Just What Kind Of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly

Just What Kind Of Mother Are You?  Haven't all of us asked ourselves that question at one time or another?  Or have you?  I certainly have, especially in my daughter's younger years when we were shuttling around to all kind of activities and I was signing up for this event and that one.  So afraid that I would forget something.  Paula Daly's book, which was her debut I think, was a definite page-turning thriller.  I listened to it on audio and it was narrated by Laura Brattan.  She did a decent job, although she did get really into character and so when there was crying or yelling, she performed that as well.  A little different, but very dramatic.

In this book, we meet Lisa Kallisto, who has three children, a husband, a very demanding job running an animal shelter, and lots and lots of responsibilities.  Lisa feels totally overwhelmed most of the time and her life is indeed a whirl of activities.  She grew up as an only child of a single mother and so her vision of what it's like to have an organized well-run household is a bit unrealistic.  Lisa never feels that she measures up, although I thought she was doing pretty well, all things considered.  She'd like to be more like her friend, Kate, who is the mainstay of the school event calendar and who always knows what's going on with her two children and who manages to have a beautiful, perfect house, etc., etc.

This story, which is told over the course of a very few days, begins with Lisa hurriedly trying to get her kids off to school one morning.  She gets a call from Kate, who asks her how the girls are doing.  Lisa, who is distracted, says fine and continue on with her morning.  All is not fine though.  It turns out that Kate's daughter, Lucinda, is missing.  She was supposed to be spending the night with Lisa's daughter, Sally, but Sally was ill and missed school.  Lisa, who completely forgot about the sleepover, neglected to call Kate to cancel and no one knows what happened to Lucinda after school the day before.  Lucinda is the second girl to be snatched in just a few days.  There's someone out there that is preying on teenagers, and Lisa feels that Lucinda's plight is all her fault.

I'm not going to reveal any more of the plot other than to say that Lisa is blamed by Kate's extended family, and she does everything she can to try and help the police find out information.  The story is told from various viewpoints, including that of the female police detective that works on the case.  There are secrets galore.  Lisa sees people in one way because of her insecurities over finances and her upbringing.  It turns out that few of the people we meet are really who they appear to be.  Their lives are quite, quite different.

I was completely caught up in the drama here and found reasons to continue listening, just to see what would come next.  The resolution was not completely unexpected to me, after a couple of secrets were revealed, but I was kept guessing.  No one is what they seem.  I liked the harried mother, Lisa, and felt quite sorry for her.  I liked the female detective and would hope that perhaps we might see her again in another book.  And again, this was a cold book, set in the time just before Christmas.  A nice plus for my 'read cold in summer' quest.  I would definitely read another book by Paula Daly.  She has a new one coming out in September called The Mistake I Made.

Have you read this book or another by this author?  What did you think about it?  I'd love to know.