The Surrogate Mother by Freida McFadden - Review

I've only read The Housemaid by Freida McFadden I think, and I liked it, so on a trip to The Works I picked this up along with two books by Megan Lally who I haven't even heard of, but I was intrigued by the premise of the books so I got all three for £7.50 or whatever it is. I will get to them soon....... probably. I picked this up towards the middle of June. It is compelling in the same way that The Housemaid is, but I didn't like it anywhere near as much. 

The protagonist is Abby. She is an advertising executive and works under a woman called Diana? Dinah? Something like that. The two of them get along, but Diana is a bit annoyed because Abby has been undergoing fertility treatments and stuff for years. Abby is married to Sam, who is a Maths professor at the local university. And he's very good looking. It's important that you know this because it's mentioned about 683 times. But he doesn't know he's good looking! That's important to know too. 

At the very beginning of the book Abby is having a baby shower at work. She's just thrilled it's finally her turn. She and Sam are adopting a baby from a pregnant teenager in like Texas or whatever. Abby is about to take a ton of parental leave and is looking forward to time with her baby. But then Sam arrives and tells her that the adoption has fallen through - the teenager has decided to keep the baby. Abby is obviously devastated. She's been through years of infertility and she's just fed up. 

Then her assistant, Monica, who is a very capable assistant, such a godsend, offers to be Abby's surrogate. She's young, she's probably fertile, and she is sure she can do it. Abby is thrilled and sets about convincing Sam. He takes a lot of convincing, but eventually he agrees to it and they all go to a clinic and Monica gets pregnant. She has signed a contract which I am entirely sure would not stand up in any court of law which guarantees Abby and Sam the baby when it's born.

But then weird things start to happen. Abby is sure that one of Monica's ultrasounds is at X time so she turns up then, only to find that she's late and the ultrasound has already happened, with Monica and Sam only there. Abby thinks it's the stress getting to her, but Monica has a terrible secret and it means Abby and the baby are in danger. 

I liked the premise but I thought the way it played out was just stupid. Abby made a bunch of stupid decisions and could have just opened her mouth and communicated with people, Sam especially, but she doesn't. I thought some of the twists were visible from space they were so obvious, and some of them just didn't make sense. I'm giving it three out of five.