The Missing Mother

by Mali Cornish, Nicolette Chin (Narrator)

Listening Length 11 hours and 26 minutes

A razor-sharp psychological suspense thriller for fans of Gillian Flynn about the family secrets that bind us - and break us.


When Elspeth returns from New York to her hometown of Geelong, it's not for a holiday - it's because her mother, Simone, has vanished without a trace.

Elspeth moves in with her sister, Aoife, and old wounds reopen as they circle around their father's death years earlier. But Elspeth's own behaviour soon unsettles those around her. She's jittery, secretive - and the police begin to wonder if she's hiding something more than grief.

Desperate to prove her innocence, Elspeth teams up with Steve, a local crime reporter, to hunt for the truth. Their search leads them to Simone's unfinished memoir, which includes letters that expose long-buried betrayals and dangerous secrets.

But as the investigation tightens, so does the net around Elspeth. Is she an investigator, a daughter, or something more dangerous?

Because in a family built on lies and betrayal, digging too deep can be deadly.

Genres: Thriller

12 pages, Audible Audio

Published June 11, 2026

Reviews

[Suzanne]

This is a book about dysfunctional families, secrets and childhood trauma.

It is told by 3 POV that being

* Simone (mother) through her memoir
* Elspeth (estranged daughter)
* Aoife (another daughter who lives in Geelong)

Simone and Elspeth relationship is toxic, and they were estranged at the time of her disappearance. This makes Elspeth a very good candidate.

What I loved about this book is the fact I couldn't trust anyone as they were all unlikeable. I did guess wrong and I love that in a book.

[Craig and Phil]

Big thanks to Allen & Unwin and Atlantic Books for gifting us a copy to read and review.
The Missing Mother is a family mystery with elements of domestic suburban thriller.
A steady paced melodrama with stand out characters set in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.
Elspeth has made a life for herself in New York.
Then she gets a frantic phone call saying she needs to come home as her mother has gone missing.
She arrives in her hometown of Geelong and stays with her sister Aoife and her family.
Police get involved and soon wonder if Elspeth is hiding something.
Soon secrets, betrayals, lies and an unfinished memoir surface until everything is exposed…..
A mysterious, interesting and enjoyable read.
It goes about its business until the last third grips you with suspense until the reveal and the satisfying ending.
Mali really gets into the minds of her characters as this comes across on the pages.
This will appeal to many readers looking for a mixed genre tale.
With many emotions, tension, secrecy and touching moments, this is a book worth picking up and reading.

[Becs' reads Australia]

The Missing Mother by Mali Cornish @malicornishauthor
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half✨️

This book was a beautifully paced slow burn of dropping breadcrumbs of secrets to reveal a huge bag of hideously traumatic experiences.

The characters are complex three dimensional beings with so much depth and presence they are almost living and breathing.

As the book progresses more complex characters (and red herrings) are introduced providing intrigue and the reader wanting more.

The ending was mind blowing and left me wanting more. This book was a roller-coaster of twists and had me wanting to read just one more chapter.... that lead to six more chapters.

"A razor-sharp psychological suspense thriller for fans of Gillian Flynn about the family secrets that bind us - and break us.

When Elspeth returns from New York to her hometown of Geelong, it's not for a holiday - it's because her mother, Simone, has vanished without a trace.

Elspeth moves in with her sister, Aoife, and old wounds reopen as they circle around their father's death years earlier. But Elspeth's own behaviour soon unsettles those around her. She's jittery, secretive - and the police begin to wonder if she's hiding something more than grief.

Desperate to prove her innocence, Elspeth teams up with Steve, a local crime reporter, to hunt for the truth. Their search leads them to Simone's unfinished memoir, which includes letters that expose long-buried betrayals and dangerous secrets.

But as the investigation tightens, so does the net around Elspeth. Is she an investigator, a daughter, or something more dangerous?

Because in a family built on lies and betrayal, digging too deep can be deadly."

I highly recommend this amazing Australian Author and look forward to reading more from Mali.

[True Crime Bookcase]

4.5 STARS

The Missing Mother by Mali Cornish is a slow-burn thriller centred around family secrets, fractured relationships, and the disappearance of a mother that forces the past back into the present. Packed with emotional depth and plenty of drama, this is one of those stories that slowly tightens its grip before delivering some well-timed surprises.

This is such a hard book to review without giving anything away.

I absolutely loved Elspeth’s sharp wit, and the relationship between sisters Elspeth and Aoife was easily my favourite part of the book. Their childhood left both women carrying long-lasting trauma, creating a distance between them, yet beneath it all is this powerful unspoken bond forged by everything they endured separately and together. Their dynamic felt authentic, messy, and deeply moving.

Around the 70% mark, I started becoming suspicious of a few characters… and then Mali Cornish casually drops a bombshell and simply carries on as though nothing happened. As the story continued to unfold, there was barely time to process one revelation before the next piece clicked into place.

A slow-burn thriller that screams family drama, with morally grey characters, a missing person mystery, and twists that were very well played. I thoroughly enjoyed where those final reveals took the story.

If you enjoy character-driven thrillers where family secrets are just as important as the mystery itself, this one is worth picking up.

[EmG ReadsDaily]

‘Secrets that bind and break us’

[Sharon]

3.5★

Review to follow.

[Abbey Gordon]

3.5 stars - easy read with some great twists and turns.

[kaitlyns_library]

This was such a page turner. I loved the slow burn, the tension and the constant guessing of what was going on. Australian authors thrive with writing crime thrillers and Cornish has definitely hit the nail on the head with The Missing Mother. I didn’t know what to expect with this one, but I definitely did not finish this book disappointed.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5

[Kelly Ferrett]

The Missing Mother. by Marli Cornish. (Kindle Edition.)
I found this to start okay but then it got weird and boring …
I was flicking through the pages trying to get to an interesting part.
I just gave up and put it down to not my style of book.
I never like to shelf a book without finishing it but this one had to be shelved.

[Ash]

4.5 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Vibe check: Family Secrets, Simmering Tension

full review ⬇️

You know those books that quietly creep under your skin and then suddenly you realise you’ve been holding your breath for three chapters..
yep this was one of those.

I went into The Missing Mother completely blind (as usual 😝) and very quickly realised this wasn’t just a standard ‘someone disappears’ mystery. Instead it was one of those stories where the tension builds slowly and deliberately, layering secrets, doubt and uncomfortable questions until I really wasn’t quite sure who to trust. And I loved that.

The story has mystery but also digs into family dynamics, motherhood, expectations and the complicated messiness of relationships. It really took a twist on mummy/daddy issues.

The pacing is a slow burn at first but the suspense always lingers and let’s just say I had theories. Many theories. Many absolutely not correct at all 😅

By the end I was completely invested, slightly emotionally wrecked and very impressed with how cleverly everything came together.

If you enjoy mysteries that focus just as much on people as they do on plot and with tension that quietly builds until it snaps this one is definitely worth picking up when it releases in April.

A big thank you to Allen and Unwin and NetGalley for this sneak peek.

[Brody Hitchcock]

​There was actually a lot I liked about this book! It is packed with twists and turns throughout the whole story that constantly keep you guessing. I loved the unreliable narrator aspect, I would find myself completely believing one thing, only to realize later that she was lying or intentionally not giving us the full story. That element made trying to piece together the truth quite fun. However, it did still have some patches that just seemed to drag. I felt my mind drifting a bit during those slower sections, and I probably could have skipped over certain bits without missing much of the actual plot. But overall, if you love a twisty psychological thriller where you can't trust the main character, this one definitely has some really great moments!

[Calzean]

One of the best suspense books I've read. The main narrator Elspeth is truly warped. She has both nature and nurture issues. She is articulate and smart. Her childhood including living in a commune, a narcissist mother, an artistic father who finds God, a controlling step father who was a creep and her own fears of hurting others.
When her mother goes missing she returns to Australia and the author does a fantastic job unpeeling an onion through Elspeth's narration and her mother's letters. The writing is clever, the dialogue very real and the characters flawed and interesting. Nothing is what it seems till the last sentence. Brilliant.

[Adventures with Shelle (Rochelle Kentish)]

Woahhh... that's the best use of slow burn and tension I have experienced in a while.

I feel like I can't say too much about this book as I don't want to give anything away. It will however be one of those books that I tell people they must absolutely read. Don't ask why, just read it and then come talk to me.

What I will say is that this one kept me guessing, I didn't know who I could trust and will leave me thinking about both the characters and stories long after I return it to the book shelf.

Thank you to Netgalley and Allen and Unwin for the advanced copy of this book.

[Emily (the_bookdragons_den)]

If you are looking for a slow burn psychological thriller centering around one heck of a dysfunctional family, then I definitely recommend The Missing Mother.

Elspeth is quite the unreliable narrator, but so is her mother who we get to know via letters. When paired with a cast of shady characters and a dark and compelling narrative, it’s hard to predict what comes next.

The childhood trauma, the suspense and slow burn reveals make for an intriguing read that will keep you guessing and then leave your jaw on the floor.

Thank you to Allen & Unwin for a copy to review.

3.75 ⭐️ rounded up.

[Hayley Sutherland]

Really enjoyed this. It was a great who done it mystery. I really liked the letters from the mother.
This family is full of secrets that are slowly leaked before revealing the secret of all secrets. Talk about dysfunctional and traumatic!
I didn’t guess the twists and I had fun trying to figure out which direction the story was going to go.

[Angelynn23]

A slow-burn mystery that got me hooked from start to finish. With so much thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher Atlantic Books Australia for the ARC.

[Claire]

Quite boring,didn't really enjoyed. Made myself finish it

[Karin Pearson]

A great read which did lag a bit in the middle for me.. but a cracking ending . Worth persevering and finishing the book!

[Suzie Sharman]

No character development and a ridiculous plot.

[Sharon N]

Unlikable characters and some ridiculous plot twists

[Elaine]

Completed via audio. Found it a depressing story. A twist at the end that you can accept or think about it.

[Michaela Kelly-Murphy]

3.75 🌟

This one will give you whiplash

[Sally]

I struggled with this book because the characters were not very likeable and I didn’t want to hear from the mother.
However, as details emerged it got more interesting and finished strong.

[Eileen McIntosh]

Great book. Written by a Geelong author with the story also set in Geelong, it was interesting as I was familiar with the locations. Well written with a very surprising twist at the end.

[Catherine’s Bookstagram]

What a story. An incredible read from Mali Cornish. I can’t wait to read more from her.

When Elspeth’s mother goes missing in very suspicious circumstances, she abruptly leaves New York and returns to her home town of Geelong, Victoria in Australia. Back for the first time in 20 years.

Elspeth and her sister Aoife did not have the perfect childhood. Their dad was a well known artist and their mother his muse. I couldn’t help but picture Wendy and Brett Whiteley and that drug fuelled time period in the Australian art scene. Both adult kids are dealing with some kind of trauma from their childhood and now that their mother is missing questions are being asked.

This story develops at a really gripping but steady pace. This is more than a mystery about a missing mother. It’s the mystery of what happened to these sisters when they were younger and coming to terms with their unconventional childhood.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m fascinated with stories of zealots and religion and this really delves into that world. As well as themes of motherhood and narcissism. A really fantastic read with a shocking conclusion that rattled me. 😱👏🏼

Thank you to @allenandunwin and @malicornishauthor for the advanced copy. 🫶🙌

[Kirsty (wanderingbookishsoul)]

That ending! *chefs kiss*

The journey, the clues strewn throughout, the red herrings, how it all came together at the end but then didn’t… but then did… and didn’t and then totally did!

A real slow burn mystery thriller that delivered.

[Jackie McMillan]

"Part of me always begrudged my mother those indulgences—the creating of myth from our lives, but truth is by the by anyway." The Missing Mother isn't really my kind of book. It sets up Elspeth as a fairly unlikeable protagonist, and a unreliable narrator right from the start: "The truth was a rarity at this point." It continues to expose her lying, to her sister Aiofe, the police, and her lover, Steve "an asshole tabloid journalist with personality cracks so big I could see through them". The setting, "Geelong—cultural backwater, purveyor of nothing", will likely appeal to those who grew up there but longed to escape.

As the book progresses, you begin to understand more about the reasons Elspeth is unreliable. She has, not unwarranted, childhood trauma from growing up with a mother who clearly loved herself and the men who fancied her much more than her daughters: "There was a man coming. It was always a man; they would always take priority." You can see the ripple down effects of this childhood trauma not just in Elspeth, but also in Aiofe and the way she parents: "This was the cheating runner-up who my sister was planning to endure for the rest of her life in service of not becoming our mother."

And their mother, Simone, does have some repulsive things to say about domestic and family violence victims and survivors, and young women groomed by older men: "It is an unassailable fact that younger women are just as capable of seduction, of manipulation and of channelling their sexuality to meet particular ends as women on the other side of the arbitrarily designated 'eighteen years of age'". I found these bits hard to read.

So does childhood trauma make it okay to murder your mother, or if someone else did, to be relieved or happy that she's (probably) dead? That's what will brew on your mind as you read it. Considering the rates of adverse childhood experiences here in Australia, we should probably be very grateful that most adults with childhood trauma don't.

With thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Books Australia for sending me a copy to read.

[Hala]

A solid and satisfying mystery set in the Victorian coastal town of Geelong. Cornish expertly draws the reader into this intricate tale of a family facing the unimaginable - a missing mother. This was a great set up as it certainly had me turning the pages to see how the story panned out. The book also features a few twists that I genuinely did not see coming - that is always a good sign! It is a richly layered book, sprinkled with some musings on motherhood and what it actually means to be 'missing'. Cornish also gives us the obligatory family secrets and touches on the complexities of sibling relationships. Cornish has done a great job here, created some flawed and intriguing characters and used the backdrop of Geelong in wintertime (described here as a 'cultural backwater' - ouch!) to great effect - this one is recommended.