Review: ‘Mother Knows Best’ by Kira Peikoff

Aah, it’s been a while since I’ve let myself indulge in a family thriller, especially one with such modern twists and turns! I was first attracted to Peikoff’s novel by the idea of triple shared parenthood, of how modern technological advance may wreak havoc with our rather gentle and fragile emotions. And Peikoff did not disappoint. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, Meryl L. Moss Media Relations and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 10/09/2019
Publisher: Meryl L. Moss Media Relations; Crooked Lane Books

A mother's worst nightmare, a chance at redemption, and a deadly secret that haunts a family across the generations.

There's only room for one mother in this family.

Claire Abrams's dreams became a nightmare when she passed on a genetic mutation that killed her little boy. Now she wants a second chance to be a mother, and finds it in Robert Nash, a maverick fertility doctor who works under the radar with Jillian Hendricks, a cunning young scientist bent on making her mark--and seducing her boss.

Claire, Robert, and Jillian work together to create the world's first baby with three genetic parents--an unprecedented feat that could eliminate inherited disease. But when word of their illegal experiment leaks to the wrong person, Robert escapes into hiding with the now-pregnant Claire, leaving Jillian to serve out a prison sentence that destroys her future.

Ten years later, a spunky girl named Abigail begins to understand that all is not right with the reclusive man and woman she knows as her parents. But the family's problems are only beginning. Jillian, hardened by a decade of jealousy and loss, has returned--and nothing will stop her from reuniting with the man and daughter who should have been hers.

Past, present, and future converge in this mesmerizing psychological thriller from critically acclaimed author Kira Peikoff.

Modern technology is rapidly advancing. Yes, that is a very trite message but it remains true. We’re quickly finding answers to questions we didn’t dare ask before and it means that our idea of who we are, and what our relationships to each other mean, is also changing. What I really appreciated about Mother Knows Best is that the horror of the story is enver, truly, related to the science itself. There are no botched operations, suffering test objects or other clinical horrors. Instead, the thrills come from human behavior and human responses to technology and science. In that sense, Mother Knows Best follows in the footsteps of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Science is what it is. It is how we as humans respond, how we think of ourselves and what we do, that can become horrible as a consequence. Peikoff doesn’t go as far in this direction as I would’ve liked, but I think it was the right direction to steer this novel in. I do want to note that the dismissal of adoption and the hammering on about how there can only be one mother was a bit unnecessary in my eyes.

Mother Knows Best’ story is told by different narrators, all female. There is Claire, a mother desperate to have a healthy baby of her own and willing to go as far as it takes to make it happen. There is Jillian, the femme fatale of the novel. My only gripe, really, with Mother Knows Best is her characterization as the attractive and cunning ‘young scientist’ who, of course, sees seduction as the main way to achieve her goals. She is very much a trope, a character we recognize from page one, and Peikoff only very rarely shows us a deeper side to her. The final narrator is Abby, the daughter, who doesn’t know why her life is as weird as it is, but has inherited her parents’ desire for answers. Alongside these three women we have Robert Nash, our main scientist, and Ethan Abrams, our overly ethical father. It’s an interesting cast with many interlinking connections.

I hadn’t read anything by Keira Peikoff before so this was my first introduction to her. I found her crafting of the little details very interesting and she managed to make pretty complicated science sound straightforward. I’d actually have liked it if she’d gone into the nitty-gritty of it a little bit more, adding to the complexity and danger of her plot. As with many thrillers, especially ones that centre around family tragedy, the ending of Mother Knows Best is not as hard-hitting as you’d hope for. I saw another reviewer, OutlawPoet, note that while they found the book interesting it wasn’t necessarily exciting and this has stuck with me. I’m intrigued by most of Peikoff’s plot, don’t get me wrong. There are twists and turns aplenty but there is no true moment of ‘heart plummeting to your feet’ dread and the twists become rather outlandish and dramatic towards the end. It means that Mother Knows Best was a fun reading experience, but not one that left me particularly inspired.

I give this novel…

3 Universes.

Mother Knows Best is an interesting read that will fly by. It is also slightly predictable, aside from its fascinating premise. I'd definitely recommend it for those looking for something slightly different.