From Nurturer to Nightmare: Mothers & The Secrets They Keep
By: Shaniece Chavis
Ever wonder what happens when the fiercest love, or lack thereof, meets the darkest secrets? Today, I am giving you all a peek into a few of the thrillers lurking on my very own bookshelf. Not to find comfort, but to confront the chilling truth: motherhood in these pages is less about lullabies and more about the nurturers who plot, and the seemingly ordinary women capable of extraordinary, often terrifying, feats. The following list of books explore the unsettling transformation of the mother figure, from a symbol of safety to a source of the most profound and chilling suspense.
The Last Party by A.R. Torre
Can the purest love and the darkest violence stem from the same need for secrecy? A mother's embrace and a murderer's motive are intertwined by the lies they dare not reveal.
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
A decade after her daughter vanished, a mother's fragile hope is reignited by a chance encounter with a hauntingly familiar young woman, sending her down a rabbit hole of unsettling truths and the devastating possibility of what really happened.
The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
She picked him, but his mother had other plans. A mother's love can be a powerful weapon, and the woman who dared to take her son's attention is about to discover just how sharp that edge can be.
Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner
What should be a blissful pregnancy and wedding becomes a chilling descent into paranoia, when an uninvited guest crashes into a pregnant woman's life, threatening to expose the dark underbelly of her seemingly perfect family and shatter her future.
Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard
A call from a ghost—an old friend who vanished years ago without a word—sends a jolt through a new mother's life. But the real shock comes with the revelation: a son, a life off the grid with a mysterious sisterhood called Halcyon, and an unsettling invitation to escape the isolating demands of new motherhood.
Hopefully, on this journey through the maternal minefield of my own bookshelf, one thing is made clear: when motherhood goes dark, the results are undeniably, and chillingly unforgettable. Happy Mother’s Day!