Book Review: The Push

Author Claire McGowan spools out a cast of unlikeable characters who are drawn together in the aftermath of an unpleasant incident. The six couples, around whom The Push revolves, may come from different backgrounds but they are part of the same prenatal group, with the ladies trying to get through their first pregnancy by being there for one another (at least outwardly) as well as seeking and sharing tips on child rearing and care. As the months pass and the babies arrive soon after, a party thrown to celebrate the life event takes a tragic turn when one of the guests falls from the balcony of the house, slowly unravelling the secrets lurking behind their false veneers. McGowan explores well the uneasy dynamics of newly forged relationships between the couples through the lens of the characters themselves, sending the story off in different directions, before it's all pieced side by side to form an unexpected picture towards the end. But the twists themselves are ineffectively executed, and the sheer number of individual plot threads means that none are fully developed, resulting in a readable but not particularly memorable entry.