by Rea Frey
Published by St Martin's Griffin August 21 2018
Amy has a five year old daughter, Emma, and the two of them are like oil and water in their very damaged relationship. Amy is physically abusive because Emma is a contentious brat. Emma is contentious because she knows her mother doesn't love her. Nothing good can come from this continuing in the same manner.
Sarah is an innocent bystander, a successful business woman, who has witnessed firsthand the awful parenting of Amy. Having been abandoned by her own mother at the age of eight, she compares her own feelings with what she believes Emma is experiencing. One night when Amy locks Emma out of the house with no dinner, Sarah takes Emma and thus starts a kidnapping investigation and a series of close calls for Sarah and Emma on he run. Emma, of course, is now the perfect child being with someone who actually cares about her.
I couldn't stop thinking about these people even after long stretches when I wasn't able to get back to my reading. The author had me caring about what was going to ultimately happen. Were Sarah and Emma perhaps too perfect together? Maybe. Was Amy the ultimate mother from hell with not a single redeeming quality and no regrets for her actions? Hell yes!
Toward the middle and onward there were a few plot holes and I thought what happened in Chicago was not at all believable, but overall this made for an addictive read.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for my copy.
