This book is gripping, heart wrenching, emotional and tense. I found it incredibly difficult to read due to the subject matter but found I could not put it down. A must read.

Dr Susannah Rice makes the ultimate tragic mistake when she leaves her baby girl in a hot car. Sadly its too late to save her and Susannah has to deal with the guilt and then a court hearing as to whether she was negligent.

Wow what a harrowing story. As a mum myself this is so tragic and yet you do find yourself starting to relate to how something like this could happen. The plot is steady and builds to the dramatic conclusion with the court result and an epilogue tying the story up. I like that they added that in to show how everyone involved attempted to move on. The writing is well done and leaves you guessing as to which way the jury will go. Its a tough subject to write about but its handled well. This also focuses on the pressure placed on women and mums which is an important issue in these modern days. Dark and harrowing.

When Susannah makes a mistake which has fatal consequences for her family. There is a witch hunt to make her pay no less because she is a renowned expert in childcare. Emotionally charged and a book most mothers will be both horrified and sympathetic to at the same time.

What a stunning debut!

Susannah has it all - wealth, style, looks, the perfect family and a truly glittering career: She's the top Paediatrician at a busy hospital, is a celebrity writer of 'how to raise your child' type books and, a recognised 'guru' in her field, has been on TV many times to share her expert knowledge. Her world turns upside down on the fateful morning when she leaves her baby to die in the back seat of her car on a baking hot day.

Was it deliberate? Did she knowingly kill her Child?

Adelaid is living a 'new life', an ex NYT journalist she has cut off her past life and anyone who knew her, now a CNN reporter who is immensly triggered by the task of providing months of daily coverage on this high profile case. Will she ever find peace from the traumatic past?

This was for me is a highly emotive and difficult read. I was incensed by the intrusive and merciless 'trial by media' coverage of this case, I actually HATED the snidy, misogynistic barrister for the prosecution, I was horrified by the lack of support given to working mothers in the USA and beyond frustrated by the impossible standards which professional women in our modern world have to live up to. BUT this is a truly bloody brilliant book, I honestly could not put it down, I only started late last night thinking I would just read a couple of chapters - I was 52% into the book when I very reluctantly gave into sleep and began reading again as soon as I had my first coffee this morning, my poor dogs were crossing their legs until I finished ... OMG the outcome of the trial!

AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ

Bravo Edel Coffey - I am eagerly awaiting your next offering

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and give my honest review

This is an heart wrenching, tense and emotionally packed debut novel. It almost feels wrong to say I enjoyed it because of the highly emotive subject matter, but it certainly reasonated with me.

The novel is mainly about Susannah, a hard working mum with a happy marriage and perfect home. Until one day, she makes a terrible, far reaching mistake and leaves her baby in the car with shocking results. What follows is a tragic, yet captivating story about expectations of working mothers, people's perceptions and the way this is dealt with by the media and the public.

The characters were well rounded and believeable and I found the courtroom scenes extremely tense and realistic.

This is a different genre to the psychological thrillers and crime books I usually read, but I would certainly recommend this. I will look out for the author's next book.

Thanks to the author, Edel Coffey, publishers Little Brown Book Group UK and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I do not know where to start with this book. It literally had it all for me. My favourite genre is a courtroom drama, that leaves the reader thinking about whether the Defendant is going to be found guilty or not guilty. This book is just that! In this book, we meet Dr Sue. A high flying successful career woman, who on paper, appears to have it all. One day, she commits a dreadful act, which in the eyes of the law, she must be punished for. The book explores many issues, but ones that I think are particularly relevant in today’s society. The book shows just how much things can impact us and other people’s actions and thoughts. Reading the book, it was hard to believe that this is the author’s debut. I think this would make a great tv drama as well. For me, this book ticked every box and more. I have spoken about it and recommended it to so many people. I cannot recommend this book enough. The book holds such an important message. I do imagine that the book may be hard to read if you are a mother, but it is still one that I would highly recommend. Thank you to the publishers for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5stars

Warning: this is a very emotional book dealing with child loss
Dr Susannah Rice is a very successful paediatrician, given her super busy schedule she tries to maintain a very organized routine. When her husband John’s car doesn’t start that fateful morning, everything changes – Dr. Rice forgets to drop her 2nd child at the day care and later the baby is found dead!
What follows is a harrowing trial where most of them seem to be pointing fingers at Dr. Rice, why did she have kids so late in her life? Everything is put out for the world to see – her expensive shoes, clothes, lifestyle.
Adelaide Gold, an ex-NYT journalist, now a CNN reporter, is asked to cover the story that opens up a whole lot of emotions as this opens up everything that happened to her in the past.
This was a nicely written book, sometimes a little too much in detail but it was enjoyable. I kept wondering where this book was going, and when the verdict was announced especially with the justification given I loved this book!
Thanks to Netgalley & Little, Brown Book Group for approving the ARC, this is my very unbiased opinion.

This book is so gripping. It's a hard story to read but I can't put it down. The author makes me feel like I am in the story, watching along, I am 86% into the story and I know I will get it finished today. This is one book I would definitely recommend for 2022. Breaking point is going to be big.

Breaking Point by Edel Coffey.

Susannah seems to have it all- two little girls ,a good marriage, a successful medical career as a paediatrician who also shares her expertise on tv and has a publishing deal where she writes a book per year. A nice home, stylish, glossy hair and a busy life that she’s in control of, until she isn’t.

One hot Summer day, whilst on autopilot, Susannah makes a mistake and forgets to drop her baby to childcare, leaving her in the car. The consequences are devastating. As her life falls apart, the media attention is colossal and Susannah is charged with negligence and a court case with huge public and press interest ensues.

This is Irish journalist Edel Coffey’s debut novel. It’s well written and well paced, short chapters and coming in at under 300 pages , it’s a quick and relatively easy read, despite the subject matter. I did find some of the descriptions difficult to read and one of them lingered with me and I wish I hadn’t. That’s early on in the book and from that point on, the book is less harrowing.

There’s was a lot I enjoyed about this book. The character of the journalist covering the story was interesting and well developed as were the almost pantomime element of the court scenes. The observations of how mothers are viewed, specifically working mothers were on the nose and I liked how the main character , Susannah was portrayed, realistically and with flaws and emotion.
However , some parts of the story were a little bit flat or maybe I just would have preferred more detail or examination of these elements.

The modern day witch hunt of a successful woman through a public court case and the question of how mothers lives and decisions are viewed and judged felt terrifyingly realistic. I think would be a good choice for a book club as there’s lots to discuss from the themes within.

I think this book will be very popular and best of luck to the author. I’d read her next book.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Content warning- it’s difficult to add one without spoilers but I’d approach this book with caution if you’ve suffered with pregnancy/ infant loss.

*Breaking Point will be published this week on January 20th. I received an advance reader copy with thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Little, Brown Book Group, Uk. As always, this is an honest review.

Wow, what a page turner. I read this over the weekend and genuinely found it hard to put down. I love that it's told from dual perspectives. Very emotional and heart-wrenching. The court scenes were especially well written and I found the characters engaging, (except John, who I didn't like, nevertheless, the character was conveyed well).

I found the book hard going emotionally and couldn’t really warm to any of the characters in the book. The subject matter was very relevant though, working mothers. I felt though there was too much emphasis on working mothers being under constant pressure, it seemed to be hammering home the point at every opportunity.
Thanks to NetGalley for offering me the chance to read this book in exchange for an impartial review. #BreakingPoint #NetGalley

Susannah is a successful doctor, at the pinnacle of her career. On tv shows, book deals, married with two children and the epitome of success until tragedy strikes. Susannah has left her baby daughter in the car and she can’t save her. Put on trial for negligence what will happen.
The reporters covering the story have their own agendas but one in particular, Adelaide, had her own demons to manage during the trial.
This was a captivating read and engrossed me totally. The working mum guilt, the grief and pain are covered so well and with dignity. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I would ideally have given this book 3.5 stars. It is quite readable, it moves along at a.good pace and is quite engaging. However there are some things which are really implausible which jarred and prevented a higher score (to share them would really be spoilers so I haven't done so) and, with one exception, the characters.were quite one-dimensional I recently read a book about the same subject of a baby being left in a car in the sweltering heat (Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah) which I found to be a much better read, and I suspect that affected my view of this one. However, it does raise some interesting points about expectations on working mothers (clearly the support in the US is significantly less than in the UK) which were well made and thought-provoking.

This felt a little like a book in two separate halves. I loved the first half which couldn’t help but pull at my heart strings and I admired the courtroom scenes in the latter half. The characters of the two couples were well rounded but not all together likeable at least as far as Doctor Sue as concerned but interesting nevertheless.
I thought I had read the story before at the opening scenes because it’s like two other books but all three diverge only having a similar scenario at the beginning so that was fine.

In Breaking Point Coffey has created a truly memorable protagonist in Susannah, a mother who makes a horrible mistake that changes the course of her life forever. There's so much humanity in Breaking Point and, yes, Susannah's story is the key focus here, but Coffey does a wonderful job of commenting on the way we treat mothers, particularly working mothers, as a society. I can see this becoming hugely popular with book groups this year!

I found Breaking Point to be a very emotional read. It tells the story of Susannah, the hard working mother with the perfect life. Perfect until she makes a devastating mistake. The subject matter doesn't make it an easy read but I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Next Of Kin by Kia Abdullah was one of my favourite reads last year, and Breaking Point starts in a very similar way - on a very hot day, with a baby in the backseat of a car. Although that took away some of the emotional shock for me having been completely broken by Abdullah's story, these books then go off in two completely different directions.

Breaking Point has much more of a point to make, and I completely admire how it explores the attitudes towards working mothers and the pressure that are placed on them. With the book being set in the US, their situation is obviously very different to ours here in the UK, as we are much more fortunate to have more support in this area. But there are definitely still many problems over here (childcare being more expensive than your average salary, for one), so it's still such an important topic in need of being discussed.

Coffey brilliantly layers this topic into her story, set alongside many moments of tragedy and grief to make for a deeply compelling read. Even though I didn't particularly connect with either female lead, both are still well-developed characters and I still found their stories incredibly powerful. I especially appreciated how they represented two different reactions to grief after both experiencing such harrowing experiences, which really allowed me to understand their individual points of view.

A quick but thought-provoking and emotive read, Breaking Point is a remarkable debut by Edel Coffey and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her future releases.

I was asked to review this little beauty, I wasn’t sure what to expect but it pulled at my heart strings, such an emotional thriller. A fab page turner, I couldn’t put it down

The court scenes in this book were doen really well, but the xharacters were really hard to connect with which made me struggle to get into the story.

Having absolutely zero maternal instinct, and not being a Mum myself, I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy this book as it focuses quite heavily on the pressures put on working mothers, however I thought it was a fantastic read!

The book draws on some very relevant, very real issues with the expectations put on women to be the perfect wife, mother, friend etc whilst at the same time balancing home, work and social lives, and the damned if you do, damned if you don’t scrutiny.

There are two fantastic, strong female lead characters in this story, with a couple of bad-ass minor characters too.

My first book for 2022 and an attempt to not only clear my TBR but also get through some of my Net Galley backlog. Thank you @netgalley and @ for my advanced copy of this book, I wish @edelcoffey they best of luck when this is released on 20th Jan!

⚠️There are some very triggering subjects covered in this book so I would recommend checking them out prior to reading.