TWISTED PSYCHODRAMA — A Review of “The Wrong Mother”

 

 

Whenever I finally thought I had it all figured out, the author threw another twist into the plot, until finally, as the intrigue seems to be falling into place, it knots itself up again.

A murder mystery, a psychological study—these elements are set against an almost comedic exploration of the police detectives assigned to the case to form a multilayered drama.

There is nothing ordinary about this tale that begins with an affair and ends in death. Whatever might seem to be a predictable scenario is soon found to be anything but, and as we struggle to add up the clues, hoping to finally understand what happened, we keep bumping up against the incongruities, the misdirection, until finally we are desperate just to understand what happened and why.

Sophie Hannah’s story is so brilliantly complex that I could not read it too late at night, for fear of nodding off and missing some key elements.

This is definitely not a pleasure read, despite some actually humorous aspects, like the relationships between the police detectives. A story that kept me on my toes and moving ahead to the final conclusion, The Wrong Mother: A Novel is definitely a five-star read.