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The New Mother
Not yet published
Expected 9 Nov 26A BRAND NEW utterly gripping psychological thriller from M. A. Hunter. Perfect for fans of Claire Douglas. Our dream home was supposed to be a fresh start before our baby arrived.
My husband Jamie and I poured all our savings into this isolated, 1920s fixer-upper in the Hampshire woods, hoping it would be the perfect place to raise our child and for me to write my next novel.
But from the moment we crossed the threshold, dark omens told me it was a huge a mistake…
A petrified crow crashes into our kitchen window.
Scratching sounds echo from behind the locked basement door.
A terrifying message scrawled in thick red HELP US.
All lead me to find out the horrible truth… something terrible happened in this house and the house wants its revenge.
Jamie thinks I'm losing my mind, but I know there is something sinister lurking within these walls, waiting for my child.
I have to uncover the truth about what really happened in that basement—before this cursed house claims my family next…
Praise for M. A.
'This one haunted me after I finished' Valerie Keogh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Hunter does a fantastic job of ramping up the tension. My heart was in my mouth as I raced to the conclusion' Keri Beevis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Brilliantly plotted and written with characters so lifelike they practically jump off the page' J. A. Baker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'I read this book in a single sitting. It’s a fantastic story with the most amazing characters, who I can guarantee will stay with you for a very long time!' Lynda Stacey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Clever and compelling! I loved everything about this the concept, the setting, the structure...' Lesley Kara ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Fresh, pacey, and exciting! You’ll be racing to the finish at breakneck speed!' L C North ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'A rollercoaster of a read! Kept me gripped until the very last page.' J A Baker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'I sprinted to finish this heart pounding tale of deception, a real nail biter!' Gemma Rogers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'A fast-paced psychological thriller that will keep you up all night!' Diana Wilkinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Clever and original. An exceptional, dark and tense read, with breath-taking twists. Highly recommended!' D. E. White ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My husband Jamie and I poured all our savings into this isolated, 1920s fixer-upper in the Hampshire woods, hoping it would be the perfect place to raise our child and for me to write my next novel.
But from the moment we crossed the threshold, dark omens told me it was a huge a mistake…
A petrified crow crashes into our kitchen window.
Scratching sounds echo from behind the locked basement door.
A terrifying message scrawled in thick red HELP US.
All lead me to find out the horrible truth… something terrible happened in this house and the house wants its revenge.
Jamie thinks I'm losing my mind, but I know there is something sinister lurking within these walls, waiting for my child.
I have to uncover the truth about what really happened in that basement—before this cursed house claims my family next…
Praise for M. A.
'This one haunted me after I finished' Valerie Keogh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Hunter does a fantastic job of ramping up the tension. My heart was in my mouth as I raced to the conclusion' Keri Beevis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Brilliantly plotted and written with characters so lifelike they practically jump off the page' J. A. Baker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'I read this book in a single sitting. It’s a fantastic story with the most amazing characters, who I can guarantee will stay with you for a very long time!' Lynda Stacey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Clever and compelling! I loved everything about this the concept, the setting, the structure...' Lesley Kara ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Fresh, pacey, and exciting! You’ll be racing to the finish at breakneck speed!' L C North ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'A rollercoaster of a read! Kept me gripped until the very last page.' J A Baker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'I sprinted to finish this heart pounding tale of deception, a real nail biter!' Gemma Rogers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'A fast-paced psychological thriller that will keep you up all night!' Diana Wilkinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Clever and original. An exceptional, dark and tense read, with breath-taking twists. Highly recommended!' D. E. White ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
288 pages, Paperback
Expected publication November 9, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
#MAHUNTER has written one hell of a terror filled book with #THENEWMOTHER. Rachel and Jamie have decided to use her new advance she received from her debut book she’s written to great acclaim, best selling lists and written in several other languages and countries. Jamie is a banker who does well for himself but is taking rare time off so that he and Rachel who is nearly 8 months pregnant can restore some of the house that they’ve purchased that is a lovely and has beautiful charming original features but has been abandoned for many decades.
On arrival to the home, with the movers in the van behind them Rachel looks at the house and gets a strong feeling it looks far more decrepit than it had the 3 previous times they’d been out to visit. Inside, it looks darker, feels colder and something is off. It feels like something or someone is watching her. She tells Jamie but he tells her it is just her hormones and being in an entirely different town, home and the change is a big one.
As they begin to peel the wallpaper from what will become the nursery they find the words HELP US behind the paper. This alarms them both yet Jamie doesn’t say so because he doesn’t want his pregnant wife more stressed than she needs to be.When they head into the village to shop for some food, Dora, the shops clerk nearly throws them out of her shop when they tell her where they have moved to.
Then Jamie finds the newspapers in the attic that tell a horrific story of a double murder that happened in the basement. A suicide of the blamed perpetrator. And then there’s the night terrors that Rachel is having, the noises she hears. The quiet whispers of disembodied voices Jamie hears in the basement.
He worries for Rachel when she goes into labor a few weeks early so he contacts her estranged mother, Marina. Rachel is adamant her mother is dangerous and that she refuses to go back to that house insisting there’s something sinister happening there.
The old gardener of the house has been luring around, scaring Rachel half to death when she spots him peering into the windows. He offers to help them get the garden back to its original state and Rachel is so against this idea that Jamie tells him he will get back to him.
When Jamie spots Marina and the old gardener in a hushed argument, he asks her what it was about and she said that he had come to give them an estimate on the garden but she told him he’d need to talk to Jamie. When Jamie is suspicious that’s not what was said he catches up to the gardener and asks him what had taken place between Marina and himself. The gardener said that the “missus of the house doesn’t want him there”. Jamie tells him that Rachel was just startled that day but they’d like help. He tells Jamie rather cryptically to go look into the archives under the Methodist church regarding the village during the time that the murders had taken place in their home.
He finds out some answers but not all. When Rachel and the baby come home from the hospital he gets them settled and sets out for more investigating and comes home to find RACHEL locked in the basement and the baby and Marina nowhere to be found. He finally finds her and asks what is going on. She convinces him that Rachel tried to kill a classmate when she was younger and had serious mental health problems that are cropping up again she had no choice. Yet, it will be a near death by fire for Jamie and recovery in the hospital when he begins to feel that it isn’t his wife who’s the problem but Marina herself. The father at the church confirms it when they speak and as he rushes the confront Marina she knocks him out and locks him in the basement bleeding profusely from his head wound and unconscious. Marina is determined to keep her identity hidden, to find what she’s looking for in that house and take back what is hers. Jamie and Rachel are the two things standing in her way and she’ll go to extremes to remove them from her rightful possession she’s fought decades for.
When Rachel awakes tied up, freezing and he whole body is in excruciating pain she remembers flying down into the basement crashing into each step on her way down. Above she hears her baby, Lucy screaming crying. She sees her bloody husband crumpled into a lump against the wall and slowly tries to maneuver herself over to him kicking and nudging him awake but she’s too late.
Does Marina kidnap their daughter? Is she able to escape with the papers she needs and the parents, one of them being her own daughter finally out of her way? Will anyone save them when a fire from the gas lamps that were leaving the dim light in the locked basement? And what of baby Lucy? Marina was an abusive and a violent tormentor to Rachel when she was a child.
This is a heart racing, fast paced enthralling thriller that drops one twist after shocking twist and you cannot turn the pages fast enough to reveal the pieces that keep getting found by the characters to finally put this masterpiece of a puzzle together. Thoroughly entertaining and had me at the edge of my seat!
Thank you to #Netgalley for this advanced reading copy #ARCreviewer and to #MAHunter for this deliciously engaging book and a special thanks to #Boldwood publishing for the opportunity to read this in advance and for allowing me to share my thoughts and opinions in this review. This was done as a pleasure and I wasn’t paid or given anything in exchange for my review.
On arrival to the home, with the movers in the van behind them Rachel looks at the house and gets a strong feeling it looks far more decrepit than it had the 3 previous times they’d been out to visit. Inside, it looks darker, feels colder and something is off. It feels like something or someone is watching her. She tells Jamie but he tells her it is just her hormones and being in an entirely different town, home and the change is a big one.
As they begin to peel the wallpaper from what will become the nursery they find the words HELP US behind the paper. This alarms them both yet Jamie doesn’t say so because he doesn’t want his pregnant wife more stressed than she needs to be.When they head into the village to shop for some food, Dora, the shops clerk nearly throws them out of her shop when they tell her where they have moved to.
Then Jamie finds the newspapers in the attic that tell a horrific story of a double murder that happened in the basement. A suicide of the blamed perpetrator. And then there’s the night terrors that Rachel is having, the noises she hears. The quiet whispers of disembodied voices Jamie hears in the basement.
He worries for Rachel when she goes into labor a few weeks early so he contacts her estranged mother, Marina. Rachel is adamant her mother is dangerous and that she refuses to go back to that house insisting there’s something sinister happening there.
The old gardener of the house has been luring around, scaring Rachel half to death when she spots him peering into the windows. He offers to help them get the garden back to its original state and Rachel is so against this idea that Jamie tells him he will get back to him.
When Jamie spots Marina and the old gardener in a hushed argument, he asks her what it was about and she said that he had come to give them an estimate on the garden but she told him he’d need to talk to Jamie. When Jamie is suspicious that’s not what was said he catches up to the gardener and asks him what had taken place between Marina and himself. The gardener said that the “missus of the house doesn’t want him there”. Jamie tells him that Rachel was just startled that day but they’d like help. He tells Jamie rather cryptically to go look into the archives under the Methodist church regarding the village during the time that the murders had taken place in their home.
He finds out some answers but not all. When Rachel and the baby come home from the hospital he gets them settled and sets out for more investigating and comes home to find RACHEL locked in the basement and the baby and Marina nowhere to be found. He finally finds her and asks what is going on. She convinces him that Rachel tried to kill a classmate when she was younger and had serious mental health problems that are cropping up again she had no choice. Yet, it will be a near death by fire for Jamie and recovery in the hospital when he begins to feel that it isn’t his wife who’s the problem but Marina herself. The father at the church confirms it when they speak and as he rushes the confront Marina she knocks him out and locks him in the basement bleeding profusely from his head wound and unconscious. Marina is determined to keep her identity hidden, to find what she’s looking for in that house and take back what is hers. Jamie and Rachel are the two things standing in her way and she’ll go to extremes to remove them from her rightful possession she’s fought decades for.
When Rachel awakes tied up, freezing and he whole body is in excruciating pain she remembers flying down into the basement crashing into each step on her way down. Above she hears her baby, Lucy screaming crying. She sees her bloody husband crumpled into a lump against the wall and slowly tries to maneuver herself over to him kicking and nudging him awake but she’s too late.
Does Marina kidnap their daughter? Is she able to escape with the papers she needs and the parents, one of them being her own daughter finally out of her way? Will anyone save them when a fire from the gas lamps that were leaving the dim light in the locked basement? And what of baby Lucy? Marina was an abusive and a violent tormentor to Rachel when she was a child.
This is a heart racing, fast paced enthralling thriller that drops one twist after shocking twist and you cannot turn the pages fast enough to reveal the pieces that keep getting found by the characters to finally put this masterpiece of a puzzle together. Thoroughly entertaining and had me at the edge of my seat!
Thank you to #Netgalley for this advanced reading copy #ARCreviewer and to #MAHunter for this deliciously engaging book and a special thanks to #Boldwood publishing for the opportunity to read this in advance and for allowing me to share my thoughts and opinions in this review. This was done as a pleasure and I wasn’t paid or given anything in exchange for my review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2026
**Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the digital ARC of this book.
I absolutely devoured this book!
Rachel and her husband, Jamie, have poured their savings into an isolated 1920s fixer-upper, hoping to turn it into the perfect family home before their baby arrives. But almost immediately, Rachel begins to feel like something about the house is very, very wrong. When a crow crashes into the window and dies shortly after they arrive, Rachel takes it as a bad omen. From there, her uneasiness only grows.
Jamie believes Rachel’s fears may be connected to her history with her mental health, but Rachel becomes increasingly convinced that something sinister is happening inside their new home. And when they discover that something horrific happened there in the past, her determination to protect her unborn child becomes even stronger.
This was EXACTLY my kind of thriller. Dark old house? Check. Creepy history? Check. Brutal murder? Hidden secrets? A constant feeling that something isn’t right? Check, check, and CHECK.
The short chapters and fast pacing made this incredibly difficult to put down. I legit got annoyed every time I had to stop reading and go be an adult because all I wanted to do was get back to this book. 😂 Had life not interfered, I easily could have finished it in one sitting.
What surprised me most is that I actually figured out a major piece of the mystery at around 38%. Normally, guessing something that early would knock a little off my rating, but not this time. I may have connected some of the dots, but I absolutely did NOT have all of the details, and there was so much more surrounding the mystery that I still needed answers to. Knowing part of it didn’t take away from the suspense or my need to find out exactly how everything fit together.
M.A. Hunter did such a fantastic job creating this dark, unsettling atmosphere. There were moments that were genuinely creepy, the mystery kept me completely invested, and the story was so well written that I flew through it.
If you love psychological thrillers involving creepy old houses with dark histories, brutal crimes, buried secrets, and that constant feeling that something is lurking just beneath the surface, PICK THIS ONE UP.
An easy 5/5 stars for me. I highly recommend it!
I absolutely devoured this book!
Rachel and her husband, Jamie, have poured their savings into an isolated 1920s fixer-upper, hoping to turn it into the perfect family home before their baby arrives. But almost immediately, Rachel begins to feel like something about the house is very, very wrong. When a crow crashes into the window and dies shortly after they arrive, Rachel takes it as a bad omen. From there, her uneasiness only grows.
Jamie believes Rachel’s fears may be connected to her history with her mental health, but Rachel becomes increasingly convinced that something sinister is happening inside their new home. And when they discover that something horrific happened there in the past, her determination to protect her unborn child becomes even stronger.
This was EXACTLY my kind of thriller. Dark old house? Check. Creepy history? Check. Brutal murder? Hidden secrets? A constant feeling that something isn’t right? Check, check, and CHECK.
The short chapters and fast pacing made this incredibly difficult to put down. I legit got annoyed every time I had to stop reading and go be an adult because all I wanted to do was get back to this book. 😂 Had life not interfered, I easily could have finished it in one sitting.
What surprised me most is that I actually figured out a major piece of the mystery at around 38%. Normally, guessing something that early would knock a little off my rating, but not this time. I may have connected some of the dots, but I absolutely did NOT have all of the details, and there was so much more surrounding the mystery that I still needed answers to. Knowing part of it didn’t take away from the suspense or my need to find out exactly how everything fit together.
M.A. Hunter did such a fantastic job creating this dark, unsettling atmosphere. There were moments that were genuinely creepy, the mystery kept me completely invested, and the story was so well written that I flew through it.
If you love psychological thrillers involving creepy old houses with dark histories, brutal crimes, buried secrets, and that constant feeling that something is lurking just beneath the surface, PICK THIS ONE UP.
An easy 5/5 stars for me. I highly recommend it!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to netgalley for this advanced reader copy. The new mother is an intriguing compelling read that is anxiety induced and has an underlying uncomfortable feeling. I loved the storyline that mixes a range of psychological behaviour , but also the spooky elements built into the house. The history part is interesting too about the house and what happened, tragic in places.
This book builds in alot of gas lighting , cat and mouse games with alot of the characters are trying to figure out who is playing the mind games.
I enjoyed the pace of this book and it did have the underlying dread and you can feel this throughout the book, the author has done a really good job of this. Soon as i saw the book and the author i knew i would be reading this. I love the gothic setting too mixed with history. Who ever reads this will easily finish it as soon as they start it i was really eager to know what was going to happen, the authors note at the end made it heartfelt and that the work is always worth it to be reader, always!
This book builds in alot of gas lighting , cat and mouse games with alot of the characters are trying to figure out who is playing the mind games.
I enjoyed the pace of this book and it did have the underlying dread and you can feel this throughout the book, the author has done a really good job of this. Soon as i saw the book and the author i knew i would be reading this. I love the gothic setting too mixed with history. Who ever reads this will easily finish it as soon as they start it i was really eager to know what was going to happen, the authors note at the end made it heartfelt and that the work is always worth it to be reader, always!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book is full of creepy, spooky suspense with just the right touch of thrills! It’s the perfect read for spooky season. I loved the writing, which really brought the characters and story to life. The vivid descriptions created such an atmospheric feeling that pulled me right into the story.
While I did figure out the main twist, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the storyline. The suspense and eerie atmosphere kept me engaged, making this a great pick for anyone looking for a creepy, atmospheric thriller!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
While I did figure out the main twist, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the storyline. The suspense and eerie atmosphere kept me engaged, making this a great pick for anyone looking for a creepy, atmospheric thriller!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The new mother is a really clever dark tense compelling psychological thriller that will keep you invested,racing through the pages as new twists turns and revelations are revealed, loved the atmospherics of the house and woods and the fantastic characters, this really was a book that i didn’t want to put down, loved the fast paced content and would highly recommend this book
Thank you NetGalley for this early read
Thank you NetGalley for this early read
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Disclaimer: I normally do not read books that are about pregnancy, motherhood, or babies.
I read this because I have really enjoy other books by this author.
That being said over all its a good story, entertaining, has all the great thriller parts!
I read this because I have really enjoy other books by this author.
That being said over all its a good story, entertaining, has all the great thriller parts!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A gripping psychological thriller. I wouldn’t have thought it was going to go the way it did. Really enjoyed reading this and really liked the twists
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews