But whilst this may seem like that happy family that Beth has longed for, she cannot ignore the problems that start occurring in her life. Frequent forgetfulness, disintegrating relationships with close friends and a belief that someone is watching her, Beth feels like this part of her life is falling apart. Although she is playing happy families with her mum, everything else is crumbling. In addition, her relationship with her ex-husband becomes more strained and Beth feels desperate, concerned that a secret from her past is the cause of these problems. A well developed cast of characters were delightfully malcontent and rotten to the core which meant that I was on board with any one of them being held culpable for the misdeeds happening here. Because the book was written in first person it felt as if we were in Beth's head, which lent itself to the nature of the book so well. It felt as if we were falling apart, questioning everything and unsure of who we could trust... I felt myself becoming paranoid just reading the book, it really got under my skin. Now available from Pamela Dorman Books. I thank my local library for providing me with a copy through the drive-up window. 🤣

This is a psychological thriller that has everything: intrigue, mystery and constant twists and turns. I couldn't put it down!’ Alex Lake, bestselling author of Seven Days The character development is spot on. It reminded me of a Tarryn Fisher novel in this regards, and the slow burn. When the family comes together for this particular Easter dinner, things get especially uncomfortable.

Over the story, we gradually find out about Beth’s past, informing us of why she is so paranoid in the present. To be honest, I was not that surprised by the revelations, having guessed, to a degree, what had happened. With this in mind, I thought the story just took far longer than necessary. Elements of the story were too obvious for my liking and I felt frustrated by Beth’s acceptance of everything around her. It slowed the pace of the plot and I found there were many moments where I thought the narrative was tedious and predictable. This was reinforced by the fact that I had sadly guessed how the story would conclude and I thought it took too many chapters to get to this point. It’s been said there are four motives for murder: Lust, Love, Loathing, or Loot. There’s no shortage of the latter two here. There are no tears shed for Fred and Sheila, but plenty of anticipation and elation at the thought of the inheritance. I loved how the author dropped little secrets/bombshells throughout the book about the characters, that made me see each of them with new eyes. Short, snappy chapters kept this moving along at a brisk pace! You never knew when another revelation might be dropped in a casual conversation so it was important to pay attention to ALL of the secrets and lies being exposed!

Watching Beth’s life come tumbling down, I felt really sorry for her. As I have seen with many characters in similar stories, Beth turns to excessive amounts of alcohol, in the attempt to numb the pain of what is happening. However, this just leads to distorted memories and that Beth no longer trusts what she believes. It’s a terrible cycle and I was desperate for Beth to find the answers to why she thought someone is watching her. After divorcing her husband, Beth not only has a good relationship with him but also with his new wife. Her dad is in a fabulous care home and enjoys being there, and Beth visits him often. She works hard, but has help from Robin to do the school run and keep the house clean. Everything is peachy.

Featured Reviews

From the outside, the Joshi family is the quintessential Indian-American family. Decades ago, Bina and Deepak immigrated to America, where she became a pillar of their local Indian community and he, a successful psychiatrist. Their eldest daughter, Suhani, is following the footsteps of her father’s career and happily married. Natasha, their middle daughter, is about to become engaged to the son of longtime family friends. And Anuj, their son—well he’s a son and what could be better than that? The Mertons, a wealthy couple from upstate New York, are brutally murdered in their palatial home after hosting a contentious family Easter dinner. Good thing about this book is that it is easy to read, so we all finished the book faster then we planned, excluding one girl who DNFed it. Mr Biff and Mr Bop are boxers and deadly rivals too. Mr Bop is fit and lean and Mr Biff . . . Well, Mr Biff likes a cream cake or two. Will he ever be able to toughen up in time for the annual charity match. Gulp! With this being said, there were other players involved, so don't narrow your focus too much. You never know who could be out to get jerks like this.