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Sign up todayMy Darling Boy
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Learn moreWhat if mother doesn’t know best…?
In a close-knit English village, Chrissy and Alice were once best friends. So were their sons, Leo and Robbie. Until the night Leo killed Robbie with a single, devastating punch. Now Leo has gone to prison, Chrissy has lost her pub, and Alice has been pouring her anger into a twisted project . . .
As Leo’s parole date approaches, the villagers are incensed and fearful about the prospect of his return. But when Chrissy arrives to collect Leo from prison, he isn’t there. The staff tell her he has already been released, but nobody knows where he’s gone.
As the village closes ranks, Chrissy realizes her former friends are suspects in her son’s disappearance, not the least of which is still-bitter Alice. Is Leo being punished for what happened that terrible night? Or do the answers lie further back, in a dark past none of them wants to revisit?
Helen Cooper is the author of The Other Guest, The Downstairs Neighbor, and The Couple in the Photo. She is from Derby and has an MA in Creative Writing and a background in teaching English and Academic Writing. Her creative writing has been published in Mslexia and Writers' Forum; she was shortlisted in the Bath Short Story Prize in 2014, and came third in the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize 2018.
Reviews
"For bookworms who loved The Perfect Couple’s mystery aspect and web of complicated relationships, add My Darling Boy to your TBR list. The domestic thriller follows a pair of ex-best friends after one of their sons is found dead and the other vanishes. It’s recommended for fans of ‘stories driven by family drama, unpredictable twists, and complex female protagonists.’ Sound familiar?" —Best Life"Another great psychological thriller, with lots of twists and turns, as only she can write." —Red Carpet Crash
"[My Darling Boy] is told from disparate viewpoints, offering tantalizing misdirection. Readers who like the slow burn of a mystery will enjoy this atmospheric thriller. Recommend to fans of Tana French or Kate Morton." —Library Journal
"Mothers and sons are mired in a quicksand of deception in this tale of psychological suspense. . . . The title of Cooper's fourth novel appears to give a nod to happy families ensconced in idyllic relationships, but it quickly becomes apparent that it's just another of the book's intriguing misdirections. Cooper builds the scaffolding of this secret-packed novel on a harrowing event in which either 'a push or a punch' during a scuffle in a pub leaves a young man dead and another sent to prison. . . . Into this already compelling storyline, Cooper drops other plot-driving grenades. . . . In a vertigo-inducing denouement of Hitchcockian proportions, 'a push or a punch' seems to come full circle. Cooper, with her keen understanding of family dynamics, pushes her characters and her readers to wonder how far they would go to protect themselves and their children. This pitch-perfect story about families and secrets starts with a punch and ends with a bang." —Kirkus Reviews
"Many secrets and lies unfold in this emotionally charged tale. . . . Cooper weaves an extremely tangled web, but all is resolved in a perilous confrontation atop a viaduct. Her fans will enjoy this." —Booklist
"I was gripped by this beautifully, written, intricately plotted, tangle of secrets and lies. Bravo, Helen Cooper." —Louise Jensen, author of The Sister
"Another masterfully constructed novel from the queen of psychological thrillers, Helen Cooper. My Darling Boy takes a cast of gloriously complex characters and throws them into a nightmare scenario to create a story that will keep you turning the pages until the very end.” —Sarah Bonner, author of Her Perfect Twin
"Helen Cooper is a masterful plotter. In My Darling Boy, she crafts an intricate thriller that explores grief, blame and outsidership in a small village community. Taut, twisty and utterly compulsive, it takes secrets, lies and age-old betrayals and spins a gripping mystery." —Kia Abdullah, author of Perfectly Nice Neighbors
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