What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman
I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – 31/1
Price – £9.99 paperback £6.99 Kindle ebook
After striking out on her own as a teen mother, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmer’s market.
It’s at the market that she reconnects with her high school boyfriend Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying monster waiting at the centre of the labyrinth―and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.
Parenting is a challenge. While personally I’ve had no interest in being one, I can see from my childhood and the experiences of friends that this is a tough job that goes on for many many years. There is pressure to be a good parent and standards are held to that no one can match. You feel the judgement of family, the world and most of all your child. In Clay McLeod Chapman’s What kind of Mother we get an intriguing character plunged into a mystery but ultimately I felt the story elements didn’t quite flow together as easily as I was hoping for.
Madi Price has only returned to her childhood home of Brandywine, Virgina because of her teenage daughter Kendra. Kendra has started to get to know her estranged father and is now living with him and his new wife. Madi is therefore using one of her talents palmistry as a job renting out a small office (which doubles as her place to live). One day enters henry a man she last dated at high school and now more known for the mysterious disappearance of his son Skyler. As soon as their hands touch strange images draw Madi in and a drive to aid henry gets very strong but what will be the eventual outcome.
This was a very frustrating read as there are three very good stories in the novel that for me don’t quite work alongside each other. The first segment is in Madi’s voice and it’s a fascinating piece of character work. Usually, psychics are one of my pet hates (I find their approach repellent) but Madi isn’t faking it too much she comes across more a skilled people reader who uses it as she calls being a ‘redneck oracle’. She feels level-headed, slightly frustrated where she has got to and her desire to help comes across as genuine. Chapman starts entering strange images and a wider supernatural turn. Impressively you think its going to be that well-trodden path of psychic aids a crime but it turns into something a lot weirder and more creepier. That you can feel the river, the small community and lifestyles here makes it all come real.
The second tale is Henry. An enigmatic quiet guy who could be both damaged grieving father or possibly a suspect. We find his tale and its quite powerful on its own. We feel his isolation, his love for his wife and Skyler. But the story is more than a simple crime and turns into true horror. The love of a parent can drive people to do strange things. It works really well on its own and feels a tragic tale with disturbing themes of miscarriages and child death which I do warn readers to know about before diving in.
It’s the last section of the story that I feel slightly doesn’t work. Ultimately this part relies on Madi a lot and I cannot see the sensible tough young woman from the first tale acting like the woman in the latter. I’ll avoid major spoilers, but Madi seems to have no desire to be a mother again, she seems too aware of people and their skills to take this as far as the story goes. She changes from an interesting and strong character into more a standard horror victim and while as a say a short story of motherhood, body horror and parental pull going too strong that wporks on its own I don’t feel it gels with earlier Madi’s tale. I found it hard to believe this was the same character.
Ultimately, I think What Kind of Mother delivers a series of three interesting stories loosely connected but I don’t feel worked as a complete novel. Chapman makes each individually work and they can make moments of strange horror that grip us by surprise but I just don’t quite feel the main story works to give me a truly satisfying experience. Horror readers may enjoy the journey but recommended with caveats.
