First published 2024
Darby, Mary Beth, and Rhea want their old lives back. They're trying to rebuild careers, revive relationships, and reconnect with their bodies after years of motherhood. Their four-year-olds attend Little Academy together, where everything seems normal until the children develop a disturbing appetite for blood. When a young teacher turns up dead, police question the ten adorable preschoolers as potential witnesses. The investigation takes a darker turn when the children become suspects in the murder. So do their mothers. The children's unusual condition grows more dangerous as they seem capable of draining their parents in ways both literal and metaphorical. Police scrutiny intensifies while the mothers must protect their kids and themselves. Baker weaves together a murder investigation with the impossible standards placed on modern mothers and the sacrifices no one warns you about when you become a parent.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: dark-academia, family-drama, murder-mystery
320 pages · Paperback · Flatiron Books
Content warnings: child-death, murder, violence