The patriarch of the Merton family, Fred, seems to take great pleasure in making his three adult children, Catherine, Dan and Jenna, miserable. It's like he is actively trying to make their lives more difficult. The police have plenty of suspects, but few clues. This isn’t a new premise, but I loved how this story unraveled, including a few surprising twists and a surprise ending. I think this would make a terrific movie! The chapters are short and sweet, making it easy to pause if you need to...but propelling you to continue. A family dinner at Easter is the last time the family are all together. Within hours the couple have been brutally killed – and thereafter the questions and accusations start flying. A well developed cast of characters were delightfully malcontent and rotten to the core which meant that I was on board with any one of them being held culpable for the misdeeds happening here.

There are so many hints dropped throughout the story that lead the reader trying to figure our exactly what is going on, tying some in knots in the process. There were always going to be questions behind Alice's sudden reappearance...even if Beth failed to ask them. But should we be suspicious? Should Beth? Nothing was ever going to be straightforward, that's for sure, but is it too good to be true? Or are we just set up to be cynical about the obvious? Kabler has certainly played upon the more conspicuous to leave us all scratching our heads wondering what to believe. Is it Beth being gas-lighted? Or is it the reader? Almost instantly, strange things begin to happen. Beth loses her keys, not once, but several times. The central heating develops bipolar heating the place up like a sauna despite the thermostat set at the usual temperature. Things go missing or are moved about and Beth begins to wonder if she is losing her grip on reality. Then it seems she is alienating her friends, losing her appetite and drinking far too much. Everyone around her seems to notice the change in her behaviour and become worried, but it's when her children start to suffer that Jacob steps in and tells her to get her act together.Within a couple of months, her life has gone from happy contentment to a complete humiliating mess. And the only one who remains in her corner is her mum. Thank goodness she is there to support her. Or is she? Yes! Unfortunately knives are not out! Because the poor caretaker Irena already washed away the murder weapon, cleaning the traces of blood and fingertips of the murderer. She has good intentions. She literally raised those kids and she truly knows how they suffered from controlling monster a.k.a real psychopath father of the year with a big ugly secret. This was a fun book to listen to on audio. The narrator was great, and I enjoyed the stories off all involved - not just the siblings. I put on my super sleuth hat- not easy to do while driving and tried to do some detective work of my own. Who could be the heartless killer? What could Fred and Sheila have done to evoke the ire of a killer? Quite a bit as it turns out - well Fred mainly as he was not ever going to win a "Dad of the year" award.

With her life crumbling around her, Beth looks in danger of losing everything and everyone close to her until someone totally unexpected comes to her rescue – a fabulous twist I admittedly guessed early on. But it was still a brilliant twist. So who is Beth's saviour?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! Now everyone in the family is a suspect. They all had a motive. Most of them had an opportunity. Who done it? The family here makes so much sense, you just sink right into it. It's not hard to see how the different personalities and relationships have come together. Really my biggest quibble is that I didn't entirely buy Natasha. Some things about her just didn't totally make sense to me, and she's the central character if there is one. She wants a career in comedy, she has apparently done all this research, but she also thinks that what will be basically her first time doing real stand up is going to open up doors when comedy is the longest of slogs felt weird. I also couldn't ever imagine her relationship with Karan, he seems far too boring for her, especially for so many years. I also (sorry) did not find her funny, which made the comedy segments of the book fall flat. It was a bummer because there are many other parts of her that were really grounded and relatable, so the ones that didn't quite fit were more noticeable. This was just great entertainment. It’s a book I wanted to find as many hours a day as possible to listen to. I tore through it. I had no clue who committed the murders. Such a great ending!

This is a book that starts of relatively gently all things considered, but before long it all ramps up, and events become a lot darker, a bit sinister and although you may like me have some theories, as to what is going on, I would suggest you won't be able to predict the exact nature of how everything occurs and all the consequences.Take every conceivable part of what makes a great psychological thriller, add every ingredient from a family drama and mix it up with a classic whodunit and you either get a disaster OR you get this This is a psychological thriller that has everything: intrigue, mystery and constant twists and turns. I couldn't put it down!’ Alex Lake, bestselling author of Seven Days 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? The family theme was ‘More is More’ with the knowledge that a conviction would create a greater monetary share for the others with the portion being forfeited. Casting doubt became an occupation as they folded in on each other.

But whilst this may seem like that happy family that Beth has longed for, she cannot ignore the problems that start occurring in her life. Frequent forgetfulness, disintegrating relationships with close friends and a belief that someone is watching her, Beth feels like this part of her life is falling apart. Although she is playing happy families with her mum, everything else is crumbling. In addition, her relationship with her ex-husband becomes more strained and Beth feels desperate, concerned that a secret from her past is the cause of these problems. The family has gathered for the annual Easter dinner, hosted by Fred and Sheila, and patriarch Fred has an announcement to make. stars. For the first half this book is familiar, a multi-perspective look at a modern family where the parents are immigrants who have built a successful life but the children are starting to flounder. What makes this book really different is that it has a very specific idea of how this dynamic is unhealthy but also how it can be repaired. All of the children were in line to inherit millions of dollars. But, would any of them kill their parents to hurry the process along? 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.The Mertons, a wealthy couple from upstate New York, are brutally murdered in their palatial home after hosting a contentious family Easter dinner. Good thing is that it was easy to read, but a bad thing is that it was too repetitive, so many things that were already said were mentioned again and again... Then there's the two other women we get to meet Robyn her housekeeper n nanny and a lovely homeless lady Nadia. Both women seem like ladies you want as friends so I just loved the part they play in Beth's life. But are those kids only the ones to inherit the will, or are there other people who could be suspect of this killings?