Just Like Mother

How it reads

Just Like Mother is thriller (domestic psychological thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a suburban setting, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are family, identity and secrets. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 320 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.