Mothered

Mother-daughter conflict drives this so-so psychological thriller from Stage (Baby Teeth). When Grace worries about making mortgage payments on her newly purchased Pittsburgh house after losing her job as a hairdresser at the start of a Covid–like pandemic, her recently widowed mother, Jackie, offers to move in with her, despite their strained relationship. Things go wrong right away. Jackie rearranges Grace’s kitchen cabinets and hangs up unwanted photographs of Grace’s deceased twin sister, Hope, in the living room. Hope, who was born with cerebral palsy and had mischievous tendencies, begins to appear in Grace’s nightmares, which become increasingly disturbing and eventually alter Grace’s perception of reality. As tensions continue to rise at home, Jackie reveals the frightening if predictable way Hope met her fate, and Grace’s mental health takes a nosedive. What is a dream and what’s reality is unclear as the convoluted plot builds to a chilling, ambiguous conclusion, and readers will struggle to care about the fates of these somewhat stock characters. Stage has done better. Agents: Claire Friedman and Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management. (Feb.)