This book was interesting at first but it was about 100 pages too long. It wound up dragged out and I just wanted to hurry up and finish, not in a good way. It was very predictable, I don’t actually think there were any major twists that I didn’t see coming well in advance. The title is very apt - it could just as easily be referencing the push to get to the end of the book and confirm what I’d already figured out. It wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t read it again and with the abundance of domestic thrillers out there, if a friend asked, I’d recommend they pick up something else a bit more engaging.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book had such great potential, but turned out into a very frustrating, annoying and downright offensive read. The authors plot was good, and could have been honed into a fantastic thriller or murder mystery. It turned out to be a whiney, sexist, ageist and generally nasty read. In this day and age, this just shouldn't fly. I had to put it down on more than 4 occasions as I was so angry - the blatant ageism and sexism just really made me mad. I have read The Other Wife, and I enjoyed that greatly.

i found this book intruiging and sad. its the story of a women desperate to be a mother and be a better mother than her parents and carers were. Sadly this is interwoven with her mental health isues and a complicated perosnal relationships. its a great read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although not a thriller type of story, it kept my interest. Little pieces of the whodunnit jigsaw kept being dropped throughout, it wasn’t so much who was the guilty party, but the reasons why. I’ll be looking out for more books by Claire McGowan.

The Push had me guessing all the way until the end as to who done it. Gave me Big Little Lies vibes. An antenatal group of six couples, how much drama and secrets can there be? More than you'd ever imagine. Murder, gambling problems, past crimes, child pornography rings being busted, and much more.

Surprisingly this is the first book I’ve read from Claire McGowan but definitely will not be the last. It engaged me from the start and then I was hooked.
The story begins when the police are called to an emergency where a body has went over the balcony onto a rock filled patio. Alison and Diane, newly paired female detectives, are assigned the case. Is it an accident or was the victim pushed ? At the same time Alison is going through fertility treatments of her own..
Six couples from entirely different backgrounds are found together in an eight week ante natal class run by the elegant, if slightly arrogant, Nina. As the course progresses we find out more about each of the couples and their backgrounds and secrets and before long we accumulate enough information to muddy the waters of who is guilty of what and is it relevant..
Full of twists and turns this will keep you up at night - an interesting storyline and well worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for an early copy.


This is a book that I've really struggled to rate.

If I had to rate it as a thriller (which it is marketed as), it probably would have gotten two stars.
This is because there was close to no suspense: from the first couple of chapters, it's quite easy to see where all of it is leading, and what plot twists will be revealed – though you'll have to wait quite a lot of chapters before they're actually revealed!
Overall, in a good thriller, you really want to be completely blown away by the final revelations, and to have to take a minute to come to terms with it. There was definitely none of it here, as most of what happened could be guessed pretty early on. This made for a somewhat boring and long read at times, as I was honestly just waiting for the author to tell us what I basically already knew.
Also, the characters get very very veryyyy annoying at times (and by "at times", I mean "most of the chapters").
There's quite an unbelievable amount of ignorance in the way some characters are treated – though the author very obviously tried to include some diversity, the way it was done made me think that maybe she would have been better off sticking to white characters.

On the other side, this novel, had it been marketed as a look inside the pressure of being a mother (or father), is pretty great.
You meet a lot of families, of different ages, different social status – but all of them have one thing in common: they're struggling with their pregnancy and soon-to-be family. You have a couple who are barely talking to each other; one who is supposed to adopt abroad; another one who have a huge age gap, and where the mom is less than ecstatic about the way her pregnancy is going. And, above all of them, there's the soon-to-be mom who's judging each and every one of them, always having something to say about their choices, be it breastfeeding, going back to work, or whatever else.

I feel like this is really relevant to our current society where everyone just *needs* to judge your every move and decision – let's be honest, every parent out there is more than likely to have stories to tell where perfect strangers (or families) gave them unwanted advice about something they were or weren't doing.

And in that sense, Claire McGowan really managed to make us feel the dangers of judging someone you barely know, and how it can lead to spiralling into deep depression.

So, overall: a disappointing thriller, but an exciting look into a topic that you don't encounter that much in novels!

This is a well written book that was good, and would have been better with a different editor. I see this all the time.

This one was an easy read, I was intrigued enough to finish it fairly quickly. Personally, I liked a couple of Claire McGowan's previous novels better but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone who likes a good whodunnit.

This was one of my favorite ARC's of 2020. If you are looking for mystery, drama, excitement and the kind of book you can't put down and keep thinking about long after it's over; The Push is the book for you!

Couples from the same baby group join shortly after their children’s due dates for a barbecue. What should have been the perfect gathering comes to an abrupt end when someone falls to their death. As DS Alison Hegarty close in on what really happened that day, the secrets and conflicts within the group begin to spill out.

DS Hegarty reports to the scene, a dead body is on the rockery below a balcony, everyone is saying it was an accidental fall, but she’s not so sure. Her superior isn’t keen on them poking around, disrupting life for these new mums, so Alison only has a week to provide enough evidence of a murder.

Everyone is lying, everyone has a screen to hide, will Alison unravel the truth in time, or will the truths be buried with the victim?

Unlike many detective who dun it novels this one doesn’t reveal the victim straight away, nor is it plot driven. It’s a strong character driven narrative, telling everyone’s stories through varying timelines. I really enjoyed this aspect. As I learned more and more about each character it was fun putting everything together to try and solve what really happened.

The Push is an engrossing read that will keep you guessing to the very end. My only gripe with it was it’s pacing. It had a rather slow pace throughout, I wish it would have sped up as we got closer to the conclusion. Once the reveal became apparent I had a “get on with it” attitude as. I wrapped it up. But don’t let this deter you, it was still an excellent character driven whodunit.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟✨

This was just not for me. It is probably for lots of others! I read a lot of thrillers and I just saw this one coming a mile away.

I finally got around to finishing this book, for the sole purpose of writing a review for NetGalley. I was not a fan. It was like watching a bad reality show about dysfunctional couples. Not my cup of tea. I was hoping for more of a "thriller" aspect and instead it was mostly offensive (racist) content and unlikeable characters.

I did enjoy this book. It had a steady start, but it was a bit confusing following so many different point of views and with 2 alternating timelines. Originally I thought it might be better read from one or two people but in the end I see the reasoning for so many altering views. At 65% it really kicked off and while some of my theories ended up being correct, not all of them were. Oof that cliffhanger at the end got me though.

Already a big fan of this wonderfully talented author and “The Push” just cemented the deal!
I like that you can empathise with the characters and the story line isn’t too far fetched to be unbelievable.
It’s a well written story that carries you along at a swift pace. It’s a book you won’t want to put down and you’ll find yourself uttering those fatal words at silly o’clock... just one more chapter!
If anyone manages a holiday this year would make a great beach read!

We meet up with six couples who joined Nina’s antenatal classes. After the birth of their babies, they are all reunited at a barbecue at the sumptuous home of Monica, one of the group. But this happy occasion turns nasty when one of the party falls off a high balcony and dies instantly. DS Alison Hogarth and her partner are sent to investigate whether the death was accidental or not and soon realise that all of the couples have secrets to hide. The story then goes back in time and we learn more about the lives of the six couples who are all completely different and the identity of the body isn’t disclosed until later in the book. I enjoyed the different characters and overall it was a good read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a great suspenseful thriller. The characters were complex and the plot was really intriguing. The whodunnit was great and left me guessing until the end. I enjoyed reading from the different character’s perspectives. I really enjoyed it,

This book was so enjoyable that I chased down two more by this author and was not disappointed. Subtle shifts in tone keeps you guessing, and all the narrators keep you guessing. Quite good!

A fantastically written psychological thriller which I thoroughly enjoyed and had me turning the pages as quick as I could.
I really liked the plot with the various suspects and although I figured it out very quickly I still enjoyed reading the novel. Highly recommend.

Thank you #netgalley, #amazonpublishinguk and #clairemcgowan for the arc of this book.

Six couples, all from different backgrounds, meet at a baby group. One of the couples suggests they once all the babies have arrived, they have a party to celebrate at their lavish beach side mansion. The party goes ahead but not everything is as idyllic as it seems and when the body is seen falling from the upstairs balcony, all the secrets, trauma and conflicts between the couples start to emerge.
DS Alison Hegarty is sent to the house to investigate the apparent fall. While there, and after talking to the couples, she becomes convinced the fall was not an accident. Everyone has a secret to hide. And one of those is murder.

This book was supposed to be a standard thriller with multiple POVs, but came across as more of a family drama full of suspicious unlikable characters. The twists were easy to guess and the big reveal at the end was a bit random and didn't really seem to fit with the rest of the story.
I'm going to be blunt, I really disliked this book. I don't like giving bad reviews but this book was full of racism, sexism and ageism and it was just a toxic mess. This may have been what the author wanted, she wanted us to hate everyone and I for one did.
I was really excited to read another Claire McGowan book, but I'm so sorry to say this book was terrible. And that's why I'm only giving it 1.5 stars, rounded up to 2 stars.