This was a stunningly twisty murder mystery that I loved every moment of! The characters were well fleshed out and I enjoyed surprise after surprise. The writing was great and I can say that I didn’t see the twists coming! Who knew that motherhood could be so tough? I love that all of the characters were nuanced, flawed individuals with full back stories of their own. Strong story, very highly recommended!

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows the guests from a party where someone has died. They are all hiding secrets and it’s up to the detective to find out if the death was an accident or murder and how all the secrets tie in.

I really enjoyed this book, I liked that you don’t know who has died at first and although books that feature different characters and timelines can be a bit hit or miss sometimes for me, this one was definitely a hit. I guessed where the story was going to go pretty early on but I still found it a really enjoyable read. There’s something very gripping about the characters, both the likeable ones and the not so likeable ones.

Claire McGowan masterfully weaves several timelines and points of view together to help the reader slowly understand what happened at a antenatal reunion featuring several adults and babies where one of the attendees fell (or was pushed) off a balcony.

This was an enthralling read, and while everything was not a surprise, there was enough to hold interest.

I will read other books by this author.

This book was a tough one to review, especially as a big fan of McGowan's. My first reaction was my usual for her- loving it. McGowan is an awesome writer, and that comes through from the first page of the book. In today's market, flooded with thrillers, it's so nice to sit down with one that is truly well-written. The story was interesting, and the ways the characters intertwined was well done. However, the characters also felt a bit cardboardy, and I had worked out the twist when I was 35% done with the book. After I worked it out, I felt like I was waiting to see if I was wrong or there was something else, but there wasn't. It wasn't a book that I had any trouble finishing though! McGowan can keep you hooked simply with her writing style. Worth reading.

When I was looking for something a little bit of a thriller to read around Halloween, I found The Push.  I don't do really scary, spooky or horror so this was just what I was looking for.  The book is about a baby group - 6 couples were all in the group, all set to have their babies around the same time of the year so they were learning about everything they needed to know to be better prepared in this group.  While they all came from completely different backgrounds, they all had their babies and due dates in common.  A few of the characters are focused on a bit more than others and it took me a while to get everyone straight and their stories and all that as well as figure out who it was who ended up dead!  (The death happens quite early on but there's a lot of flashbacks and flashforwards, so beware if that kind of thing is tricky for you - I did almost bust out a notebook and keep a character guide at one point.)  Once I got about halfway through the book, everything was sort of making sense.  Well, I knew who was who, at least.  There were still several mysteries to be solved.  Some of them I figured out early, some of them ended up blindsiding me.  All in all, a quick mysterious read that left me satisfied.

I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

I enjoyed this book after I became accustomed to the many characters and the chapters jumping from past to present. There are a wide array of characters to keep you wondering, as each has their own issues. They come together in a prenatal class run by a woman who is a character all her own. How it all ties together in the end is predictable in some areas but surprising in others.

Claire McGowan has written a very suspenseful mystery in The Push. Twelve people at a party but none of them see the thirteenth fall off a balcony? Or did someone push her?

We get alternating narrators as well as jumps between the day and the time leading up to the day. There are multiple twists and turns, many of which the reader will have figured out long before the explosive ending, but some are very masterfully interwoven and pop out like a jack in the box toy.

I would have liked to know if Jax was able to keep her job, but unfortunately not all little loose ends are tied into a bow.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Breathtakingly brilliant!

I loved this book from start to finish! At first it was slightly confusing as I tried to work out who had been murderer and what was happening. But, like Alison, things slowly become clear. The way the tension mounts and the story unfolds is brilliant.

So many twists and turns that keep you guessing, making connections and waiting to see if you are right.

It is impossible to say much without giving away parts of the story but I loved the characters, the clever plot, the lies revealed in every subplot, and the overarching theme of motherhood.

A masterpiece!

Thank you too NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the ARC.

I enjoyed the premise of this book but it fell a little flat for me. There was a wide cast of characters that I never got to know. They all had various secrets to hide, giving them all potential motive, but we only closed over them. Even with diving in to more of Jax's background I couldn't get a good read on her.

Additionally, one twist was easily guessable and to me, not that realistic. At least to the extent of it in this story.

This was a quick read, I was eager to see how it wrapped up but it's not necessarily one I'll be pressing in to others hands.

Twisty, chilling and unputdownable.

This book revolves around an antenatal group who meet for a celebration following the births of the groups babies. But every couple in the group is hiding a secret and the event ends in tragedy when someone falls to their death from the balcony of the party.

But was it an accident? Or could it be murder?

The story is told primarily through the eyes of Jax, an older member of the group who lives with a much younger man, and Alison, the police officer who is assigned to the case as she interviews the party goers and unpicks the mystery.

I found it utterly compelling as we discovered the secrets each was hiding. The book explores themes of motherhood and relationships, and ultimately comes to an explosive end. I would thoroughly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ArC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley, and Amazon Publishing for the review copy.

I have read and enjoyed several of McGowan's previous novels- The Other Wife and What You Did, and have to say, this is the best one yet. Although it is set up as a mystery, detective story, it is much more about family, and relationships. What does it take to be a mother? What does a family look like?

There were some obvious parts, but on the whole, I was not positive about who killed the victim until the end. Well done.

The Push is a good suspenseful read. There’s multiple characters who go back and forth and you get their points of view. Definitely keeps moving and is pretty easy to keep up with. I found it very interesting we don’t know who’s pushed till almost the end of the book. Thanks Net Galley for the Arc. I’ll definitely be reading more Claire McGowan

SO good! I loved the chapters from alternating viewpoints AND the BEFORE/NOW timeline. It took a few chapters for me to figure out the victim, which was great. The characters are varied and relatable, especially if you are a parent, or have ever wanted to be a parent.

"The party should have been perfect: six couples from the same baby group, six newborns, a luxurious house. But not everything has gone to plan, and while some are here to celebrate, others have sorrows to drown. When someone falls from the balcony of the house, the secrets and conflicts within the group begin to spill out.
DS Alison Hegarty, herself struggling with infertility, is called in to investigate. She’s convinced the fall was not an accident, and finds the new parents have a lot to hide. Wealthy Ed and Monica show off their newborn while their teenage daughter is kept under virtual house arrest. Hazel and Cathy conceived their longed-for baby via an anonymous sperm donor—or so Hazel thinks. Anita and Jeremy planned to adopt from America, but there’s no sign of the child. Kelly, whose violent boyfriend disrupted previous group sessions, came to the party even though she lost her baby. And then there’s Jax, who’s been experiencing strange incidents for months—almost like someone’s out to get her. Is it just a difficult pregnancy? Or could it be payback for something she did in the past? It’s a nightmare of a case, and as events get even darker it begins to look impossible. Only one thing is clear: they all have something to hide. And for one of them, it’s murder."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was hoping for a little more from this book. I was able to predict pretty much everything that happened. It was definitely not a thriller but it was a quick, light read that was somewhat enjoyable.
Six couples join a prenatal group. All different ages,races,and social classes. One instructor. One party post babies. One death. All told in different pov’s. This book reminded me of a murder mystery party where you have to guess who the murder is.

Unfortunately this one didn't really work for me. Six couples meet at a prenatal class. Fast forward to a post-birth celebration, where someone ends up dead after falling from a balcony. The mystery involves who died, how they died, and what the respective couples are hiding. Maybe I've read too many similar books written in this same style, but I just didn't find there to be enough tension or drama. I figured out the two "twists" early on and could've used some more character development on each couple. Also, as someone who is not a mother, I didn't care much for the prenatal/birthing class backstory. This was an easy and quick read, but just not for me.

Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for an ARC of this title!

The Push by Claire McGowan
Claire McGowan’s new novel is an excellent psychological mystery in which the various couples in an antenatal group reunite at a barbecue after their babies are born. The party ends with the group’s facilitator, Nina, falling from a balcony to her death on the rockery below. The story then winds backward, telling the story from the viewpoint of each mother until the narrative reaches the point in time of the barbecue. The slow reveal of each main character’s motives, secrets, and lies ratchets up the suspense as the story moves forward in time. The reader comes to know the various couples along with the problems and suffering they each confront. Some characters are more sympathetic than others, but the police detective, Alison, knows that they are all hiding something. Adding poignancy to the situation, Alison herself is grappling with infertility and deeply desires a baby. What is behind the death of Nina? Did the secrets that she herself kept hidden lead to her fatal plunge from the balcony?
The novel explores themes of parent-child relationships and motherhood, both the desperate longing for it and the sometimes painful realities of it, especially for new mothers. The ways in which secrets and lies affect close relationships also play out in the narrative.
The novel’s expert pacing, the suspense factor, and the well-depicted relationships between believable characters make this a good read.

This is a well conceived and delivered story. Six couples, all at one stage or another of expecting or hoping for a baby meet in a pre-natal class. Each couple has issues, some in their relationship each other, some because of an age gap, one couple because the baby they purchased in America does not materialise. Then there is the posh couple, Monica and Ed. She thinks she is better than the others having more money and a posh house. But is she not elderly to be having a baby? She has a teenage daughter by a previous relationship, Chloe. The book concentrated mainly on Jax who has a much younger partner, Aaron. She cannot understand who has it in for her as she suffers numerous incidents and online abuse. The pre-natal class is organised by Nina who has no apparent connections. The births and non-births are eventually celebrated at a class barbecue in the home of posh Monica. One falls to her death. There are then two detectives added to the mix one of whom also has fertility issues. Their progress towards determining what caused the death keeps the reader in suspense. The ending is unexpected but satisfactory. This is a well written book, full of tension. I recommend it.

This book was about a random group of people who joined a pre-baby group. There were a lot of characters to keep tracked of, but the author did a good job distinguishing them. There were two different timelines, one in the present and one leading up to the birth of the babies. The mystery unfolded slowly and there were some surprises for me. By the end, I had it mostly figured out, but it didn't take away from the story. I enjoy this author's writing style and will definitely read her again. A recommended read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

The Push is a complex and clever mystery. It is a fun read. I never took the characters or the issues at hand too seriously.

The basic mystery at the core of this novel is an accident, which may be a murder, that killed someone at a house party. Attendees at the house party were six couples, their instructor and the new babies born to the couples. The couples had all attended a course for expectant parents together. The party was intended to celebrate the newborn children, but the party was marred by the incident resulting in the death of one of the attendees. Even though the accident occurs at the beginning of the book, we don't find out who the victim was until halfway through the book. You find out how the death occurred at the very end.

But this is not the only mystery. For every couple, there is some other secret or mystery that needs to be uncovered. And the characters all lie. The reader knows they are lying, but needs to figure out why. That's what makes this book fun: the author is constantly keeping the reader guessing. I was taken in by this author game.

The structure of this book is a little complicated, flashing back to the weeks before the incident and also to the events of the day that led up to the incident from many points of view. I was able to follow easily, but this makes it the type of book you don't want to put down for very long.

Lots of surprises, all tied together with a bow at the end.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was quite the disappointing read for me. I loved the premise of a dead body at a party and the thrill of finding out whodunit. First the good parts, I thought the author did a fine job in tackling a retrospective look at the party, and kept the reader in suspense as to which party-goer died. Another fine job at what people go through to conceive a baby when things don't go according to Nature. Now for the downside, I thought the story dragged, and many parts were simply not logical, e.g. why would Monica attend the antenatal group at all? Why call attention to yourself? I had a real problem with that. Character development was minimal at best, although the author did a good job of introducing the characters by not overwhelming the reader. I'm torn about whether I'd recommend the book, maybe, depending on the reader.