The New Mother

Nora Murphy

Mystery Thriller

A relatable and nerve-wracking, sympathetic and bone-chilling story — a fresh new twist on motherhood and murder in suburbia.

Isolated. Lonely. Tired. It’s hard being The New Mother. Sometimes it’s murder.

Nothing is simple about being a new mom alone in a new house, especially when your baby is collicky. Natalie Fanning loves her son unconditionally, but being a mother was not all she wanted to be.

Enter Paul, the neighbor.

Paul provides the lifeline she needs in what feels like the most desperate of times. When Paul is helping with Oliver, calmed by his reassuring, steady presence, Nat feels like she can finally rest.

But Paul wants something in return. It’s no coincidence that he has befriended Nat—she is the perfect pawn for his own plan. Will Nat wake up in time to see it?

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

3.5 out of 5 stars (3.5 / 5) After having her first baby, Natalie realizes just how difficult motherhood is. Even more than that, her baby has colic and nothing seems to help.

Natalie goes through her days half-awake, half-aware of anything going on. Everything revolves around her baby and she’s starting to lose herself, but also her sanity. While on a walk, she meets the neighbor Paul who is instantly able to calm her baby down. Could he be the answer to everything she’s struggling with? After striking up a friendship with Paul, Paul’s wife goes missing. Both Paul and Natalie are suspects. In her sleep-deprived haze she can’t remember certain things and seems very suspicious to the investigators.

This book had a lot going on. Nataie’s new motherhood, her relationship with her husband, her job, her lack of sleep and more. Honestly, the details on new motherhood were too tedious for me, even though they are very accurate. It was hard to live those moments with Natalie when I remember them so well myself.

“Mom. It was the greatest honor. It was homogenizing. It was all-consuming, devouring, crushing.”

I did feel the book gave somewhat a negative expectancy of motherhood. It’s not always so bad, but this book focused on the bad and the judgement of stay-at-home-parents.

The end shabang was underwhelming- I wanted details. The shabang consisted of details before the climax then after. NOT DURING. Well psh, I want the good stuff. I want the reactions and the emotions and the surprise. So while that wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it still had a good ending and I was entertained.

General content summary: F words = 5, birth and afterbirth (some details, blood), breastfeeding (multiple), breast cancer death (previous), possible infidelity (some details), intimacy (few details), postpartum depression and psychosis (multiple), strangling death (few details).

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the copy!

The book releases May 30, 2023.

**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 

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