THE NEW FAMILY

SYNOPSIS

Can you really trust the family next door?

Brooke is delighted when Oliver decides to rent her old family home with his three-year-old son Finley. Finally someone to bring happiness to the rundown house across the street. They seem like the perfect tenants, but Brooke is a little unnerved when they move in with just a single bag between them. Where are their belongings?

When Brooke asks Oliver about his past, he quickly changes the subject. Her best friend tells her to leave it, after all Brooke has been through enough trauma in her life. But Brooke can’t shake off the feeling that something isn’t right. Why aren’t her new tenants’ names listed anywhere online?

Then Brooke arrives home to find orange flames dancing in the upstairs windows. As her whole life goes up in smoke, she is convinced it wasn’t an accident. And when she finds Finley drawing a picture of an angry burning house with terror in his eyes, her blood runs cold. What is Finley so frightened of? And why does Oliver snatch the drawing away the moment he sees it?

Brooke is convinced Finley is in serious danger, but given her past, she’s not sure anyone will believe her. Is Brooke ready to face up to her own demons to save the little boy? And when the truth is finally revealed, who is really the one in danger?

Title: The new family

Author: Victoria Jenkins

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication date: November 16, 2021

Victoria Jenkins is an English tutor and former secondary school teacher from South Wales who has been writing for years and day-dreaming about becoming a ‘proper’ writer for the past decade. She have an MA in Creative and Media Writing from the University of Wales, Swansea, where she wrote a lot of poetry while planning a lot of plots she hoped she would once day write. Victoria lives in South Wales with her husband.

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriajenkinswriter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicwritescrime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vicwritescrime/

Buy Links

Amazon: https://geni.us/B09H7MZ83Ysocial 

Apple: http://ow.ly/AMib50GhJtR 

Kobo: http://ow.ly/MpKn50GhJs6 

Google: http://ow.ly/n4du50GhJCS 

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Let me start this review by making one thing clear. Victoria Jenkins is a f*cking master at misdirection! I will never tire of recommending The Argument, a psychological suspense with one of the craziest twists I’ve ever read. Since I read that one a couple of years back I immediately became a fan, I have read all her following novels and she has managed to catch me unaware every single time.

I started The New Family without even reading the synopsis, and going over it now I noticed that it does not give away part of the plot so I will not go over it myself. I enjoyed it a lot without knowing beforehand about it so I’m sure you will too.

The story alternates Brooke and Christina’s chapters. At first one can’t help but wonder how, if at all, both timelines will tie up at the end. Although apparently independent, both timelines share a feel of isolation, one geographical and one self-isolation, but not in the sense of actual lockdown but that she has no one around to trust the secret that is destroying her live.

Although it is slow paced, especially at first, I found I could not stop turning pages and it ended up being a really quick read.

Once the link between both POVs is revealed halfway through, I thought I could formulate a plausible theory but oh boy, was I wrong! As secrets start to get revealed, the tension keeps ramping up leading to an ending that, although it required to suspend disbelief a little bit, was so good…and heartbreaking. It was absolutely disheartening.

Both main characters, Brooke and Christina, were very well fleshed out. They were both pretty flawed, but that’s what made them so interesting and real.

Another fantastic psychological suspense story from Ms. Jenkins. I can’t wait to see how she will trick me next time!

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