Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena @sharilapena @RandomTTours @TransworldBooks

Book Description:

The new unputdownable thriller from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR.

In this family, everyone is keeping secrets – even the dead.

In the quiet, wealthy enclave of Brecken Hill, an older couple is brutally murdered hours after a tense Easter dinner with their three adult children. Who, of course, are devastated.

Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you’d know.

Wouldn’t you?

My Thoughts:

I’ve been a huge fan of this author ever since I picked up my first book of hers and this is yet another engrossing read.

The story starts off with an attention grabbing prologue of which drew me straight in and had me hooked. It’s the classic tale of a wealthy couple of which the head of the family is not a likable character and there is no love lost between him and his children. It still leaves the question though of whether these children hated their father enough to kill both their parents and do all this to get their inheritance.

There are no overly likable characters as such within this story. All are selfish and have their own reasons for wanting Fred Merton dead. There are quite a few suspects and my mind was spinning around trying to take in each revelation and trying to work out who had actually killed this couple. The suspense was literally killing me as I was so desperate to know which of the characters was guilty.

Not a Happy Family is an addictive read that I didn’t want to put down. I was literally on my edge of my seat every time a new revelation came to light and I was constantly swapping with who I thought was the guilty suspect. The author ensured she kept me on my toes right up to the very last page and it didn’t disappoint. Each novel this author writes is as compulsive as her last. If you haven’t yet read one of her books then you need to rectify that as soon as you can as they are brilliant!

My thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me to be part of the blog tour and for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.

Shari Lapena worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before writing fiction. Her debut thriller, The Couple Next Door, was a global bestseller, the bestselling fiction title in the UK in 2017 and has been optioned for television. Her thrillers A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know and The End of Her were all Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers.