Ryan usually missing the meetings and making trouble the one time he does show up. And Monica and Ed, the wealthiest of the group, seem to be having an easier time with pregnancy.
It was Monica’s idea to have everyone over to their impressive house a few weeks after all the babies are born. She’d handed out the invitations the last night of class. She had no way of knowing what would happen. She hadn’t known then that two of those couples would lose out on their dreams. She hadn’t known then that each couple had secrets. She hadn’t known then that one of those people at the party would go over her balcony.
It’s up to Detective Sergeant Alison Hegarty to figure out what happened on that balcony. Everyone’s telling a different story of who was where during the barbecue, and that, along with Alison’s finely honed instincts, tells her that her gut is right—this was no accident. It was murder.
Claire McGowan’s new novel, The Push, is a fascinating study of secrets and how they can eat away at relationships. The bestselling author of What You Did and The Other Wife knows how to write a compelling story, and The Push keeps pulling you in deeper, trying to figure out the secrets and lies that are keeping this group together and pulling them apart.
I liked The Push, but I had been hoping to love it. I thought some of the secrets were telegraphed to the reader a little earlier than they could have been, so my attention waxed and waned. But I did keep coming back to it to find out what happened and what everyone else was trying to hide. It’s a good, solid read. Thriller fans will find some enjoyment in The Push. I was just hoping for a little more intrigue than I found.
Egalleys for The Push were provided by Amazon Publishing UK, through NetGalley, with many thanks.
