Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Other Mothers & The School Reunion

Welcome to another edition of Sharon’s Thriller Thursday!  I hope everyone is getting in some great reading. I know I have, pretty much every book I have read so far this year has been a hit for me. 🙂  This week I am reviewing, The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner and  The School Reunion by Shalini Boland.

Author: Katherine Faulkner

Publication Date: December 5, 2023

Publisher: Gallery Books

I read Katherine Faulkner’s first book, Greenwich Park, a couple of years ago and while I liked it, it didn’t knock my socks off. So, I didn’t go into her new book, The Other Mothers, with high expectations. Well, I am happy to report that I loved The Other Mothers.

In July 2017 a young nanny named Sophie Blake was found drowned in a reservoir in London. After the coroner’s inquest, her death was deemed a likely accident. Sophie’s mother does not believe her daughter’s death was an accident and a year and a half later she approaches Tash James, a freelance journalist to look into Sophie’s death. Tash is eager to jump start her freelance career, so she takes on the job. Tash’s two-year-old son Finn is having a tough time adjusting to his new playgroup, but then she befriends three other mothers, Laura, Clare, and Nicole, and as their kids’ become friends, Tash has finally found a happy balance to work/motherhood. As Tash starts her investigation into what happened to Sophie, she realizes that her new friends have a connection to her, and they are keeping secrets.

The story is told in a dual timeline. We get Tash’s POV in the present as she works her investigation into Sophie’s death. We also get Sophie’s POV that starts fifteen months before her death and works its way up to the night she died. I loved having the story unfold this way. I loved getting information as Tash would uncover it and then get Sophie’s POV on that information. Sometimes what Tash thought was the truth, we learned from Sophie to not really be the case. And at times what we learned from Sophie turned out not to be truthful. I loved reading and not knowing what really to believe.

I really liked Tash. I was so engrossed in following her as a journalist and watching her investigate Sophie’s death, and also, as she navigated her relationship with her new friends. Tash and her husband, Tom, did not have a lot of money and Tash got herself into some financial trouble trying to keep up with the other mothers. I liked that Tash had the support of her husband though. A lot of times when I read these types of books, the husband is so quick to blame his wife for everything that happens and not support her. So, it was very refreshing to see them as a supportive couple.

I liked Sophie as well. She was young and naïve to start, but as the book progressed she became a stronger woman. Though she was not without her faults, and I soon realized that she was not so innocent after all.

There is not a lot I can say about what happens in this book because I don’t want to spoil anything. But as I was reading I found myself jumping all around on who I could trust.

The Other Mothers was full of twists and turns. The end of the book had so many twists, that I was getting whiplash.  LOL!  4 stars

Author: Shalini Boland

Publication Date: January 16, 2024

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Shalini Boland is a go to author for me. Her books are always fast paced reads, that keep me glued to the pages. So, it is no surprise that her latest book, The School Reunion, was another winner for me.

When Chloe Flynn graduated from high school fifteen years ago she never thought she would go back.  Even when she got the invitation to her reunion she didn’t plan on going. But Chloe is recently divorced, has a job she hates, no real friends, and is bored with her life. Maybe turning back the clock could be just the thing Chloe needs to start her life over, and the chance to reconnect with her high school crush, Nathan Blake, is what makes Chloe decide to attend the reunion. Once she accepts the invitation though, Chloe starts getting anonymous e-mails warning her about attending. Though these emails have rattled Chloe, she is not going to back down. Chloe figures her ex high school boyfriend; Chris Tamber sent them, and she plans to confront him and put the past to rest once and for all.  But going back could become a fatal mistake for Chloe. As past secrets emerge, things take a deadly turn.

OMG guys! There is not much I can say as this book is best to go into blind. I did love the Mean Girls / Romey and Michele’s high School Reunion vibe I got while reading. Though this book in no way is anything like either of those movies, that was just the feel I kept getting while reading.

The story is told from the POV of Chloe as well as Dean Bradley, a contractor who has a beef with Chris Tamber. Dean did some work for Chris, and Chris stiffed Dean the money that was owed, so now Dean is about to lose his contracting company as well as his reputation. I really liked Dean, not only is he trying to salvage his company, but he is also a single dad to 5-year-old Ellis (who is just such a cutie pie), and he just lost his mother a few months ago. Dean is also carrying around the grief of losing his sister when she was sixteen years old. Seeing everything he had on his plate I just wanted to punch Chris in the face for him.  LOL!

Chloe is also dealing with issues of her own. Her mother never seems to have a positive word to say to her, and not only is she trying to avoid Chris at the reunion, but she is also dealing with trying to avoid her old high school enemy Abigail, who has her sites set on Nathan and has told Chloe in no uncertain terms to back off. Chloe also has secrets she wants to keep hidden.

The School Reunion had so many twists and turns. Just when I thought I may know what is going on, Shalini Boland would throw in a twist that made me stop and process what I just read. At the end of the book there was a twist that literally had my jaw drop.   4 stars