The Silent Mother - Liz Lawler

Reading Challenge Category: Free ARC from NetGalley

Official Blurb:

‘I’m so very sorry. But your son is dead.’
As I hear the words every mother dreads my pulse races and I go cold. But even as my world turns upside down I know the things I’m being told just don’t add up. I have to find out what really happened the night my beautiful boy died…
The police tell me it was a tragedy no one could have prevented. But then they reveal the terrible things Tom was keeping from me. The person they describe is nothing like the decent, honest man I raised. Newly qualified as a doctor, Tom had such a bright future ahead of him.
A mother knows her own child. And I’m determined to prove my son’s innocence.
It’s the last thing I will ever be able to do for him. So I have come to the city where he lived and moved into his empty flat under a different name.
When I discover his diary, it becomes clear his death wasn’t an accident.
And as I get to know Tom’s friends and neighbours I realise they’re all keeping secrets.
But as I get closer to the truth, I realise my life is in danger too…

My Thoughts:

Liz Lawler only brings out one book a year, so you know when it is released, it will be a corker! This is no exception!
Even though most of the first half is very morose, it still captivates you and urges you to keep reading. We know pretty much straight away the terrible loss that Ruth is suffering from, but we don’t know the actual details surrounding her son’s death.
Not much is given away throughout the book, there are tiny snippets, but you can’t really come to any conclusion from what we do know. I tried my hardest to guess what had been going on but just couldn’t quite grasp it and couldn’t put any of the pieces together. So when the big reveal did come, it took me a second to digest the information. To slot everything together and get all the answers. I’d been in quite a delicate tangle of confusion, so it did take some unravelling and to understand everything that was happening. It was very cleverly done!
We predominately follow Ruth’s train of thought, but we see things from a young woman Rosie’s point of view every few chapters. We have no idea what relevance Rosie has; all we know is she is a very challenging individual with many mental problems.
This book was fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found myself wanting to get back to reading it when I had to do other things. Even though I couldn’t wait to get to the end to get all of the answers, I was gutted it was over at the same time. I felt like I needed more, but the story was over, and it came to its natural conclusion.
I can’t believe I’ve probably got to wait at least a year now for another of this author’s offerings; I already can’t wait!