2025 Thriller Book Club - CHV Debut discussion

It’s April! Time to start book #4! This was my pick for April. This is a psychological thriller that challenges everything you know about motherhood! Can’t wait to dive in!

I wanted to inform you guys of some content warnings for this book that I found online. We realized after the fact for ‘Hurricane Season’ that that book could be quite triggering. So this is what I found online:

Content warnings: abortion (mentioned), cheating, child abuse, death of an infant, gaslighting, grief, self-harm (suicide), mental health (including postnatal depression), miscarriage.

Definitely triggering content, thank you for the warning!

Spoilers ahead 🛑 ✋

Although it discussed some heavy topics, I loved this book. I found it a little confusing at first to get into, and wished it could have been deeper character development at times, (specifically for the mothers), so rated it 4/5, but I haven’t stopped thinking about this book since I finished it.

I love that it shows a darker side of motherhood and familial relationships. Relationships with parents are tricky and nuanced, this did a good job not forgiving some of the bad behaviour but at least explaining it, along with the impact of generational trauma.

I didn’t connect with my son when I had him. Not immediately, and not the way I was expecting anyways. And he is autistic, so was displaying some lack of eye contact and emotion. My mommy brain and sleep deprived thinking led me down some dark rabbit holes. This was interesting for me to read, given I could relate sometimes to some of the narrator’s desperation to connect with someone who can understand.

Add in the suspense storyline of wondering whether the narrator is reading into things or whether her daughter is actually capable of doing the things she thinks she saw, and I was hooked.

If this book was interesting to you, check out the movie Tully, with Charlize Theron. It kinda had a similar vibe.

Loved this book!
The dark side of motherhood and the fear of being a “good mom” combined with the psychological thriller aspect was excellent. I kept second guessing if Violet was truly evil or if this mother was experiencing psychosis at first, but as the book continued and more was revealed, I was hooked!

Just finished. Wow …. Appreciate all the comments and thank you for sharing, Jenn! I also agree the book was very confusing for me at the beginning but Chelsea helped explain the characters to me. Once that was sorted it was a page turner but holy, what an emotional read - honestly I was mostly annoyed, frustrated and angry the whole time! I’m glad it’s done. And the ending……. Wow… .

I thought it was a good commentary also on how mothers are expected to be by society and totally ostracized when they don’t fall into that expectation, out of necessity or not.

I loved this book! I was hooked right away. At the start, I thought the mother was "just" experiencing post-partum depression but in complete denial. I was like "there is no way her 1 year old is evil...that is crazy?" But the book hooks you and soon enough I was on the mother's side. I really liked the Mom and her character - I felt so much empathy towards her.

Page 78 stands out to me! It is the monologue about her being a mother and what she does everyday compared to her husband. The life of a stay at home mom goes unnoticed, let alone a stay at home mom of a killer!

I wish the ending was a bit more shocking - but it was at least reassuring.

Does anyone have any thoughts on if Violet killed Ms. Ellington? I think she did. Violet took away everything that her mother loved and cherished (Sam, her husband, the painting). Her mother was vulnerable enough to introduce her to Ms. Ellington...and a few pages later we find out she died...suspicious!

Holly, I really loved that paragraph on page 78 too. It was such a powerful and accurate contrast! Probably my favourite part of the book.

Interesting theory about Mrs Ellington - I want to go back and read that scene again now.

Caught up on the list and just finished this one. Man, it made you feel so much. The darker side of motherhood, the guilt for feeling that way, the cycle of abuse, learned behaviors, it was written so well. And then the end…. Just when you are doubting what she really saw…. You are left with a cliff hanger.

Right!!! I loved this one, I want to read it again