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NOT A HAPPY FAMILY

 



SYNOPSIS

In this family, everyone is keeping secrets—even the dead.
 
Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there, and Fred and Sheila Merton certainly are rich. But even all their money can't protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered after a fraught Easter dinner with their three adult kids. 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 the siblings 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?

Title: Not a happy family
Author: Shari Lapena
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication date: July 27, 2021


REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to PRH International and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Who killed the Mertons? After a not so quiet Easter Sunday dinner with their kids, Fred and Sheila Merton are found murdered but, who killed them? After sudden revelations during dinner, was one of their children angry enough to murder them?

This was such an entertaining domestic suspense. The Merton family is not a happy family but do you know what they are? Despicable! Each and every single one of them are terrible people so there’re suspects aplenty. It’s been a while since I read a book were almost every character was absolutely loathsome (and I loved it!).

The story moved at a super quick pace. With such a dysfunctional family the secrets and revelations kept coming, making you doubt all the characters. Even though I suspected all of them at a certain moment I didn’t know who the culprit was until it was revealed. So many millions, so many motives!

Although it was more plot than character driven, with just a few brush strokes the author drew perfectly all the Merton kids.

The ending felt a bit rushed and incomplete but after the last couple of lines I shouted “yes, damn it!”, so I can say I was truly satisfied (also, I can see a follow up there).

Shari Lapena is one of those authors who books I impatiently await each year. The only negative point is that I devour them and the wait for the next one is even longer.

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