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In my last post, you saw how much I enjoyed Aimee Molloy’s Goodnight Beautiful. I remembered that I had another Molloy read in the house, that in fact I had started another Molloy book sometime last year and hadn’t finished it, so I grabbed The Perfect Mother off the bookshelf and started it again from the beginning.
From the Publisher’s summary:
They call themselves the May Mothers—a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time.
When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar, they want a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed.
As much as I enjoyed reading Goodnight Beautiful, The Perfect Mother felt tedious. It didn’t grab me the same way, and I read it at a much slower pace. I’m not sure that if I had read The Perfect Mother first that I would have chosen to read Goodnight Beautiful so I am glad I read them in the order that I did.
That isn’t to say that The Perfect Mother is a bad read. I gave it three stars in Goodreads. Some of the characters got on my nerves (not much, just a little bit) but overall the story is enjoyable and engaging. I did not figure out the villain ahead of time, which I always appreciate. There’s actually more I want to say about that, but I’m afraid of accidentally spoiling if I do, so I’ll just say that I think the Molloy does a good job of hiding how unhinged our villain is as they interact with others in the story.
I wonder if I would have liked this one better if I had allowed more time before starting this one, especially since I liked Goodnight Beautiful so much. If you put this one on your list, keep that in mind. If you want to read only one book by Aimee Molloy, choose Goodnight Beautiful.