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Mother May I
I'm always excited for a new Joshilyn Jackson title: she's one of my must read authors, especially on audio. The inciting incident of her latest suspense novel unfolds in the balcony at a school rehearsal for Grease, Jr: The Musical. While Bree catches up with an old friend and fellow parent, someone kidnaps her baby while he naps in his carseat nearby. Bree soon discovers the kidnapper wants to use her to exact revenge for something that transpired long ago, but is far from forgotten. Bree decides that to get her baby back, she can't interact with the kidnapper as herself. Instead, she must step into a role—one that will win the kidnapper's sympathies—and must rely on every bit of skill honed in her acting days to do it. Readers, take note: you'll want to talk about the ending with a friend, so plan accordingly. And while it's obvious this plot includes children in peril, other content warnings apply; please do your research.
About the Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“A finely paced, shrewdly observed, multi-tiered story . . . A thinking (and feeling) reader’s thriller.” –Wall Street Journal
“Chilling, thought-provoking, and hauntingly written, Mother May I kept me on the edge of my seat with its breathless race against time.” — Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl from Widow Hills
Recommended by Buzzfeed • Parade • Country Living • Atlanta Journal-Constitution • Augusta Chronicle • The Nerd Daily • She Reads • BookBub • and more!
The New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Never Have I Ever returns with an even more addictive novel of domestic suspense in which a mother must decide how far she is willing to go to protect her child and the life she loves—an unforgettable tale of power, privilege, lies, revenge, and the choices we make, ones that transform our lives in unforeseen ways.
Revenge doesn’t wait for permission.
Growing up poor in rural Georgia, Bree Cabbat was warned that the world was a dark and scary place. Bree rejected that fearful outlook, and life has proved her right. Having married into a family with wealth, power, and connections, Bree now has all a woman could ever dream of.
Until the day she awakens and sees someone peering into her bedroom window—an old gray-haired woman dressed all in black who vanishes as quickly as she appears. It must be a play of the early morning light or the remnant of a waking dream, Bree tells herself, shaking off the bad feeling that overcomes her.
Later that day though, she spies the old woman again, in the parking lot of her daughters’ private school . . . just minutes before Bree’s infant son, asleep in his car seat only a few feet away, vanishes. It happened so quickly—Bree looked away only for a second. There is a note left in his place, warning her that she is being is being watched; if she wants her baby back, she must not call the police or deviate in any way from the instructions that will follow.
The mysterious woman makes contact, and Bree learns she, too, is a mother. Why would another mother do this? What does she want? And why has she targeted Bree? Of course Bree will pay anything, do anything. It’s her child.
To get her baby back, Bree must complete one small—but critical—task. It seems harmless enough, but her action comes with a devastating price.
Bree will do whatever it takes to protect her family—but what if the cost tears their world apart?
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