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Not a Happy Family: The gripping Richard and Judy Book Club 2022 pick, from the #1 bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR by [Shari Lapena]

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Shari Lapena

Not a Happy Family: The gripping Richard and Judy Book Club 2022 pick, from the #1 bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR Kindle Edition

by Shari Lapena (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

15,690 ratings

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The chilling Sunday Times bestseller perfect for fans of Knives Out. A Richard & Judy Book Club pick.

'In this fast-paced, twisted family saga, Shari Lapena keeps you guessing until the very last page...' PAULA HAWKINS

The new unputdownable thriller from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR.

In this family, everyone is keeping secrets - even the dead.

In the quiet, wealthy enclave of Brecken Hill, an older couple is brutally murdered hours after a tense Easter dinner with their three adult children. 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 them 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?

'Nobody does a vicious family circle like Shari Lapena. Highly recommended' Cara Hunter

'Queen of the modern crime novel, Shari Lapena, is back with another tale of murder... Shari will keep you guessing until the very end' Sunday Express

'A cross between Big Little Lies and Miss Marple' Woman's Weekly

'[A] dramatic, tense and satisfying murder mystery' My Weekly

Print length

439 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Transworld Digital
Publication date

27 July 2021
File size

8158 KB
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From the Publisher


	The End of Her	Someone We Know	An Unwanted Guest	A Stranger in the House	The Couple Next Door
More from Shari Lapena	It starts with a shocking accusation... how will it end?	It can be hard keeping secrets in a tight-knit neighbourhood...	There's a killer in your hotel.... and there's no escape.	Why would someone run scared from a happy home?	You never know what's happening on the other side of the wall...

Product description

From the Back Cover

The chilling Sunday Times bestseller perfect for fans of Knives Out. 'In this fast-paced, twisted family saga, Shari Lapena keeps you guessing until the very last page...' PAULA HAWKINS The new unputdownable thriller from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR. In this family, everyone is keeping secrets - even the dead. In the quiet, wealthy enclave of Brecken Hill, an older couple is brutally murdered hours after a tense Easter dinner with their three adult children. 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 them 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? --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

Nobody does a vicious family circle like Shari Lapena. Highly recommended ― Cara Hunter --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08K3KPS5K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Digital (27 July 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 8158 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 439 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B09L34V5BZ

Best Sellers Rank: 377 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 19 in Holiday Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 25 in British Detective Stories
- 54 in Family Life Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer reviews:
15,690 ratings

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Shari Lapena

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Customer reviews

5 star		49%
4 star		31%
3 star		14%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

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An unlikely and uninspiring murder mystery that just becomes increasingly silly.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2021

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Rating: 2.0/5

The blurb positions this as a domestic suspense novel. In reality, it is simply an unlikely and uninspiring murder mystery, with a bit of gloss and glitz, that just becomes increasingly silly.

I wondered for a time whether this was a intentional tongue-in-cheek attempt to produce something akin to the film "Knives Out". Certainly, anyone who has seen that film will immediately see clear similarities between the two storylines. However, whereas "Knives Out" is a deliberate, but affectionate parody of murder mysteries that are full of ridiculously twisty plots, this is just a decidedly mediocre murder mystery. If anything it bears more resemblance to the lightweight and predictable American tv mysteries that are often aired in the afternoon or early evening.

On the plus side, the narrative is occasionally fun, but it is also quite repetitive and spends a lot of time not going very far. The cast of characters is fairly large and the author doesn't make a great job of giving each character a distinctive voice. However, with the plot not being particularly complex, it isn't too difficult to keep track of who is who.

If you are simply looking for a disposable read to kill a few hours without taxing your brain cells too much, then this may well fit the bill. Otherwise, I suspect you are likely to find it a bit disappointing.

37 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mrs. H.E.Morrison

Excellent as always.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 July 2021

Verified Purchase

This proves that a book can be compelling, exciting and suspenseful, without descriptions of torture and graphic murder.
Yes, there are two people who are murdered, but the author does not dwell on the details. Instead, we are faced with a family where each member is
a liar, secretive and manipulative. Definitely not a happy family!
I loved it ,there were hints of Agatha Christie style of plotting, first one then another could be guilty,each of them capable of killing
their parents..but which one??

17 people found this helpful

Helpful

Could have been better

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 August 2021

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I wasn't sure how to rate this novel. On the one hand it's got a solid plot and an intriguing story, and is told by interesting characters. The who-done-it aspect is very well-written and there were parts of this book where the literary detail was so rich I felt I was there. I also wanted to keep turning the pages, despite its flaws. The main one being, although I struggle with third-person omnipresent POV, this is generally because an author has chosen the lazy route to telling the story instead of showing the reader what's going on, and that's exactly what Lapena does. It does become boring and frustrating when you're constantly being told someone is a psychopath without being shown any evidence to back up that supposed 'fact'. Being repeatedly told this person thinks that person killed the victims does not show me why. There was lots of this waffle, that had it been cut would have increased the pace even more and wouldn't have made me want to put the book down every few chapters to have a breather from the constant 'she thought this and he said that' and 'she did this and he did that'. This could have been a five star read if only the author trusted her readers enough to use their brains and work things out without constantly having to be told everything.

15 people found this helpful

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Whodunit par excellence.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2021

Verified Purchase

I found this novel a totally enthralling read. Had it not been that I wished to keep it going, I could easily have swallowed it whole in one session. Shari Lapena writes extremely well, here assembling an interesting collection of characters, all with their secrets to hide. Apart from the murders which set the action in progress, there is no unnecessary dwelling on pain and suffering. It seems that an ever larger number of writers in the crime genre seem obliged to resort to graphic descriptions of torture and the like to lure readers with gratuitous sensationalism. Lapena has shunned that route, and here demonstrates that intelligence, literacy and ingenuity can be far more powerful weapons in creating compelling suspense. One of the best crime novels I have read.

9 people found this helpful

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craftygirl

Boring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 November 2021

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Usually enjoy this author's books but this was tedious .All characters are repulsive people and the murderer was obvious from the start. Apart from that very little happens.Surprised they weren't all arrested for wasting police time and trying to pervert the course of justice. Much better stories out there .

10 people found this helpful

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Mrs Karen Andrew

Brilliant as always

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 August 2021

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Shari is back and does it again with another incredible ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ book.
There isnt one of her books that I've not loved. She has an amazing writing style and each of her books get better and better.

I love that in every book of Shari's, I have been able to picture all the characters, the streets they live on, their homes and even the murders. Her attention to detail is second to none.

I suspected every character in this story and was kept guessing my prediction was proved wrong. I didnt see the killer being who it was and thought there were some really clever twists.

5 people found this helpful

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Anna

It went on for ages!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2022

Verified Purchase

I’ve read about 4 of this author’s books, but the others were pretty good. This one was painfully slow, went round and round with a ridiculous plot, bad investigation into the murders, no twists, no surprises, bad ending. Read one of her others, this one is a car crash.

4 people found this helpful

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A Cast Of Joyously Unlikeable Characters…

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 August 2021

Verified Purchase

Superb whodunnit, once again, from this very talented author. A cast of joyously unlikeable characters in a dysfunctional, extremely wealthy, family who don’t even like each other very much, a double murder, red herrings aplenty and some fairly inept policing all make for a wholly entertaining, satisfying and immersive read. A worthy addition to this author’s canon.

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Not a Happy Family: The gripping Richard and Judy Book Club 2022 pick, from the #1 bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR Kindle Edition

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About the author

Shari Lapena

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