Magpie by Elizabeth Day

​I really enjoyed Day’s Paradise City, so I wanted to read more of the author and then this one showed up on Netgalley. A thriller. Because of course why write a serious drama about serious subjects like immigration when you can write a thriller that’ll sell like hotcakes because it’s all anyone wants to read these days. Can’t fault the author for wanting to be popular, but also…can’t help but be left wanting.
Mind you, this might have been an exceptional thriller, with mind-boggling twists and stunning writing and so literary as to make even the snobbiest of readers happy to have read it, but it wasn’t…well, not quite. It came very close, mind you. But as Bond would say, No Cigar, Moneypenny.
It did have a terrific plot twist, but it was a. kinda predictable and b. came about third of a way in which is way too soon. After that, it mostly went on like a messed-up but fairly straight-up narrative about…well, motherhood.
Yes, after all that, and all the layers of literariness, beneath it all it’s just another mommy thriller. Well, ok, technically mommy and daddy thriller. It’s all (and I mean ALL) about the absolutely insane crap people will do to have a baby.
Can’t talk too much about the book without giving something away. The official plot description only covers the first third of the novel, the juicy third that leads into the plot twist. Reader beware, the other two thirds of the novel will likely not live up to the previously set standard.
But also…does the world need another mommy thriller? Another reproduction-obsessed couple? I mean, when is it going to be enough? Just stay childless (the world really doesn’t need any more people), or adopt and shut up about it, already. Your genes are not that precious and there are a lot of kids out there desperate for a family.
Day is a very good writer, and so it’s quite frustrating that she decided to throw her not inconsiderable talent in this direction. Understandable, but disappointing all the same.
Because of this talent, the book is a compelling read, but in the end doesn’t amount to much. An evilly manipulative mother-in-law and babies, babies, babies at all cost are the sort of plot drivers that are dime a dozen. And if you’re into that sort of thing, this is the book for you.  Maybe the author can go back to something original now with all that thriller dough. Thanks Netgalley.