Thank you to Pamela Dorman Books/Penguin Random House for the gifted finished copy!

From Goodreads: Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.

But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–she doesn’t behave like most children do.

Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.

Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.

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Thoughts: The Push was my first read of 2021 and it did not disappoint! I’m hoping that it is setting the tone for the rest of my reading life this year.

This beautifully written thriller is haunting, melancholic, and disturbing. The reader is pulled through all of the emotions that Blythe experiences as a mother. It’s brutally honest and refreshing in it’s portrayal of motherhood.

The characters were all well written and had me engaged and invested from the beginning. Violet is calm and calculated in her evil and it is horrifying. It was heartbreaking to see Blythe try not to believe what she knows is the truth about Violet. I was so frustrated with her husband for constantly blowing her off and telling her that she was over reacting with Violet. I felt the frustration in Blythe.

No one ever wants to believe that a child can be capable of the things that Violet gets away with. And the believability of Violet’s actions is what makes this book so terrifying.

From start to finish, I was captivated by this novel.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐