THE BAD MOTHER by AMANDA BROOKE

THE BAD MOTHER

BY AMANDA BROOKE

THE BLURB:-

A good mother doesn't forget things.

A good mother isn't a danger to herself.

A good mother isn't a danger to her baby.

You want to be the good mother you dreamed you could be.

But you're not.

You're the bad mother you were destined to become.

At least, that's what he wants you to think...

THE REALITY:-

The only problem I had with this novel is that I worked out that (I would label this a spoiler alert, but I think it's just too obvious) Lucy didn't have a memory problem, or baby brain, very early on. I could easily spot the subtly shifting character of Adam moving into the role of perpetrator before page 100- which didn't exactly make me look forward to the next 300 pages, as I could see exactly what was going on, therefore ruining any real element of surprise. Or maybe that's just what the author intended- I wanted to reach into this novel and shake Lucy into realising what was happening at her horrible husband's hands, so this story obviously aroused some kind of feeling in me.  I think her friend, Hannah, wanted to interfere, but she knew she had to choose her words and her moments carefully.  

Lucy was the victim of gas-lighting: where someone tries to make their intended victim doubt their own sanity. Adam did a very good job of doing just that, and you can see where his controlling behaviour begins; and how Lucy initially fought it, until the point where she just has to record him. Which the poor girl does- initially to prove to herself that she was in the wrong. I have no idea what Adam's motives were, but I can only say that he's one sick, mentally ill, human being. I have seen this behaviour (on a less vindictive and smaller scale) in real life, although thankfully not in my own relationships. I'm glad that nobody else in the novel (apart from Adam's brother Scott, and that's only when Scott was a child) was taken in by his antics. Even his own mother had her reservations about him, as did Lucy's mum.

I did feel really sorry for humiliated Lucy. Pregnant with her first child, it was a vulnerable time for her, and her shitty husband chose then to strike. Maybe he was having an affair with Naomi, and simply wanted out via the medium of constructive dismissal? I found the end scenes confusing, especially with regard to who was sitting/ standing where, in both the car and cliff scene. I'm glad Adam (this one is a spoiler alert!) got his comeuppance and died, and I'm glad it was Lucy who gave him that kick that sent him tumbling down the cliff face.

I read this during my downtime during a short break in Bath, and finished it on the train home, so it can't have been that bad.  It had a good storyline and believable characters.  It's just that the predictability got on my nerves a tad.