Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Blurb:
Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.
Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.
Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door…and their intentions aren’t good.
With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.
My Review:
OMG, not like I haven’t read this author before, my first being His and Hers back in July 2021 followed shortly after that by two more of her successful audiobooks. I loved the first—but experienced a bit less enthusiasm with the successive choices.
This narrative begins with a baby kidnapped on Mother’s Day (twenty years previous) and the POVs of those most closely related to the scenario of the missing child after that. Now, Edith, 80 years old, is plotting her escape from a local nursing home placed there by daughter Clio—her greatest disappointment. Patience works at the nursing home and has bonded with Edith.
There is a jump between the original event and twenty years later when the POV goes to Frankie who lives and raises her estranged daughter, Patience, on a narrow boat on the Thames. Frankie found employment as a librarian at the local prison and is frantic to find her missing daughter.
The characters are obstinate, paranoid, distrustful, and alienated. The author carefully develops these characters bit by slow bit, adding a layer each time. They are wonderfully diverse and sympathies begin to divide and invite reader engagement or alienation. Can this dysfunctional cast of personalities possibly find a way to reconcile?
The storyline weaves in and out of the varied characters and timelines, adding a bit more backstory, information that fills in the blanks. There are secrets quietly divulged, lies, deception, and finally murder.
Yikes!! There are twists and turns but I couldn’t believe what I’d just read. Are you kidding? Somebody has a dark sense of humor…
This is a study of mother-daughter relationships like you’ve never read before leading to a raft of notable quotables:
(Motherhood) “A job I thought I wanted and now can’t quit.”
“Sadly it is human nature to squander love and stockpile hate.”
(A reference that brought a chuckle and mood-lightening moment)
“Am I supposed to Columbo what you just said…”
“Life seems better at punishing bad deeds than it is at rewarding good ones.”
(Of course, the mantra, theme of the narrative)
“The world is full of people who are good at being bad, and people who are bad at being good.”
(But my favorite)
“Mother knows best but sometimes it’s best Mother doesn’t know.”
It might be that you’d read the book for the pearls of wisdom doled out in bite-sized pieces—the easier to swallow—almost slipped by, but then you’d miss the lesson in a book with themes of dysfunction, abuse, manipulation, and reconciliation.
Is blood thicker than water? It’s gentle, but you can’t have missed that capsule.
You might need a chart to keep up or just pay attention so you don’t get lost. I did appreciate the conclusion. The novel is satisfying, in that defying kinda way, but on the whole, I found it rather depressing heartrending.
I received a copy of this book from my local library’s recommended list that in no way influenced this review. These opinions are my own.
Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars 
Book Details:
Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Kidnapping Thrillers
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ASIN: B0BST5X6GS
Print Length: 310 pages
Publication Date: August 29, 2023
Source: Library recommendation
Title Link(s):
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
The Author: Alice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author. Her books have been translated into over thirty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown. Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and now lives in Devon with her family. Good Bad Girl is her sixth novel.
You can follow Alice on Instagram and Twitter: @alicewriterland
To find out the latest book and TV news, or to sign up for Alice’s free newsletter, please visit: http://www.alicefeeney.com
©2023 V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 