Being one of four girls, I’ve always been fascinated by the relationships between mothers, daughters and sisters. My latest psychological suspense novel, Not My Mother, gives these relationships a true crime spin.
Marion is celebrating her own daughter’s first birthday, an event she has spent several months planning. The party is interrupted when Marion’s mother, Eileen, is arrested. The police claim Eileen is not her real name. They allege Marion isn’t even her real daughter. Everyone suspects Eileen abducted Marion from her actual family when she was only an infant—the case has been referenced in the media for years as the Baby Caroline case. If Eileen has lied to Marion for her entire life, how can their relationship ever recover?
The idea for this story sparked when I envisioned a grandmother being arrested at her granddaughter’s birthday party. I wanted to explore what possible crimes this woman could have committed, and how her arrest would impact her relationship with everyone around her.
I’m a big admirer of crime novels that explore this same theme. Here are some other great crime reads that focus on sinister mother and daughter relationships.
What Lies Between Us by John Marrs
At first glance, the relationship between Maggie and her daughter, Nina, appears normal. They have conversations, listen to music and eat dinner every night. However, we quickly learn Nina is holding her mother prisoner. Each night, Maggie returns upstairs and is restrained with heavy chains. This is Nina’s way of punishing her mother for everything she has done wrong.
What could Maggie have possibly done to deserve such treatment? And does Nina have secrets of her own? This is a brilliant and twisted read you won’t forget. You’ll question which character to root for throughout, and the ending is one you will not see coming.
The Half Sister by Sandie Jones
Still mourning the death of their father, sisters Kate and Lauren don’t always see eye to eye. Their relationship worsens when their Sunday lunch is interrupted by a knock at the door. The woman standing outside is named Jess, and she claims to be their sister. Each character has to process this news, while trying to understand how the revelation impacts their relationships with each other.
This is a tense thriller that brings into focus how siblings can grow up in the same household yet have completely different understandings of their childhood. We get to see how Kate and Lauren’s memories differ, all while trying to find out the truth about their parents.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Gillian Flynn is famous for her best-seller Gone Girl, but her debut novel, Sharp Objects, is equally engrossing. The story follows journalist Camille as she returns to her hometown of Wind Gap. She has been tasked with writing an article about the young girls there who have gone missing, but instead she finds herself trying to solve the mysteries of her own past. She reconnects with her affluent mother, Adora, in hopes of solving past and present crimes.
This book is dark, atmospheric and begging to be read in one sitting. I loved reading as Camille processed events from her childhood through an adult lens, although some of the descriptions can be graphic and triggering. Still, this book serves up two great mysteries at once and has a last-page reveal guaranteed to make your jaw drop.
Baby Teeth (titled Bad Apple in the UK) by Zoje Stage
Is there anything more unsettling than a disturbed child? Now imagine if that was your child. That’s the premise of Zoje Stage’s debut, and it’s a chilling read from the very beginning. Suzette and her seven-year-old daughter, Hanna, have a strange relationship. Although Hanna is the perfect child in the eyes of her father, she has had numerous difficulties with teachers and babysitters. Add to this, Hanna is mute, and when she does finally speak to Suzette, what she says is frightening.
Witnessing the building tension between Suzette and Hanna is horrifying, and there are multiple twists that make you question what is really going on behind the scenes of this picture-perfect family.
If you’re looking for twisted family drama and shocking reveals, add these crime thrillers about mothers and daughters to your TBR!
What if the person you trust most in the world is lying to you? I’d heard of the Baby Caroline case, of course. When a baby is snatched from her mother’s arms, the whole country knows about it. I knew about the parents left lying by the swimming pool, the open window in the nursery. But I never dreamed it had anything to do with me. Today, my beautiful daughter turned one. We were unwrapping gifts and blowing out candles when the knock came at the door, and they took my mother away. The police say she’s not really my mother. That she stole me, thirty years ago. When I visit her, desperate for answers, she looks me in the eye, and says nothing. I can barely breathe. Is my whole life a lie? I have to find out, but the more I learn, the more scared I become. And soon I start to wonder, am I losing my grip on reality or is my own daughter in terrible danger?
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