Pretty strong stuff and Hannah - based on her own frustrations as a mother, as described in the introduction - knows she’s on to something.
Where she breaks down, though, is that by book’s end, she has done something to undermine each of the major character’s believability. And the shame is that the plot didn’t need such melodramatic machinations.
Every great whodunit, from Sherlock Holmes onward, has the ability to elicit something like “Of course, that’s who did it and, of course, that’s why and how he or she did it.’’ There are no “of courses’’ in “The Wrong Mother.’’ No spoilers, here, but by the time we get to the “who,’’ you are more likely to say, “No, no, no, that’s just incredible.’’
Back to the beginning, a very good place to start, because Hannah’s opening chapter is so strong that the hook becomes almost impossible to pull out. Sally Thorning is invited to speak at a confer ence, but when it is canceled she becomes so desperate for a break from her children that she doesn’t tell the family about the cancellation and books herself into a hotel. So eager is she to get away from her family that she has an affair with someone calling himself Mark Bretherick.
Fast forward to the present and Bretherick’s wife and young daughter have been found dead. But the widower isn’t the same man Sally knew. As long as Hannah focuses on Sally’s confusion, everything’s tip-top, as they say across the pond. There are also intriguing diary entries found on the dead mother’s laptop detailing the horrors of motherhood.
The first wrong step in “The Wrong Mother’’ comes in the second chapter, when it becomes apparent that Hannah is going to split the book nearly evenly between the two mothers and her pair of lackluster standing detectives, would-be lovers who are on the outs. He’s impetuous and closed down - and his genius seems to come out of nowhere. She’s trying to prove herself in a man’s world. Their colleagues are both boorish and boring. The cops are a crutch for Hannah; she’d be a better writer without them.
She also makes the mistake of throwing in so many plot twists that the denouement marks a rather cowardly turn from her handling of “familicide.’’ Sorry to be so hard-hearted, Ms. Hannah, but “The Wrong Mother’’ had so much right with it that it’s a shame to see it fall so thoroughly apart.
Ed Siegel, a freelance writer, can be reached at esiegel122@comcast.net.
