Books › Not a Happy Family
Not a Happy Family
563 pages
A deliciously chilly puzzle box of a thriller where immense wealth collides with deep-seated familial resentment.
What it feels like
Reading this thriller feels like eavesdropping on the darkest, most scandalous secrets of the neighborhood's wealthiest household. The atmosphere is immediately chilly and thick with paranoia, trapping you in a claustrophobic web of shifting allegiances and long-buried resentments. Driven by sharp, frictionless prose and a relentless pace, the narrative forces you to constantly re-evaluate who you can trust among a cast of deeply flawed, cynical characters. It is a deliciously tense experience that thrives on the friction of sibling rivalry and the toxic rot hiding beneath a veneer of extreme privilege. Perfect for readers who love untangling domestic mysteries, this is a propulsive, stay-up-late read that delights in pulling the rug out from under you just when you think you have the family figured out.
- Mood
- tense
- paranoid
- chilly
- claustrophobic
- Tone
- cynical
- suspenseful
- detached
- gossipy
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- toxic family dynamics · corrupting wealth · sibling rivalry · hidden secrets · betrayal
- The writing
- Direct, sharp, and dialogue-driven, the prose acts as a frictionless vehicle for the rapidly unfolding suspense.
- The arc
- The reader is plunged into immediate shock, followed by a dizzying descent into paranoia as every character's facade crumbles, ending in a breathless, twist-heavy resolution.
- Who it's for
- Readers who devour domestic thrillers centered on wealthy, deeply flawed families where everyone is a suspect and no one is telling the truth.
Content notes
- murder
- emotional abuse
- toxic family dynamics
- violence
About the book
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.
Description from Open Library.
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