Mothered by Zoje Stage

 


"Mothered" by Zoje Stage

Submitted by Heather Groom, Branch Manager for Sullivan Gardens Public Library

    I appreciate that smack in the middle of Spring, Zoje Stage has delivered the kind of novel that you only find on the shelves around Halloween. For all the Horror/Suspense genre lovers out there, this book is the equivalent to Christmas in July.

    Mother/Daughter relationships are complicated, right? There's a plethora of books in any genre that attest to that fact. Stage makes a delicious concoction of blame, mistrust and paranoia. Then doles it out bite by bite through 300 pages. And listen, you really want to stick around when dessert is served. (A little Hannibal Lector reference for all you Harris fans out there.)

    Grace's life has been complicated since the pandemic. She's a hair dresser and has lost her job a mere month after signing a mortgage for her new home. Grace reluctantly decides to let her mother, Jackie, move in to help each other through the transition. They've had a volatile relationship in the past and Grace hopes this could be their opportunity to reconnect.  Her mother brings baggage and not the kind you can check on an airplane. They dissect old grudges, right down to the scar tissue, and rip new wounds in each other. Grace desperately tries to hold on to any truth that she can find, but only comes apart with more questions and staggering paranoia. Stage does an amazing job of slowly unraveling Grace's sanity while giving the reader insight into her breakdown. Her madness is a train wreck that you can't look away from, but you understand it completely. Jackie has a particular skill with manipulation and passive aggression. By the time Grace stops sleeping because of horrifying nightmares about her dead twin sister, its apparent that both mother and daughter will never be the same.

    "Mothered" is Stage's fourth novel. She hooks the reader within the first 3 pages (91 stab wounds....how? WHY??) but reels in her catch slowly. She has crafted teeth grinding suspense, and this novel reads like a hot wind on a dry plain. Something ugly is blowing in. We don't know what it is or when it will get here...but it's coming.

"Mothered" by Zoje Stage can be checked out at Sullivan Gardens Public Library.

Also look for this title on Libby and Hoopla.

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