The Wrong Mother: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Sophie Hannah (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2009

A chilling exploration of a mother’s unspeakable betrayal from the author of Little Face

Sally Thorning is watching the news with her husband when she hears an unexpected name—Mark Bretherick. It’s a name she shouldn’t know, but last year Sally treated herself to a secret vacation—away from her hectic family life—and met a man. After their brief affair, the two planned to never meet again. But now, Mark’s wife and daughter are dead—and the safety of Sally’s own family is in doubt. Sophie Hannah established herself as a new master of psychological suspense with her previous novel, Little Face. Now with accomplished prose and a plot guaranteed to keep readers guessing, The Wrong Mother is Hannah’s most captivating work yet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Sally Thorning, part-time environment rescuer and full-time mother, struggles to maintain her sanity and juggle the overwhelming demands of work and home in this superior psychological mystery from British author Hannah (Little Face). During a week away from her husband and children, Sally has a brief affair. A year later a local headline tragedy—Sally's lover's wife appears to have murdered her six-year-old daughter then committed suicide—reveals that Sally's lover was not who he claimed to be and she needs to find out why. After surviving a shove in front of a bus, Sally re-examines that unwise affair as she plays amateur detective and nearly loses all she values in the process. The story alternates between Sally's confessional and a tight police procedural interspersed with evidence—pages torn from the diary of the alleged daughter-killer. Paced like a ticking time bomb with flawlessly distinct characterization, this is a fiercely fresh and un-put-downable read. 5-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Shockingly (and refreshingly) blunt riffs about the violent emotions of motherhood and the familial yearnings of men, along with chilling and darkly funny revelations about lust and loyalty, make this novel one of the season's most absorbing reads."
-O Magazine

"The Wrong Mother is an un-put-downable read, and as a $15 paperback, the bargain mystery of the year!"
-Bookpage (Mystery of the month)

"A superior psychological mystery...Paced like a ticking time bomb with flawlessly distinct characterization, this is a fiercely fresh and un-put-downable read."
-Publishers Weekly (starred)

"The stress of mothering young children while working outside the home is at the center of this British mystery that's part psychological thriller and part police procedural...A best-seller in Britain...this gripping novel deserves similar success here."
-Booklist (starred)

"[The Wrong Mother] is [Hannah's] most accomplished novel yet. As the revelations tumble forth, the tension is screwed ever tighter until the final shocking outcome. Exemplary."
-Daily Express (UK)

"Sophie Hannah just gets better and better. Her plots are brilliantly cunning and entirely unpredictable. The writing is brilliant and brings us uncomfortably close to the dark, ambivalent impulse experienced by the parents of difficult, demanding children."
-The Guardian (UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Original edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143116304
• ISBN-13: 978-0143116301
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sophie Hannah is an award-winning poet and crime fiction writer whose novels are international bestsellers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unlikeable People in Unbelievable Plot, November 12, 2009

By 

SandyCB "sandycb" (Urbana, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Wrong Mother: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I almost gave this novel three stars because it did a good job holding my attention and featured an intriguing plot, but in the end I couldn't get over its basic problems: many of the characters are irritating and behave stupidly, and -- worse -- the ultimate solution rests upon information known only to the characters. To be fair, though, the plot gets so silly and motivations so confused that I'm not sure better plotting would have been enough to save it. As for characters, there are simply too many of them. There are detectives crawling all over this novel, and half of their names start with "s". In an effort to distinguish them we waste a lot of time on the backgrounds of totally unimportant characters. It would have been a much more interesting read if there had been three or so detectives and a boss in the background. I don't regret reading this book, but there are much better choices out there.

79 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bridget's Review, September 29, 2009

By 

bridget3420 "Bridget Hopper" (KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wrong Mother: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Sally had an affair. She was exhausted and in desperate need of a break. When her business trip was unexpectedly cancelled, she decided to get away anyway. She met Mark and their tryst began. They talked about lives they lead, about their work and about their families. When the vacation came to an end, the two parted ways thinking they would never see each other again.

One night while Sally and her husband are watching TV and to Sally's surprise, Mark's name comes up on the news. To her surprise, his wife and child have both been killed. When they show Mark's picture, Sally realizes that the man she was with was not really Mark, her short term lover was using the identity of someone else. Now she is in panic mode and scared for her family. Will she be able to protect her family from this madman that she once shared a bed with?

I'm addicted. Now I have to go out and buy all of her other books. Seriously. This was a phenomenal read that blew my mind. I actually received an ARC of this at the beginning of the summer, so I had actually read it a while ago. I am still in a daze over how wonderfully thrilling this book was. If you aren't going to buy it, at least enter my giveaway because I really think you all could get hooked on Sophie's writing. If you do, maybe we could start a club. LOL.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too hard to follow, March 1, 2010

By 

L. Leon "non-history buff" (SoCal, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wrong Mother: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I give one star for originality of the story line only. Otherwise, unless you've got a flow chart handy, this is not an enjoyable read. Names of main characters that are impossible to pronounce - (Kombothekra, seriously?) so you either stumble over it at each occurrence or have to skim the name each time; plus names of characters too similar (Simon, Sam, Sellers, all cops for gosh sakes); interchangeably calling characters by their first or surnames (way too hard to follow), and throw in a woman with a commonly male name (Charlie); and lousy character development; make this novel impossible to latch onto. Did I mention that characters repeatedly use each other's names along the way; and some make up aliases for themselves depending on the situation? One character plays the part of 4 individuals! And another uses 3 different names throughout the course of the novel. Very frustrating read.