Claire and Ethan have a decent marriage, but since the death of their son, Colton, several years ago, things have gone downhill. Claire suffers from Mitochondrial disease and she passed the gene on to Colton, and eventually he succumbed to the illness. Since that time, she and Ethan have been trying to have another child, but Claire has secretly been thwarting her pregnancy, for fear of having another sickly child who would die. Colton's death affected her greatly, to the point of fighting for her sanity, and she just can't see going through that again, or putting another child through the pain. When she senses Ethan pulling away from her, she announces she is ready to try IVF with him, but only if they use Dr. Robert Nash, an expert in the field, but also a professional nemesis of sorts for Ethan, who is a bioethics department head at Columbia and who has called Dr. Nash out in their professional circles.
Claire has discovered through a computer group of other Mitochondrial moms that Nash is working on a highly classified experiment where the DNA of one woman with Mitochondrial disease could be combined with the healthy DNA of another woman, resulting in a perfectly healthy baby. This hope is what Claire clings to, but because of who she is (a reporter) and who Ethan is, they go see Dr. Nash under Claire's maiden name and hide who they are from him.
Fast-forward some 10 years and Claire is living in relative seclusion in a quiet area of New York state, with her now husband Michael and her healthy daughter Abby. On the bright side, the experiment clearly worked and Abby is proof positive. The downside is that Claire could never have imagined the ramifications of her and Dr. Nash's actions. Oh, and the healthy DNA donor? She's Nash's unstable post-doc, a scientist named Jillian who is wildly jealous and has recently come back into Claire and Abby's life, seemingly through the most innocuous means, but it will change Claire and Abby's life forever and leave Claire fighting once more for her very sanity...
Mother Knows Best is a thrill ride that I read in three sittings. It's a book you won't want to put down, and it is told through the eyes of Claire, Abby and Jillian, depending on the chapter you are reading and it also jumps between the time before Claire gets pregnant with Abby to the present. Kira Peikoff is a master storyteller and I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. While I've barely touched the tip of the iceberg in this review, if you enjoy a good thriller that has an interesting scientific and medical basis, check out Mother Knows Best. It won't disappoint and its secrets are best discovered by the reader. Highly recommended.
