I was so excited to begin this book, as I read the author’s debut novel “The Push” earlier this year and it blew me away.
Audrain writes in somewhat of a hybrid genre of contemporary-fiction-thrilleresque but her stories, her prose, her well-developed characters make her stand out as a novelist. I could not put this down.

nice and suspenseful. did not get too attached to the characters tho

This was a hard one to get into. It didn't immediately grab me like this author's first book, The Push, and I really wanted it to. The beginning of the story took a while to get started and their were lots of characters, wives and their husbands, to get familiar with and there were moments when I couldn't remember which husband went with which wife. Once the story really got going and we were given more information on each of the characters, I was then able to get into the story. I loved the discussion around motherhood and how each of the women had their own experiences with it. I enjoyed the mystery involving the child and how each person had their own suspicions of what might have happened. I liked the ending of this book and some small reveals we got throughout. The book had a slow start but by the end I appreciated the time it took the author to get there.

Oof. This was startling in its bluntness, Audrain daring to say what I think so many mothers/wives/women fear to state aloud. Admittedly. I lost interest in viewing it as a thriller so much as a character study in the domestic sphere. To view the last sentence in that vein is chilling (!).

While this book doesn't have the most interesting plot ever, I just love Ashley Audrain's writing. It's so easy to pick up and fly through. 

This psychological drama book is about female friendships, relationships, motherhood, desire, jealousy, deception, shame and the whispers we silence. It centers around 4 women: Whitney (a highly successful career woman with 3 kids), Blair (a loving stay at home mom), Rebecca (ER doctor who continuously struggles with miscarriages), and Mara (an elderly woman who is grieving the death of her son with special needs). It starts with a backyard party at Whitney's where she is overheard screaming at her son. Then it fast forwards to 9 months later where her son Xavier falls from his bedroom window and becomes hospitalized and everyone is wondering if that was an accident or if Whitney had something to do with it. 

These women are unlikeable, but honest and real. They've each made decisions that got them to where they are today and they have some regrets based on the whispers/intuiations they had to silence. I liked how it covered different perspectives of motherhood and being a woman, about what it means to sacrifice for your family but also what is means when you put yourself first. This book is sad and makes me never want to have kids. But I loved the ending and the last line where Xavier wakes up from the coma and asks what is going to happen to his mom, when he tells everything.