Like Mother, Like Daughter

Bestseller McCreight (Friends Like This) explores thorny parent-child bonds in her captivating latest. After much badgering, rebellious NYU undergrad Cleo McHugh agrees to have dinner with her estranged mother, Kat, at her parents’ house in Brooklyn. When she arrives late to find dinner burning and Kat MIA, she panics, then notices a blood-smeared shoe under the couch. Cleo frantically calls her father, Aidan, who’s away on business, and then the police, who warn her against investigating Kat’s disappearance on her own. From there, the narrative splits into parallel tracks following Kat and Cleo, and McCreight serves up shrewdly timed bits of backstory: Kat and Aidan have recently started divorce proceedings; Kat has been working as a fixer for her law firm; Cleo and her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend have just rekindled their flame. Clever red herrings add to the suspense, and McCreight weaves in moving insights about intergenerational trauma as she orchestrates the plot to its satisfying conclusion. The results are sturdy enough to withstand a few too-soapy twists. This should please McCreight’s existing fans and win her new ones. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME. (July)