MOTHERS’ INSTINCT

A relationship between two close couples is tested after a tragedy derails their friendship.

Next-door neighbors in a quiet French suburb, David and Laetitia Brunelle and Sylvain and Tiphaine Geniot are also inseparable friends. Both couples find out they are expecting within a few months of each other, and their children, Milo and Maxime, become best friends, too. Then, years later, a tragedy occurs and entirely destroys their lives and friendship. Maxime dies in an accident, causing resentment and tension between the families. When Milo begins to suffer from a series of mysterious accidents, like an inadvertent poisoning at the Geniots’ house that brings him to death’s door, things begin to escalate, with each couple blaming the other for their misfortunes. Author Abel does a lot of summarizing about the couples and their relationships to each other rather than bringing the friendships to life on the page, and none of the characters come across as three-dimensional. The point of view jumps around among all four parents, so much so that you never get a real feel for any of the characters, and they start to blend together. There is a lot of yelling and a lot of crying and dialogue that extends for paragraphs at a time. Not much happens, and much of what does is implausible. The chapters are short and the book’s a fast read, yet it’s hard to care about what happens to any of the characters because they’re all so awful to each other and have few redeeming qualities.

Though the premise is intriguing, the book lacks the tension and character development to hold a reader’s interest.