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estiroseI have some thoughts. Slightly spoilery bits under cut.
"Keep it in the Family" is not my normal genre nor does this novel make me want to go read more. It's a thriller, the premise of which is that a young couple (Finn and Mia) move into a fixer-upper to move a bit away from Finn's folks, but make a horrifying discovery in the attic - a discovery that is more closely tied to the family than anyone thinks.
This book contains trigger warnings for child death, serial killer(s), and child abuse. I'm sure there are others I've missed; it's not a pleasant book.
This novel has alternating POVs - Mia, Finn, Finn's parents (Dave and Debbie), along with with a couple of unnamed narrators - at least two children, and at least one adult. There are also a handful of document-like chapters, either interviews, notes, or in one case, an ad (that was relevant to the story). The book skips around in time a lot.
I would consider none of the characters likable, and most if not all of the named narrators are unreliable narrators. In addition, there were multiple storylines going on in the past, and even looking back from discovering the plot twists I'm still not sure which child is which in the past storylines unless said child specifically mentions a sibling. This is due to the author's artistic choice of referring to the unnamed narrators as "they" regardless of gender while having multiple characters active in a similar time period.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, there is a whole family of serial killers that are somehow involved with the house that Mia and Finn buy, and to some extent looking at each generation is interesting. At least one bit involves a child being punished for treating a kidnap victim that their parents are torturing as a fellow human being; that child grows up into a serial killer adult who works to "save" lower-class children by killing them, and then raises their child to "save" the same (whether said child picks up the lesson is unknown).
According to the reviews I have read, this is not the author's strongest work - apparently the characters are flatter than usual and the story goes a bit too much into left field. Some readers were able to pick up the plot twists though other than being spoiled about multiple serial killers I did not guess who they were.
Since I don't read this genre normally and ended up with this one for free, all that was lost to me was some time. I might try this author's other books maybe someday, but if I don't, it's not a big deal.
Long story short, I made it through, but maybe due to the fact that this is not a genre I normally enjoy I... did not enjoy it. However, if thrillers are your thing and you like stories about serial killers this might be something you'd want to pick up (for cheap).
"Keep it in the Family" is not my normal genre nor does this novel make me want to go read more. It's a thriller, the premise of which is that a young couple (Finn and Mia) move into a fixer-upper to move a bit away from Finn's folks, but make a horrifying discovery in the attic - a discovery that is more closely tied to the family than anyone thinks.
This book contains trigger warnings for child death, serial killer(s), and child abuse. I'm sure there are others I've missed; it's not a pleasant book.
This novel has alternating POVs - Mia, Finn, Finn's parents (Dave and Debbie), along with with a couple of unnamed narrators - at least two children, and at least one adult. There are also a handful of document-like chapters, either interviews, notes, or in one case, an ad (that was relevant to the story). The book skips around in time a lot.
I would consider none of the characters likable, and most if not all of the named narrators are unreliable narrators. In addition, there were multiple storylines going on in the past, and even looking back from discovering the plot twists I'm still not sure which child is which in the past storylines unless said child specifically mentions a sibling. This is due to the author's artistic choice of referring to the unnamed narrators as "they" regardless of gender while having multiple characters active in a similar time period.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, there is a whole family of serial killers that are somehow involved with the house that Mia and Finn buy, and to some extent looking at each generation is interesting. At least one bit involves a child being punished for treating a kidnap victim that their parents are torturing as a fellow human being; that child grows up into a serial killer adult who works to "save" lower-class children by killing them, and then raises their child to "save" the same (whether said child picks up the lesson is unknown).
According to the reviews I have read, this is not the author's strongest work - apparently the characters are flatter than usual and the story goes a bit too much into left field. Some readers were able to pick up the plot twists though other than being spoiled about multiple serial killers I did not guess who they were.
Since I don't read this genre normally and ended up with this one for free, all that was lost to me was some time. I might try this author's other books maybe someday, but if I don't, it's not a big deal.
Long story short, I made it through, but maybe due to the fact that this is not a genre I normally enjoy I... did not enjoy it. However, if thrillers are your thing and you like stories about serial killers this might be something you'd want to pick up (for cheap).
