Lucy Mendoza, a prominent real estate agent, vanishes one afternoon from the parking lot of a grocery store, leaving her baby girl behind in a shopping cart. Michelle has just come out of the store when she sees a group of people gathered around a car. As she gets closer, she realizes that the vehicle belongs to her best friend, and the abandoned baby is Lucy’s daughter, Emma. Michelle is shocked to hear that Lucy is nowhere to be found.

"The novel is told from multiple points of view, which lends depth to the narrative and provides insight into the characters’ feelings and motives.... HER ONE REGRET is a pulse-pounding thriller that is not to be missed."

A few months before she disappeared, Lucy told Michelle that having Emma was “her one regret.” Even though Michelle has moments of doubt and frustration about motherhood, she cannot understand how someone, particularly her close friend, can utter those words and truly mean them. Now that Lucy is missing, Michelle wonders if she was kidnapped or if she ran away. This uncertainty tortures her.

Although HER ONE REGRET opens with Lucy’s disappearance, over the following days we are introduced to others who add dimension to the tale. We meet Julia, who is married and has a young son. Even though she loves her child, she also regrets having him. Then there’s Naomi, who runs a support group for women suffering from postpartum depression. As the story unfolds, we see how these individuals are tied together.

This book is certainly a mystery, but it also revolves around an issue that is painful to contemplate: not everyone who gives birth to a child revels in being a parent. Donna Freitas takes us through an eye-opening scenario in which a supposedly happy mother is subjected to societal prejudices regarding motherhood.

The novel is told from multiple points of view, which lends depth to the narrative and provides insight into the characters’ feelings and motives. The last two chapters are written as a “postscript” that takes place five years after the initial story ends. Freitas updates us on two important characters but doesn’t mention how some of the others fared later in their lives. Still, HER ONE REGRET is a pulse-pounding thriller that is not to be missed.