Cover Image: The Mother's Fault

The Mother's Fault

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Member Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this title

I had higher hopes for this novel and wish I could have enjoyed it more, it fell a little bit short me and I felt it could’ve been more cohesive and a little faster paced

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A great twisty, riveting storyline! I thought I had the ending all worked out but I was completely wrong. A little slow through the first half of the book and I would have liked to find more clues to give me an idea of where the story was going. Well worth the read!

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Single mum Beverly has just broken up with her most recent boyfriend Ethan. Her 8 year old son begins receiving presents and she suspects Ethan is trying to worm his way back into their family unit. But Beverly is also haunted by her memories and, when Riley disappears, she is forced to confront the past...
The Mother's Fault is a psychological thriller set in the present day in Australia.
The book is written from three perspectives: Beverly and Riley both in the third person, and a mystery person written using first person narration. This increases the tension over the first third of the book as we see this person's intent but do not know their identity.
I think the author was clever to use Riley's childish voice to bring his character to life and offer an unexpected and unusual dimension to the style. His focus on things that adults might not spot felt authentic and his thought processes give the reader a chance to understand the plot twists.
The pace and drama increases significantly as Riley is abducted from his garden. The identity of the stranger is revealed to Riley as a panicked Beverly anguishes over the past. Her decisions in the past have overshadowed her life for eight years so despite the devastation I think it did her good to confront her demons. Meanwhile, our sympathies for the abductor grow as we learn of their unhappy childhood.
The Mother's Fault was a gripping book and held my interest in the characters and plot.

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Thanks to Netgalley for this opportunity to read this book. Bev is a single mum to Riley. Suddenly he begins receiving odd packages in the post and he than goes missing, Beverly has to then decide if she will revel secrets of her past in order to save her son? The last few chapters are really exciting and this is a great book.

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The Mother’s Fault was an intriguing story where author Nicole Trope allowed the different pieces of the subplots to fall onto the prose, then carefully stitched them together.

Though a missing child trope, it didn’t exactly fit with it. There was no mystery in where the child was but only in who kidnapped him. Beverley, as the mother, felt to be apt in the role of the over protective mother with a difficult child. I loved her zeal and need to keep her son safe.

In some ways, the story was predictable, as once I got to hear the different POVs, the halfway point let me know where the pieces of the relationships would fall.

The characters were not likable, at least for me, the dog in the book was super-fun and cute. And the most intelligent too. Overall, the book was entertaining.

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Wow! The Mother's Fault is the best mystery/suspense novel that I've read in a very long time. The story kept me engaged from the beginning until the end and I couldn't wait to see how it ended.

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I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

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Bev is a single mum who is a little too protective of her 8 year old son Riley. To the point where she pushes away anyone who is getting too close to them. That's because Bev is hiding a secret that could destroy her relationship with her son. But when expensive gifts are left at the house for Riley, she cannot ignore the past any longer. And then Riley disappears....This story had me guessing with twists that I did not predict at all.

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This book was impossible to put down and the twists were unpredictable. Just when you think you have it figured out, something changes. Totally enjoyable read!

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This was an interesting read. It definitely had me curious as to what happened and threw in a cliff hanger that I did not necessarily see coming. It was a slower read for me but I did end up enjoying it in the end. It is a different type of thriller than I have read lately.

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"What...?" Is the one word I could utter as I progressed through the book. When I say this book is full of twists, it's still not enough. When you think you've figured everything out, even if you're less than halfway through the book, you'll be proved absolutely wrong. At one point, something happened that had me thinking "how dumb are you? How could you ask that when it's so obvious?" but I told myself to just keep reading and boy was I the dumb one to think it was so obvious.

Every single chapter is full of surprises that will make you want to slam the book shut, take a deep breath and resume reading.

I don't think I can recommend this book enough, if you don't give this book a try, then you're missing out on one hell of a brilliant psychological thriller.

Thank you @netgalley & @bookouture for this ARC in exchange for an honest review💕

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I always love an easy and quick psychology thriller and The Mother's Fault by Nicole Trope is one such read. It was surely a book that I just couldn't put down and I completed it in a couple of days

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This is a slow paced but engaging thriller. There are plenty of twists throughout to keep the reader guessing.
An enjoyable read that I’d recommend.

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Thank you so very much to the author, Nicole Trope, the publishing company, Bookouture and NetGalley for an early read for my honest review.

I loved this storyline, and this was just another book from one of my favorite new authors. This one kept me reading from page 1 to the end, and that's hard to do these days.

Her writing puts so much emotion into the pages, and I always look forward to turning the page to see what's coming up next. This psychological thriller was one not to miss, and Nicole Trope never disappoints.

Thank you for being an author and for giving us the joy of your writing.

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An absolutely brilliant thriller, I didn’t want to stop reading! The storyline pulls at the heartstrings, missing children are always a gamble, this one paid off big time! Very well done!

Huge thanks to Bookouture and Nicole Trope, congratulations on a great thriller!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Intense but fantastic

Beverly and her son, Riley, live a happy life. Beverly sometimes finds life as a single mother difficult, but she wouldn’t change it for the world. Sadly, she has just spit up with her boyfriend Ethan as she can’t let him get too close as he may discover her big secret. Unfortunately, Beverly doesn’t realise that someone else has their sights on Riley and wants to steal him away from her. Can she keep him safe when she doesn’t know who the enemy is?

This book was so good. Things started heating up in chapter 3 when there was a mysterious narrator. This person reminded me of creepy Joe in “You”, continuously planning and plotting. At around halfway I was sure I knew who the mysterious narrator was, but of course I was wrong as I found out who it really was in the last bit of the book. The changing POV did drive me crazy but in a good way as there was much more suspense that way. The last quarter of the book was extremely intense but also brilliant and I couldn’t put it down. I definitely did not expect the twist!

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I didn’t think that the psychopath in the last book I read could be worse, but this book showed me they could! The character was very accurately described as “chilling” by the author, and I whole heartedly agree.

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3.5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Mother's Fault is a well written, slow paced psychological thriller full of family drama and strongly developed characters.

This was my initial introduction to Nicole Trope's novels and I'm so glad that I stumbled across her work. I was pleasantly surprised by the unpredictable and shocking twists of this suspenseful story and can honestly say that I didn't see them coming. As a seasoned thriller reader, this is quite the feat.

Beverly is a young single mother quietly raising her spunky 8 year old son Riley on her own. Soon they begin receiving mysterious packages in the mail addressed to Riley. Although Beverly finds this to be slightly suspicious, she doesn't give it too much thought until one afternoon Riley suddenly goes missing. She must quickly decide if she can disclose her most classified secrets in order to save her son.

Full of red herrings and classic thriller twists, I recommend this book to fans of Sally Hepworth and Sue Watson.

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3 for neutral. Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me. I think it just wasn’t the right time for me to read it, and will update if able to finish at a later date. Missing kids are a bit rough for me at times, especially when done well.

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Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.
This was a psychological thriller about a stolen child. However I found this book well written with some twists but too long winded at times and unfortunately didn’t enjoy it that much .3 stars

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OMG! This book is the definition of a page turner!! It kept me so engrossed and I couldn’t stop reading! I thought I KNEW who the kidnapper was, but then quickly discovered I was so so wrong!! I felt every emotion alongside Beverly as she was searching for her son, Riley! My heart was breaking for her. This is one that any thriller lover should pick up!

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