Taylor, Bernard: Mother's Boys

Published in 1988, the book has one advantage over most modern ones - it is relatively short with little expansion of the
background descriptions beyond what is necessary. Tightly written, I was drawn to it through seeing again recently the film
of the same name which stars Jamie Lee Curtis as the eponymous mother. Accepting the change of country from the UK to the USA as a given, the film does more or less follow the book until around half-way though one episode is greatly ( and
understandably) curtailed in the film. From then on the film veers into melodrama with the mother as a sort of villainous
dea ex machina whereas the book maintains the chilling overtones of the first part which is about the relationship of the
two older boys with their mother into the disturbing scenes which bring the story to a close. As one would expect, this does
provide a much more acceptable denouement. I do not know the author but will not be averse to reading something else of
his.