Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009

Book Review: The Wrong Mother by Sophie Hannah

Author: Sophie Hannah

Publisher: Viking/Penguin

ISBN #: 978-0-14-311630-1

 Type:  Fiction:Mystery/Suspense

Pages: 464 Hardback

Published:  September 29, 2009

Website:   http://www.sophiehannah.com/

Purchase:  $10.20(HERE) 

The Story

Sally Horning is your typical mom… two kids and a caring husband.  She’s juggling the responsibilities of her life including work and family.  One night, on the news, she sees the face of a man named Mark Bretherick.  Only, it isn’t the face of the Mark Bretherick she knew only a year before.   You see, Sally had needed an escape from her family.  She was exhausted from working, managing the kids, and keeping her life running on course.  When a planned business trip was unexpectedly cancelled, Sally decided to go on the trip anyway.  After all, she figured her husband wouldn’t know the difference and she desperately needed the break.  It is during this trip that Sally meets a man who presents himself to be Mark Bretherick. 

Sally and Mark spend a week talking, getting massages, dining, and having a secret affair.  They promised one another that it was a one-time situation and that they would both return to their respective families and never mention this week to anyone.  The problem was that the man on the news wasn’t the Mark she spent a week with.  As she starts to uncover secrets about who this impostor was, there are several attempts made on her life.  The real Mark Bretherick’s wife and child were murdered.  As Sally keeps her secrets and tries to aid the police, she puts herself only deeper in danger.

The Review

Mystery lovers out there will most likely enjoy this psychological who-dunnit.  I’m a newbie to the mystery/thriller genre and read very little of it.   My initial thoughts of the book weren’t very high.  This could be, in part, to the setting being in England and the slight differences in the English language.  Also, the feel of the setting and characters was different than I was used to.  It all felt a bit dry to me. 

HOWEVER…

This book has a hook to it.  Once you understand the mystery, you can’t walk away from this book.  The reader simply must find out who that man was who was impersonating Mark.  In addition, Sally ends up in a heap of trouble and the reader cannot pull him/herself away from finding out if she will be alright. 

SO…

Even though I had my initial reservations about the book and its writing style, I couldn’t put it down.  I wanted to know the ending to the mystery.

BUT…

I was disappointed by the ending.  The perpetrator was such a non-character in the story to me that it almost didn’t matter that it was him.  And, I really didn’t care for the slew of police/detective characters, either.

UGH…

How can I read an entire book, dying to know the ending and then, not care for the ending? 

YOU’VE GOT ME!

The Rating

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale,” I am giving The Wrong Mother  a rating of 6 out of 10.  I do, however, understand that this book was hugely successful in the U.K.  This could be another case of it just being not my typical genre and my normal “cup of tea.” 

Giving Thanks

I wanted to thank Kate of Viking/Penguin for sending me a review copy of this novel!

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