Nora Murphy

Author Nora Murphy ramps up the suspense and discomfort to high on the very first page of The New Mother and keeps it heart-poundingly there until the very last page. The relationship between Natalie and her husband Tyler seems off from the start. She seems resentful before they have even left the hospital with newborn son Oliver. Did they have to move to that new house so soon? How can Tyler just sleep in that chair beside her bed? Doesn’t he get it? Can’t he see that Oliver really show more shouldn’t be all that way down the hall with those other germy babies? That something might happen to him?

Natalie is a self-professed deadline meeter, overachiever, rule abider. A smart, successful lawyer with a smart, successful lawyer husband. So parenthood should be a snap, right? But it’s not a snap. It’s immediately overwhelming. She’s irrationally irritated with everything Tyler does, and everything he doesn’t think to do. Used to doing extensive research she learned everything she could about her pregnancy and newborns. To the extent that she is obsessed with only doing the right things and never, ever, ever doing anything that could harm her baby. So how can she sleep? Who knows what could happen?

Oliver isn’t an easy baby. He wants to be held by Natalie – only by Natalie – all the time. He fusses and screams and only sleeps in little bits. He seems to want to nurse constantly. No sleep, a body that won’t seem to heal, Natalie is more tired than she ever thought possible. And it just keeps getting worse. She thinks she’s following the rules and can’t stop. She used to love her job, she wants to return to work, but the pressure is enormous, she can’t stay away, she makes mistakes, and so she ends up taking a sabbatical. Now she’s home alone all day with a screaming baby who won’t sleep. And all the while she becomes more and more exhausted and confused and forgetful and irrational and nobody seems to think it’s more than “just get a little rest.” Tyler tries to help but Oliver wants his mommy and Natalie pushes Tyler away. Nobody understands. Nobody but Paul.

Author Murphy’s debut novel, The Favor, was stunning; so is The New Mother. She has gone on my always-read list. There are many layers to The New Mother, all of them unsettling. Motherhood has done something to Natalie and she is literally afraid to let Oliver out of her sight. Sleep-deprived, lonely, isolated. Along comes good neighbor Paul. He gets it. He’s a stay-at-home dad and knows how hard it was, but he’s perfected it now and he calms Oliver down like nobody else. Everything feels so comfortable, so right when she is with Paul. She gets a break from Oliver without putting Oliver in danger. But remember, Natalie is irrational these days. Paul’s perfect husband/dad life might not be so perfect after all. He had some “trouble” in the past, he keeps secrets from his wife, he “needs” Natalie but for what? Is he just a lonely man or is he a predator? There are a lot of little hints about what Paul’s real motives may be, but we really are as much in the dark as Natalie. Hearing this story through her own voice makes it all the more chilling.

Thanks to St. Martin’s, Minotaur Books for providing an advance copy of The New Mother via NetGalley for my thrilling reading pleasure. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it without hesitation; this is an author to watch. I am voluntarily leaving this review and all opinions are my own. show less

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

The two women have never met, but one day Leah Dawson sees McKenna Hawkins in the liquor store. She recognizes something in the other woman and follows her home. It isn’t long before she realizes that both of them are leading parallel lives.

Albeit reluctantly [and partly under suspicious circumstances], both lawyer Leah and pediatrician McKenna have stepped away from their jobs, leaving them at home . . . just as their husbands desire.

Their lives are show more perfect. Or are they?

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With an attention-getting opening that pulls readers in from the outset, this compelling narrative speaks to the horrors of domestic abuse. Well-defined characters and captivating parallel stories for the two main characters keep the pages turning. The sensitive, yet realistic, telling of the tale is both heart-wrenching and revealing.

Told from multiple points of view, the major focus is on Leah and McKenna; late in the narrative, some chapters focus on the viewpoint of Detective Jordan Harrison. Told primarily in the present, the narrative also steps back in time, slowly filling in the backstory for both Leah and McKenna.

Throughout the telling of the tale, there is an undercurrent of apprehension that keeps the reader feeling unsettled. Isolation, manipulation, and fear keep the women trapped, even as they ultimately discover their empathy for each other. It’s intense. It’s emotional. It’s frighteningly real.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley
#TheFavor #NetGalley show less

WOW – I mean wow. I started this book and flipped pages wildly until I finished only hours after picking it up. Anyone who has read a book about abusive controlling husbands might expect the tense claustrophobic suspense of Behind Closed Doors or any number of other similar books, but controlling abusive husbands is where the similarity ends. The Favor, a debut novel by Murphy, is a super quick read, a little different from the heart pounding suspense thriller that I often enjoy. I should show more caveat that anyone who is familiar with a 1951 Hitchcock film based on a book by Highsmith (my favorite duo combo) will know how the book will play out practically from chapter one. This did not diminish my enjoyment by even an iota. The difference between the noir film and this book is the motivation of the characters. No verbal contract between two strangers, but rather recognition, fear, and an unspoken empathy is what motivates. I’ve already given too much away, and I hope this won’t detract from a reader’s pleasure so I will limit the description to the above and add only that the police procedural aspect was equally entertaining as a Detective endeavors to unravel the mystery behind the murder of two men, husbands of two women who live in the same community, with no apparent connection between them, other than the similar circumstances of their widowhood.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Nora Murphy for a thoroughly enjoyable ARC of The Favor! I will be looking for more books by this author in the future. show less

THE FAVOR is an unsettling domestic suspense novel involving two affluent, professional women who are victims of spousal abuse. They don’t know each other, but when Leah observes McKenna from afar in her same perilous situation, she intervenes.

This book was so good — disturbing, but addictive. The author created two sympathetic characters in Leah and McKenna, and portrayed their struggle realistically. It could happen to anyone, and “just leaving” isn’t a safe or easy solution. show more Enter: the favor.

This well-plotted, slow burn tale had the right amount of suspense and dread woven in, with some wonderfully cathartic moments as well. Fantastic debut from Nora Murphy! show less