Synopses & Reviews
In Paula Daly's pulse-pounding and gut-wrenching debut novel, motherhood, marriage, and friendship are tested when a small-town community is unsettled by a string of shocking events.
Lisa Kallisto is doing her best to juggle the demands of an overburdened life: she holds down a busy job running an animal shelter, cares for three demanding children, and worries that her husband isn't getting enough TLC. During an incredibly hectic week, Lisa takes her eye off the ball for just a moment, and her whole world descends into a nightmare. Her best friend's thirteen-year-old daughter goes missing, and it's all Lisa's fault. Wracked with guilt over her mistake, and having been publicly blamed, Lisa sets out to right her wrong. But as she begins digging beneath the surface, Lisa learns that everything is not quite what it first appears to be.
Gripping and fast-paced, Just What Kind of Mother Are You? introduces an outstanding new thriller writer with a sharp eye and terrifying imagination for the horrors that lurk in our everyday lives.
Review
Praise for Just What Kind of Mother Are You?* Named one of Publishers Weeklys Top Ten Thrillers of Fall 13
* Chosen as one of O: The Oprah Magazines Five Page Turners That Will Surprise You More Than Once”
[A] taut novel. . . . We all need a reminder that no woman has it all under control, not even in fiction.” Andrea Walker, O: The Oprah Magazine (Five Page Turners That Will Surprise You More Than Once”)
What elevates this ordinary story is the extraordinary realism of the characters. As were pulled into her class-conscious community, we root for [protagonists] Lisa, Joe and justice.” Cleveland Plain Dealer (
About the Author
Paula Daly is the author of Just What Kind of Mother Are You? She lives in North West England with her husband, three children, and dog Skippy.