This story had a lot of potential, but there were too many common tropes happening which made it really predictable. Lots of red herrings. Seasoned thriller readers will figure out what's going on by about halfway through. I'd recommend it to someone who is new to the genre.

I realised that I have already read and reviewed this book. Here is my review below.

This is a really good read. The characters and the whole storyline are brilliant and believable. This story is a very cleverly written memorable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This book was, in a word, not worth reading. Even though it wasn’t terrible, it had a really bad ending. On top of which, every part of the book that was supposed to be a surprise wasn’t. I saw it all coming, and that’s just not fun.

In addition, I really didn’t like it that the author was stereotypical with the gay characters. I won’t say how that happened, as I don’t want to ruin it. But really, what the hell?

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Wonderfully well plotted mystery grabs you from the get go and does not let up! Fans of Little Big Lies will love this smart topical compelling novel! Compelling wonderfully drawn characters who you will love to hate!

Another great novel from Claire McGowan. This is a sophisticated crime mystery that centres around a death at a party and a circle of couples who met in an expectant parents group. Who did it? Who saw it? It's probably not what you expect. Will the truth come 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. Her investigation is stalled and stopped and following her gut feeling to find the truth becomes her mission. Despite being key to the investigation her character doesn't dominate the book which has so many interesting characters in it.

We meet a lot of characters, yet get to know each one so well. From all different walks of life, different financial backgrounds, life situations, they all come together for a new group mentoring those expecting a baby. This in itself becomes a central part of the plot as characters connect and clash. Friendships formed and tested.

With suspicion on my mind, I played amateur detective in trying to guess the big reveal of this book but I came close but not quite. I think it could of had a bit more pace to it and a touch more edginess to push it to five stars for me. A solid psychological thriller with a crime twist.

Was she pushed or did she fall?

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy. All reviews are my own opinion and totally unbiased.

A group of women having babies, all with secrets in their relationships and a death. It was pretty good, a little show and while the twist did surprise me, it mostly felt predictable and not anything i would remember

If you enjoy a good “whodunit” tale then this is a title for you. It’s the story of six couples, all very different, brought together after meeting a classes for expectant parents. The couples meet at a luxurious house of one of the group members to celebrate the birth of the babies when one of the women (we don’t know who for some time) falls to her death from a balcony. At this point were introduced to Alison, the detective investigating the case and we see tales and secrets of each couple coming to light. It was an interesting read, I enjoyed the backstories of the different characters and how they interact with each other given that they are all very different. I was given a free copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Claire McGowan cab always be relied upon to come up with the best page turners and this was no exception. I loved the pacing of this story, found it so gripping from the moment I picked it up. If you're looking for a good thriller that'll keep you reading until the early hours you need to read this!

This is definitely one of the most gripping “domestic thrillers” I’ve read. I genuinely read this in a few hours completely focused on it!

A complete must read

A dinner party and a death. All of the guests are certain the fall was an accident. But even though everyone's witness statement is the same, DS Alison Hegarty feels something is off. As she starts digging deeper, she begins to uncover little inconsistencies between the stories and that everyone involved has something or other to hide.

This book made me think of a modern-day version of Clue or some similar old mystery-caper movie. We skip back and forth in time between the accident, the weeks leading up to it, and the investigation the following week, during which we learn the backstories of every character. It flowed well and I felt that the mystery, as well as reveal and some twists were very well-executed and just worked. The characters were well-written and their traits and personalities were developed in a way that I felt fit and added interest to the diverse cast.

Another solid five star book by this author, I loved it and could not put it down!

Thank-you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy.

Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Plot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mystery: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Writing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I never repeat the blurb. This took a while, as it was quite "bitty" but it was with sticking with, to find out who both the victim and the perpetrator were. Did guess the latter quite early, hence 3*. Enjoyable.

This was full of so many twists and turns. If you like Liane Moriarty, then this book is definitely for you. it was easy to read even with a lot of characters at play.

I loved this book. Tense and sinister in places but with real in depth characters. I gobbled it up in a very short time. I often start books and takes ages to read them. Loved this though.

Great book with some very interesting characters concentrating on a baby group and the stories of these people that flits back and forth to an ‘accident’ when someone falls from a house balcony and the back story of them before they had their babies. Great story, lots of smaller stories interwoven in the book. Really enjoyed it. Thank you for letting me review this book.

I am a Claire McGowan fan, so I was quick to request The Push when I saw it on NetGalley and was excited when I was approved for an advanced copy.  The general premise is that a group of women meet during a pre-natal group session.  At a party celebrating the birth of their children, someone falls (or was he/she pushed) to their death from the balcony of the home.  

McGowan does a good job of building the story by moving back and forth in time to tell the story from different perspectives, while keeping the identity of the dead person a secret and whether or not the death was accidental.

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

The premise was intriguing and for almost half the book I was excited and thrilled.

The plot is narrated through multiple POVs of the different couples involved as well as of DS Alison. As I read the book for me the main mystery was identifying who had fallen from the balcony. Once that was revealed half way through the book, I did not find much suspense remaining in the remaining part of the book.

There were quite a few secrets revealed about the various couples but I did not find them very exciting. Also the two main twists in the plot were quite obvious to guess.

Overall, an okay plot but with the writing being fast paced, it becomes an easy read.

Thank You to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book! I was surprised to see others did not!
Not the most likable characters, but I enjoyed the twists and turns. Even though I kind of figured things out before they were revealed, I still liked the reveal! There were alot of POVs, so that took some time to sort all out, but once I did, I felt invested in all their stories.
I went through this quickly, as it was hard to put down. A good mystery that was solid.
Thankful for the ARC!

"The Push" is an interesting story about a group of people who have nothing in common except that they are all about to be new parents, and none of them can quite tell the truth about what happened that day on the balcony. Told from the POV of many different characters, the story flows quickly, but is easily predictable. And none of the characters are very likeable. That being said, I still enjoyed the story as it was a quick, easy read and would recommend it to others.

Okay firstly let's give Claire an applause for that crazy plot. Like I would never have dreamnt it up like what a WOW. It's a book set in summer at a barberque (hello summer). It is about six couples at a barberque and one falls from the balcony and dies. Get ready to be mind blown like I was *sigh* ,the couples are all expecting. You are probably thinking where did they even meet, well they met at a class. Who did it? Was it an accident? You need to find out by reading this book. It was a little confusing with all the alternative chapters but it was a pretty good read. Huge thanks to the publisher for my copy

The Push centres around six couples in a prenatal group, each one of them with different social status, relationship and views. One of them decides to throw a post-birth party for everyone and someone ends up falling off the balcony. The police claim that it is an accident but Alison who is assigned to this case, doesn’t think so.

There are a lot of POV’s, from different couples and Alison, from past and present so it took some time to memorise each character.
The victim’s identity is revealed half way through the book, which was interesting and kept me hooked. And that was the only mystery for me. There were two other plot twists but managed to guess these quite early on.
I feel this book is more about portraying different types of motherhood and actually shows the real side of pregnancy through different ages, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, relationship statuses, even fertility differences (DS Alison is struggling with infertility)

Overall, a classic whodunnit story and even though it is predictable its still a thought provoking and enjoyable quick read.

Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review