I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books / Penguin Audio
Published: July 27, 2021
Summary:
In this family, everyone is keeping secrets–especially 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 they don’t come much richer than Fred and Sheila Merton. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered the night after an 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 capricious father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did one of them snap after that dreadful evening? Or was it someone else that night who crept in with the worst of intentions? It must be. After all, if one of your siblings was a psychopath, you’d know.
Wouldn’t you?
My thoughts:
I am slowly making my way through Shari Lapena’s backlist in anticipation of seeing her this Spring at a couple book conferences and this one was up next. This book reminded me exactly why I fell in love with her writing in the first place – that suspenseful, wild, twisty storytelling that keeps you on your toes the entire way through!
It’s no surprise that I love books about dysfunctional families and the Merton family certainly falls into that category. Secrets are the name of the game here and when each of the three adult children become prime suspects in their parent’s murder, nothing is held back. They lie to each other and it’s hard to know just who is telling the truth and who has the most to gain from killing the parents.
This murder mystery really kept me guessing all until the end and I loved that at some point I pointed the finger at every character! They all had reason to want Fred and Sheila dead and that is what made this such a fun, twisted read.
I definitely recommend picking this one up if you haven’t yet. It’s a quick read, with short chapters that just beg you to keep reading!
Audio thoughts:
This is the type of book I love to listen to because it quickly captures my attention and keeps it. The narrator, Ellen Archer, is new-to-me and I thought she did a great job bringing the story to life and giving each character their own voice.
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