The Missing Mother (Mali Cornish, A&U)

In The Missing Mother, Mali Cornish (Judgement Day) crafts a gripping domestic thriller centred on Elspeth, who returns to Geelong from New York when her mother Simone vanishes. The story unfolds through Elspeth’s first-person narration, interwoven with Simone’s letters across a dual timeline from 1986 to 2025, steadily building suspense as past and present converge. The plot uses multiple credible suspects and long-buried family secrets to keep the reader guessing what happened to Simone, with Elspeth herself a suspect. What results is a mystery that is far more unsettling than a straightforward whodunit. Elspeth is a compelling and deeply unreliable narrator, and her unnerving detachment from her family makes her both fascinating and untrustworthy. Cornish’s exploration of how every person hides a side of themselves from others gives the story a compelling emotional undercurrent that lingers long after the final page. The present-day Geelong setting draws convincingly on Cornish’s lived experience of the town, though some local details feel more atmospheric than essential to the plot. The Missing Mother will appeal to fans of Lisa Jewell and Liane Moriarty, drawing readers in with its fast-paced dual timeline and layers of secrets. Cornish’s novel achieves what it sets out to do as a domestic thriller, delivering genuine surprises without sacrificing believable characters and emotions. It cements Cornish’s place among Australia’s rising crime writers and should easily attract readers beyond her existing fanbase.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Michelle Thomson is a library officer, freelance reviewer and crime fiction enthusiast. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews