Five thrillers that capture the complexities of motherhood

Kimberly McCreight is a New York Times bestselling author. Her novels include Reconstructing Amelia, which was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Alex Awards and was called Entertainment Weekly’s Favorite Book of the Year. Reconstructing Amelia has been optioned for TV by HBO, Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films, and David E. Kelley. A Good Marriage was named a Best Book of the Summer by the New York Times, People, and Publishers Weekly. It was also an Amazon Best Mystery of the Month. A TV adaptation of A Good Marriage is coming soon from Amazon and Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films. McCreight’s Friends Like These was named a Good Morning America Buzz Pick and an Amazon Best Book of the Month. It will be adapted for TV by Amblin Television.

Her new novel is Like Mother, Like Daughter.

[The Page 69 Test: Reconstructing Amelia; The Page 69 Test: The Scattering; The Page 69 Test: The Collide; Q&A with Kimberly McCreight]

At CrimeReads McCreight tagged five "favorite suspense novels about charged mother-daughter relationships," including:

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

Ruth Sterling and her daughter Catherine seem to have an envious mother-daughter relationship, one of loyalty and protection. But as Catherine advances in her career as a nurse, and prepares to leave the house for a prestigious hospital in another city, Ruth finds that she cannot let go. A diagnosis of early Alzheimer’s leads to a tense cat-and-mouse game and a shocking unraveling of everything Catherine believed to be true about her devoted single mother. A brilliant, dual point-of-view look at the costs of intergenerational trauma.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue