Review: Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight

Goodreads

Release date: July 30, 2024

Publisher: Knopf

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

When Cleo, a student at NYU, arrives late for dinner at her childhood home in Brooklyn, she finds food burning in the oven and no sign of her mother, Kat. Then Cleo discovers her mom’s bloody shoe under the sofa. Something terrible has happened.

But what? The polar opposite of Cleo, whose “out of control” emotions and “unsafe” behavior have created a seemingly unbridgeable rift between mother and daughter, Kat is the essence of Park Slope perfection: a happily married, successful corporate lawyer. Or so Cleo thinks.

Kat has been lying. She’s not just a lawyer; she’s her firm’s fixer. She’s damn good at it, too. Growing up in a dangerous group home taught her how to think fast, stay calm under pressure, and recognize a real threat when she sees one. And in the days leading up her disappearance, Kat has become aware of multiple threats: demands for money from her unfaithful soon-to-be ex-husband; evidence that Cleo has slipped back into a relationship that’s far riskier than she understands; and menacing anonymous messages from her past—all of which she’s kept hidden from Cleo . . .

Like Mother, Like Daughter is a thrilling novel of emotional suspense that questions the damaging fictions we cling to and the hard truths we avoid. Above all, it’s a love story between a mother and a daughter, each determined to save the other before it’s too late.

Review:

This was a really solid thriller, exactly the kind of story I’ve come to expect from the author. She’s a really great writer, I love her style and combine that with a compelling and intricate plot and a complex mother/daughter relationship and I was hooked. This is a character driven story following Cleo and her mom, Kat who are somewhat estranged when Kat goes missing. You hear from Cleo in the present day and Kat in the weeks leading up to her disappearance until everything merges together in a fairly satisfying conclusion. There is definitely a lot of emotional upheaval here due to their strained relationship and I thought the author did a fantastic job at examining their issues. My only small gripe was there were a couple of loose threads in the end that I wish were more resolved but overall a solid read for me.

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

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