The downside? Since there are only so many characters to choose from...I felt I could eliminate the 'obvious' suspects at about 60-70%. I had a very interesting ending in mind that I was hoping would somehow be accurate (and provide me with the crazy twisted ending I was looking for) but it didn't come to pass. There is also an interesting moral dilemma for the reader as to wether you forgive something truly horrific in a characters past when they repent I did not expect the final third of the book to play out the way it did, and while I did guess some aspects of how it would pan out, there others that completely blindsided me and left me sitting with my mouth hanging open.

Three traumatized children: one of them or all may have inherited the genes of their father, suffering from same psychopathic tendencies to commit such a brutal crime! The main character is Beth who’s mother walked out on her and her dad at 10. What unfolds is a story of a heinous childhood act, and an unraveling present. You know when Beths mother suddenly appears that something is amok, but how long will it go on before Beth figures it out. The must-have family handbook - accessible, equipping and game-changing' – Anna Mathur, author of Mind Over Mother Having read her previous thriller "The Perfect Couple", I had high hopes for this book...and I wasn't disappointed. Addicted pretty much from the beginning, THE HAPPY FAMILY is anything but a happy family. But oh how it's dysfunctionality worked!The Happy Family was published in the UK by One More Chapter in June 2021. I received an advance copy via NetGalley in return for an honest review. The Wishbones return home, and their circumstances change. Frank stands up for himself at work after putting a photo of their family adventure and the frozen Dracula on his desk, Max's bully has realised the error of his ways and befriends him, and Fay meets a nerd in a knight's costume at a costume party that Emma throws at home. Baba Yaga, Renfield, and the three bats crash the party. The family takes another photo together, showing their happiness. I liked this book but it did not blow me away. I thought the plot was too obvious and the protagonist, Beth, excruciatingly naive. It was an ok read but I did not get the thrills I was hoping for. At first, everything seems wonderful. But then Beth’s friends begin to drift away, strange things start to happen at home, and rumours begin to circle about her past. As the mysterious events around Beth become darker and more dangerous, she is forced to question everything. Is somebody in her life trying to destroy her happiness? And how far will they go?Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, C. L. Taylor and Lisa Jewell

Janet and Allan Ahlberg's Happy Families series is full of wonderful and funny books, perfect for children learning to read. This new, bigger, edition means that even younger children can enjoy the stories. Look out for Mr Biff the Boxer, too! It was a fast-paced read, although had a slightly slow burner at the beginning. I liked how the author successfully built the tension feeling of mine reading every chapter, so it kept me engaged. The main character had me “bite my nails” on how she reacted for every mysterious and devastated moment that occurred around her. Maybe this is why this book is being categorized as a “psychological thriller?” :) I loved how the lead detective thought everyone he interviewed was the killer. There is a lot of scrambling, a lot of lies, a lot of secrets, a lot of trying to protect others while protecting oneself. There are a lot of liars with their pants on fire in this book. Not all that glitters is gold. Sometimes those who look like they have it all don't have much in terms of common decency.I want to thank the publisher "Harper 360/ One More Chapter for the opportunity to read this book and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone! It’s a reasonable enough, (though not especially novel) plot but it’s dragged down by the repetitive nature of the narrative and the glaringly obvious solution to the various twists and turns. Incredulous naivety I couldn't get enough of The Happy Family, loved the characterisation, writing, and just everything about it.

T he Happy Family focuses on Beth Holland. a mother of two who has overcome heartache in her life. Her mother Alice disappeared when she was 10 years old, then her husband announced he was leaving the family home to set up with a beautiful and attractive barrister. But a family scandal shows that nothing is as it seems. Bina’s oldest friendship starts to unravel and she finds herself as an outsider in the community she helped build. Suhani discovers that her perfect marriage isn’t as solid as she thought. Natasha faces a series of rejections that send her into a downward spiral. The killer will not be the only cold-blooded character that you will encounter. Many of the suspects are unlikable, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story.

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. This was a fast-paced read, centered on divorced mom of two, Beth, whose mother walked out on her 30 years ago when she was just 10 years old. Beth lives a happy and fulfilled life, but always felt like something was missing due to the absence of her mother in her life. One day, out of the blue, her mother appears at her door. Catherine Tate as Baba Yaga, Dracula's former captive witch. She is responsible for turning the Wishbone family into monsters. The truth is, they're all so much better off now that their parents have been murdered.The Mertons gather for Easter dinner, and it's a dreadful experience for almost everyone involved. The only one having fun is patriarch Fred Merton, who particularly enjoys bullying every member of his family, including his wife and his three grown children. So when Fred and his wife are gruesomely murdered later that night, no one is really surprised. Any of his children would gladly have done it, or was it someone else altogether who hates their father even more? I did guess early on though,-I just felt it in me that the ending was who I thought it would be and it made me cry when the DNA proved it, I couldn't of been more happier.

I’m not a huge consumer of psychological crime novels or thrillers but I do turn to them whenever I need to give the brain a break after reading a string of powerful or immersive books. But they still have to deliver something more than just the entertainment value of thrills and suspense. A protagonist with a complex personality is a must. A strong evocation of a specific location or time period is important. Ideally I want both to be matched with an interesting issue or a theme. The premise is that Beth is a divorced women with two children, a boy and a girl. The relationship with her ex and his new partner is excellent and the children are happy to live with Beth and equally happy to spend time with Dad and Crystal. Her father is in a brilliant care home and she visits him regularly. She works as a practice manager for a doctors’ surgery. She is friendly, efficient and happy. She has good friends at work and two very good friends as neighbours. The only blot on her horizon is the nightmares that frequent her dreams. These she associates with the disappearance of her mother when she was very young. She can recall the unhappy woman and can almost understand why she left her father who was 40 years older than her. Still… Somewhere around 50% mark we all thought we figured out who the killer was, but I am glad to say we were wrong. 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. The storyline also focuses on a fundamental serious issue. I think it was a great thing to add to the book to bring to light the true seriousness of our actions and the consequences of those actions- not only how they can stay with us forever, but the consequences they can make to others lives past or present.My favorite character was of course Suhani. She’s the epitome of who I want to be. Up until recently I had actually not read or seen a lot of Indian women going into the field of medicine because they actually wanted to rather than their parents just telling them they should. Anyways, I felt like Suhani was a reflection of myself and her relationship with Natasha, her sister, definitely had some similarities to my sister and I’s relationship. Besides the wonderful cast of characters, I thought the writing style was easy to read without being juvenile which is an aspect that I was looking for in a South Asian adult fiction book. I found that many SA adult fiction books had characters or contained writing that came across as juvenile which is just difficult for me to relate to because of how I was raised and the independence I’ve had from an early age. Catherine is the oldest, hard working, conservative, conventional, a doctor. She’s in good terms with everyone, her mother’s favorite child. But as soon as her father plans to sell their childhood house, her peaceful demeanor is changed. Could she lie without blushing or showing any reaction to put her on radar? Absolutely not! She’s so cool as cucumber. So calculated. So focused. Could she be sociopath? Why not? They have three children. All of them were at Easter dinner. Two of them were with their spouses. One was with a random “boyfriend”. The former nanny and current cleaning lady was there too. One guest couldn’t make it. This book was not for me. First, it had body shaming in it. That is a big no-no, and I really, really wish the character involved would have said, "I'm a real woman. I've had children. This is what a real body looks like." Instead, the character just felt guilty and self conscious. Second, the portrayal of the MC was nauseating. She was acting entirely silly and non-sensical, ignoring perfectly obvious signs and things that were wrong. She also let her ex run all over her, allowing him to take the kids, yell at her, burst into her home when he felt like it. That's not how things work these days. One parent cannot just unilaterally terminate a parent's rights. The MC talks about how she and her ex get along great. If that is the case, he should respect some boundaries. Third, the book was so entirely predictable. I guessed the ending very early on. Fourth, the pacing was really off. Typically, I tend to enjoy slower paced books, but this was just too slow even for me. The storytelling just was not there. The Happy Family did not seem to build in anticipation, and there was far too much foreshadowing. The pace is fast, the plotline was a bit predictable and the characters are well developed and believable. I really enjoyed this book even though I had already guessed the ending. It's full of twists but some parts are uncomfortable to read. I liked the authors writing style, it makes the book easy to read.