Only a Mother by Elisabeth Carpenter

Please note the cover image leads to a universal Amazon buy link for the book

ONLY A MOTHER . . .
Erica Wright hasn’t needed to scrub ‘MURDERER’ off her house in over a year. Life is almost quiet again. Then her son, Craig, is released from prison, and she knows the quiet is going to be broken.
COULD BELIEVE HIM
Erica has always believed Craig was innocent – despite the lies she told for him years ago – but when he arrives home, she notices the changes in him. She doesn’t recognise her son anymore.
COULD LIE FOR HIM
So, when another girl goes missing, she starts to question everything. But how can a mother turn her back on her son? And, if she won’t, then how far will she go to protect him?
COULD BURY THE TRUTH

Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Louise Jensen, Katerina Diamond, Helen Fields and CL Taylor – a hard-hitting psychological thriller told from the fresh perspective of a killer’s mother.

The Review: This is the story of Erica Wright, who has been dealing with the fallout since her son went to jail for the murder of a local girl. Erica has hardened herself to an extent-she has to because nobody has stuck with her and now she lives a very solitary life that’s full of routine and loneliness. We also get the point of view of someone we feel we should be a little uncomfortable about and then we encounter Luke, a reporter that reported on the case when is happens and is out to get another story now. Luke seems honest and it gives us a fresh perspective. But back to Erica.

Erica’s son is now coming out and you can’t help but feel for her, everything has changed and yet this is her son, she needs to mother up and maintain some semblance of normality, even though she’s not fully sure how she feels about him and since, as he returns she realises seventeen years in prison has changed her little boy. On top of this she keeps seeing the dead girl and doesn’t know what to make of anything. I’ll admit this isn’t quite as much rollercoaster thriller as I’d heard it was, as there’s times I had wished for more urgency, but saying that I most definitely had doubts over what was going to happen and was beyond compelled by the ‘what would you do’ and ‘what should Erica do?’ aspect to the book and will without a doubt be waiting (and going back to) more of Elisabeth Carpenter’s books. Very much recommended. Thanks so much to Orion and Netgalley for the book in return for an honest review.

Ratibng: 4.5/5