41078695From Goodreads: “In the vein of Big Little Lies and Reconstructing Amelia comes an emotionally charged domestic suspense novel about a mother unravelling the truth behind how her daughter became brain dead. And pregnant.
A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.
In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.
When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?
Christina McDonald weaves a suspenseful and heart-wrenching tale of hidden relationships, devastating lies, and the power of a mother’s love. With flashbacks of Olivia’s own resolve to uncover family secrets, this taut and emotional novel asks: how well do you know your children? And how well do they know you?”

My Review

Wow what a gripping book! This got so intense that even though I was desperate to finish it I had to keep putting it down to catch my breath.

I loved this story especially the way it’s told, from Abi’s point of view since the night of the accident and from Olivia’s point of view leading up to it. Even when I was only a few pages in I was thinking about different scenarios about what happened to poor Olivia. Who was responsible? Was it her boyfriend? Her best friend? A complete stranger? An enemy?

I felt for Abi straight away when she was confronted with her daughter’s tragic accident and I could totally understand why she couldn’t just wait for the results from the police investigation. I’m sure if anything like this happened to my teenage son, both me and my husband would be desperate to find out exactly what had gone on. I liked Olivia and loved the relationship she had with her Mum but her life was too controlled at times, she definitely needed more freedom to enjoy her life outside of school.

As Abi tries to discover what happened to her daughter she is reminded of how much she loves her and how events in her own childhood had caused her to parent Olivia the way she did. She was desperate to keep her safe, but and from Olivia’s point of view and her friends too, it became smothering at times. But who doesn’t want to keep their kids safe? We all do, but we also have to let them stretch their wings, even though it’s really painful for us as parents to watch them do it.

As usual my mind was working overtime and I had a lot of suspects and a few motives, but I didn’t guess what had gone on that fateful night. I loved the way the author brought both stories crashing together at the end as I discovered what happened the night Olivia fell.

I thoroughly recommend this if enjoy fast paced domestic dramas, and can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next.