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The Push
Ashley Audrain
Published January 5th, 2021
By Pamela Dorman Books
320 Pages
Find it on Amazon | Goodreads | BOTM
Ashely Audrain’s debut novel is a psychological thriller that has been sweeping the thriller community. It’s a tense novel, revolving around motherhood and all of the hopes and expectations it carries with it.
Blythe Connor made a promise to herself that when she finally became a mother, she would do better. That she wouldn’t be like her own mother – cold, distant, and abusive. Only, now she is a mother, and it isn’t at all what she expected it would be like.
She swears that there is something wrong with Violet, even if nobody else sees it or agrees with her. She knows, deep down in her gut. Her gut instinct is affirmed with the birth of her second child, a perfect baby boy who doesn’t set off those alarms inside her head.
The Push is a consuming novel, that much I can promise you. It’s richly detailed and deals with the pressure and societal expectations that come with motherhood. But it goes deeper than that as well, painting a picture that is haunting and eerie in all the ways psychological thriller fans will love and expect.
Still, even going into this book with high expectations, there was something that kept holding me back as I read. Perhaps it was the heavy use of tropes I’m familiar with or the uncomfortable subject matter that was explored over the course of this book.
On that note, there is a content warning for The Push: this novel tackles postpartum depression, neglect, abuse, suicide, infant death, paranoia, and use of the Bad Seed trope. So I wouldn’t recommend lightly diving into this novel, as it truly will be every bit as intense as it promises.
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