In WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT, Mary Kubica’s fifth book in as many years, Jessie Sloane is living a walking nightmare. Recently unmoored by her mother’s death, Jessie has not slept in days when she receives some startling news: based on her name and social security number, she died over a decade ago. Rattled by grief and the loss of her mother, Jessie at first believes that a clerical error must have occurred. After all, this would've come up much sooner if she’d ever needed to get a license or open a credit card. But then why hasn’t she done any of those things yet? What was her mother hiding all of these years, and what did she mean with her final wish that Jessie “find herself”?

In alternating chapters, we meet Jessie’s mother, Eden, as a young, newly married woman. She and her husband love holding hands over their morning coffee and making love in their cozy cottage at night. But despite their repeated attempts, Eden finds herself unable to conceive. As she grows obsessive over her ovulation schedule, the babies at the hospital where she works, and a young girl she observes leaving dance class every day, it becomes clear that Eden will stop at nothing to become a mother.

"The combination of Kubica’s writing, her characters’ perfect voices and a plethora of suspense makes WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT a terrific read that will surely keep you up past your bedtime."

The twist here seems obvious, and is one that frequent thriller readers will recognize immediately. Yet in Kubica’s deft hands, a common plot line becomes so much more. As Jessie grapples with her grief and insomnia, she loses her grip on reality, making her the perfect unreliable narrator —- so unreliable that even she does not know who she is. As always, Kubica writes beautifully, thoroughly immersing readers in the head of a young woman who has not slept in seven days. The thrill factor here is gripping, but where Kubica truly shines is in her writing of Eden, and her obsession with babies and children. Her pain over her inability to conceive is palpable and makes a character who might seem like a villain multidimensional in all of the best ways.

With each of Kubica’s main characters finding themselves more and more removed from the stability of reality, readers too become unmoored, making this a true page-turner in every sense of the word. The combination of Kubica’s writing, her characters’ perfect voices and a plethora of suspense makes WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT a terrific read that will surely keep you up past your bedtime.

As with each of Kubica’s books, the final twist completely takes everything you thought and turns it on its head. She is a master at redirecting, and I am always amazed by her ability to take me by surprise. That said, the twist in WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT borders on unbelievable and finds itself a bit beneath the standard that she has set with her first four books. I could have done without the last few pages, though I loved the journey getting there more than enough to make up for it. Fans of Kubica will find it to be a quick, engrossing read, but if this is your introduction to this brilliant author, stick with THE GOOD GIRL or PRETTY BABY.