Motherless by Erin Healy

The Synopsis:

A whispering voice at the back of my mind reminds me that I’ve been this way for some time. Dead, that is.
The dead have a very broad view of the living, of actions performed out of sight, of thoughts believed to be private. I would know. Losing both parents is a trial no child should endure, and Marina and Dylan have endured enough. They deserve the one thing I could never give them: a mother’s love.
A mother’s love, and the truth.
My children have believed a lie about me for years and years. After all this time I can still feel their hurt in my heart. But the tether holding me to them is frayed from years of neglect . . . and I have to find a way to make my confession before it snaps.
But when the truth comes out, what other beasts will I unleash?
“Why do we lie to the children?” someone asked me once.
“To protect them,” I answered.
How terrible it is that they need protection from me.

I received this book from the author/publisher for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are my own.

Review:

Most novels can be summed up with one word, and this one falls into the category: weird.

I honestly don’t even know how to begin this review. This book is written in the point of view of the mother who committed suicide….and she’s dead, or supposed to be. It is unclear as to whether she is supposed to represent a ghost or an angel, and I couldn’t tell because I couldn’t get into this book long enough to finish it. But, to the reader, it is clear that she is some sort of spirit because she explains very vividly that she cannot touch anything in the physical world, like she’s a wisp of air.

Aside from being weird, this book was pretty boring to be a suspense novel. It opens with a car accident, but the author doesn’t make a big deal about it, she just makes the mother go on about her business like it never happened. No emotion is sparred from the reader, no reaction is called for, it’s just words on a piece of paper.

I read over half of the book and still didn’t read anything that I would consider suspense worthy, nor was the story line engaging. There were a few mild action scenes yes, but no suspense.

I’m afraid that the only thing I can praise this author on is her writing style, her sentence structures are very well put together and I liked the way she worded the thoughts, conversations, and descriptions. But, the story in particular could have used some more contemplation and because I’ve heard several people say that this is her best, I will probably not be reading any other book by Healy.

I give it 1 out of 5 stars.