Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Her Perfect Family

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2021

Her Perfect Family by Teresa Driscoll will please her hordes of existing fans and no doubt make her plenty of new ones.

Rachel and Ed Hartley are attending their daughter Gemma's graduation ceremony when she falls to the ground at the crucial moment. Despite the event taking place in a crowded Cathedral it turns out that Gemma has been shot and there's pandemonium as the crowd panic.
Luckily Private Investigator Matthew Hill ,a former policeman, is passing and uses his skills to clear the exits and secure the safety of those left inside as the shooter is still on the loose.
Hill's former colleague, D.L. Melanie Sanders is put in charge of the case and gets him employed by the police to help out.

With Gemma in a coma the race is on to discover who shot her and why with things being made more complicated by the secrets the whole family have been keeping from each other.
The story is told from several viewpoints and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep things interesting. I did guess the "perp" quite early on but then I spend far too much of my time reading thrillers and am an old hand at playing "guess the villain".

I've read most of Teresa Driscoll's books, her books are a fairly light read that require a pinch of salt now again but are always entertaining....not least this one.

If you've not read any of Teresa's books yet and you're a fan of Val McDermid ,Belinda Bauer, Nikki French, Denise Mina and similar authors give this one a try,and I suspect you'll become a fan.

23 people found this helpful

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Suspenseful mystery thriller.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2021

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Rating: 3.8/5

This fast-paced thriller is the first novel I have read by Teresa Driscoll, but I have a strong feeling that it won't be the last. There is no slow burn to this novel as in the opening pages the reader witnesses a shocking shooting amid the pomp and ceremony of a university graduation in the local cathedral. Pandemonium ensues and we are launched into an oftentimes breathtaking mystery thriller that seldom lets up until the final page.

The action predominantly takes place in the present time, but the author also makes use of regular flashbacks to earlier points in the lives of the key protagonists. The narrative is also delivered from the individual viewpoints of each of these key players. This can be a great literary mechanic when it is executed well and Teresa Driscoll makes a very effective job of giving each character a distinct and authentic voice.

The central mystery relates to the identity of the person who carried out the shooting at the cathedral. There is plenty of well-handled misdirection, though seasoned readers of the genre may well work out the doer of the deed well before the end of the novel. Not that it really matters if you do, because there is not only much to admire about the way the story is drafted, but there are also plenty of subthemes that make this a worthwhile and enjoyable read. Yes, it is first and foremost an exciting suspense thriller with a dark premise, but it is also quite emotional at times and raises issues which may well prompt some inner reflection.

A good read and easy to recommend.

17 people found this helpful

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Not gripping or thrilling- rather unrealistic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2021

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Rather underwhelming really. I feel like I’ve been reading the book for ages. Too many unrealistic situations and police procedures which are, at best, flimsy. To imagine that only a Detective Inspector would be in charge of a shooting case, assisted by a private investigator- ex police or not- is not tenable.
The majority of the characters are lacklustre and unremarkable; the storyline, itself, included too many convenient ‘red herrings’ which led to an annoying perpetrator- which actually made me cross because it was absurd, considering the background information given in the finale.
Obviously other readers have highly praised the book but I can’t- it’s too weak.

16 people found this helpful

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Kindle reader

Yawn.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 October 2021

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I really tried to stick with this book but I couldn't. I had to give up at 31% through for my own sanity. I've only ever given up on one book before this and I've read 2 books per week for years.
It was just soooo boring. The characters are all weak and police procedures plain ridiculous.
I found myself not caring at all who shot Gemma in the leg.
One star from me

16 people found this helpful

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Lies, lies, lies

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2021

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This was a great, thrilling read that had me hooked from the beginning. With tense scenes at Gemma's graduation, what follows is a story that has the police trying to find the suspect. However, it also turns out that Gemma's family is far from perfect, with a web of hidden deceits under the surface.

Driscoll has structured this narrative so that it shifts to different characters: Gemma, the parents and Matthew. This made for an interesting story because you get so many varied perspectives. In addition, some of the narrative is before the accident, giving readers a greater understanding of Gemma's past, along with her parents too.

It's certainly a tragedy, watching Gemma's parents remain by the daughter's bedside, waiting for her to wake up from a coma. At the same time, I was fascinated by all the secrets that are gradually revealed; no one in the family is exempt from deception. The way we learn about Gemma's past is through essay titles that disguise her confessions, like a diary, and I found these most interesting. These snapshots provide subtle clues about the present circumstances and I loved being able to piece it all together.

I knew this was going to be a great read from the beginning and, even though I guessed how some of the story would conclude, I enjoyed the buzz as the plot reached its climax. It is a race against time as police fear the attacker will strike again, versus the faint hope that Gemma may wake up from her coma. Driscoll cleverly reflects the adrenalin of the action onto the readers of the book and I really got caught up in the exciting chase for answers.

This was another thrilling read from Driscoll that had me on the edge of my seat. I could not put the book down and the short chapters meant that I flew through this faster than I expected. I have read a book by this author before and was not disappointed. Reading this newest release makes me even more determined to check out Driscoll's other books in the future.

9 people found this helpful

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Like Trying to Blow Porridge Through A Blanket

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2021

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I was really proud of myself after nearly three weeks of plodding through this very poor book to actually get as far as the Epilogue.
Seeing that it was another 12 minute read on Kindle, I gave up at this stage.
I normally read three books a week but this has caused a temporary lack of interest, as I found the story pathetic, the police procedure likewise , and the characters so very boring.
I see that enthusiasts have deemed this one of the author`s better books so will never bother again.

5 people found this helpful

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Or NOT So Perfect, Perhaps......

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 October 2021

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LOVED this book....it was a Kindle First read and I chose it as this is my fourth one by her and she's never let me down before. Once again I was not disappointed. A really shocking premise that appealed to me right away. Secrets and lies abound and I was clueless as to whodunnit' so my interest never waned. Never ceases to amaze me how people can live together for decades, yet keep so many secrets from each other.
Sally for me came across as a bit of a nitwit but I liked Matthew. I wasn't keen on him keeping on phoning Amanda, however. That came across as a little creepy to me. I found the sickness she featured a fascinating one and it was a great idea to use it in the story.
There were some errors.....commas missing, flake used in the context here needed capitalising and she persistently misses the apostrophe when writing ladies' or gents', which is distracting. Then she uses inquiry throughout whereas over here it is usually enquiry. One thing she did which I HATED was write "Grief" as opposed to "Good grief". It irritated me the first time it happened and I let it go, assuming it was a character's affectation but when another person used it I wasn't having it !! So that needs to go !! Another repeated error from this author (from a previous book by her) is writing playdough and not Play-Doh. She also constantly refers to "uniformed" officers when it is usually only uniform that is used in this context. Peaks was wrong and needs to be piques, too.
I looked up the clock in Wells Cathedral and someone had helpfully filmed it and shared it on You Tube so I got to see it in action.
I loved part of the ending, something Gemma shared with her mum; it made me quite sniffy. I liked how she gave us an update on everyone at the end as well and tied everything up properly. The mention of the dress at both the beginning and end was very nicely included as well.

2 people found this helpful

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Mrs Helen S Leecy

Superb!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2022

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I’ve been reading some terrible books lately and needed something to grip me and get me over this awful slump. I’ve read Driscoll’s books in the past, and they’ve never let me down, so I really hoped this one would do the trick!
It did; it was superb!
It was different from other psych thrillers I’ve read, and I loved the uni and graduation aspects. Having done a Masters a few years back, graduation, for me, is the pinnacle of all the hard work you’ve put in. It’s a time to celebrate the achievement, so for this book to turn that on its head and have it as a tragedy really made me stop and think how lucky I am to have had the perfect graduation. It helped me empathise with all the students who had their ceremony ruined and the others subsequently cancelled. Then there is poor Gemma; not only is she shot, but the repercussions are just dreadful. I couldn’t get that out of my mind the whole way through the book.
The book keeps you gripped the whole way through; you have no idea who the shooter is, why they are doing it and how it will all be revealed. There are multiple suspects, and all of these are depicted really well. The author keeps you guessing, and when you thought you had figured it out, she threw in a curveball!
I did think I had one of the characters sussed, and although I was right to a degree, I was wrong on another aspect of what I thought. It really did keep me guessing.
The story was well-rounded, with parts taking place in the past that helped with character growth. You discovered why they acted in certain ways due to what had happened to them in the past.
I flew through this book; I think it’s the fastest I’ve read one in a while (the dates don’t do it justice as I started at 23.00 on the 8th but finished at 00.10 on the 10th, so just over 25 hours) I couldn’t put it down. This is, without a doubt, the best five-star read I’ve read in a few months. Thank you to the author for getting me out of my slump!

One person found this helpful

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Super twisty psychological thriller

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2022

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Well Teresa has done it again with yet another gripping psychological thriller I raced through.

A parents nightmare. Their daughter is shot right in front of them at her graduation ceremony, which should have been one of the happiest days of her life. As she lays in hospital in a coma, secrets are revealed and there is a race against the clock to find the shooter before the graduation ceremony is rescheduled.

What shone through for me was Rachel’s bond with her daughter. She did not move from her daughters side the whole time she was in hospital. Playing her music, reading to her and kissing her forehead. Hoping she was getting through to her. Having had a troubled upbringing herself Rachel wanted nothing more than to do everything possible to make her daughter have the happy childhood she missed out on.

My favourite character was Matthew, the Private Investigator who just happened to be out with his family in the vicinity of the cathedral when the shooting happened and headed straight there to help. He is just an all round lovely caring bloke and if Teresa ever decides to write a series he would be a great character to set it around!

I enjoyed how the book was written from the POV of multiple narrators. I do enjoy first person narration with detailed thoughts and feelings.

Lots of fabulous twists along the way to keep you guessing. A very clever reveal I did not see coming!

One person found this helpful

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Andy N

Missed the point almost completely

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2021

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A full review of this book will appear on the book review Podcast 'Reading in Bed' at the start of November 2021 at the usual places including readinginbed.bandcamp.com

Her Perfect Family – Teresa Driscoll

Blurb:
A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of I Am Watching You. The perfect family? Or the perfect lie?
It’s their daughter’s graduation and Rachel and Ed Hartley are expecting it to be one of their family’s happiest days. But when she stumbles and falls on stage during the ceremony, a beautiful moment turns to chaos: Gemma has been shot, and just like that, she’s fighting for her life.
PI Matthew Hill is one of the first on the scene. A cryptic message Gemma received earlier in the day suggests someone close to her was about to be exposed. But who? As Matthew starts to investigate, he finds more and more layers obscuring the truth. He even begins to suspect the Hartleys are hiding something big—from him and from each other.
While Gemma lies in hospital in a coma, her would-be killer is still out there. Can Matthew unravel the family’s secrets before the attacker strikes again?

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Err…. This book did a few things that was for sure which surprised me which I’ll come onto but gets off with a very dramatic start of a shooting in a church which ends up with one character in hospital and all kinds of madness which follows it.

The set up is fine but standard talking about a girl who is shot at her graduation ceremony in a very English Cathedral, everything about the girls family starts to fall apart. Over the following chapters, we begin to see literally decades of lies begin to come to the forefront from both her and her parents and other people connected to them, you are left wondering by the end of it how on earth the emotional baggage hadn’t caused something like to happen before to be honest.

I did like the way the chapters were fairly short, and if you weren’t enjoying one character’s chapter you could happily skim it to the next chapter and it did help the book move along fairly quickly and I polished it off in a week or so but sadly didn’t build on the excellent start leaving me with the following questions / plot points not explained that well:

1) There was a lot of confusion over what kind of gun was used in the church at the beginning of the book in the writing and whether a silencer was used or not. It seemed to suggest a handgun was used to shoot Gemma like a rifle which is almost impossible to do unless there was a very, very good shooter which you’ll discover isn’t.

2) The book is littered with inconsenstives with the way Police actually work and showed a writer who really hadn’t thought this book properly in places where the evidence seems very lack lusture in places and doesn’t help us gather a clue about who was the shooter.

3) The use of the P.I. talking somebody down from jumping was unbelieveable and there is no way a Policewoman would allow the P.I. to do, in fact the scene in the church when we thought we were going to unmask the killer with the P.I, and no police in sight (on the way) – again very unrealistic.

4) I didn’t understand why Rachel got the 1st person P.O.V and everybody else didn’t know as she didn’t seen to have much to give away to warrant that and she seemed to have the emotional connectivity to warrant this.

5) I found the scene involving the P.I. daughter’s and a mysteries letter very undercooked – it did very little to build up the tension in the book and I think could have easily being removed.

6) There was a lot of red herrings in the book over who did this which I won’t name which was fair enough – some more than others and I did like the diary scenes which Gemma went into over ex lovers shall we say which I think worked really well and did enjoy with the mother discovering some shocks shall we say. However, a number of the characters were really undercooked / underdeveloped which attention should have being paid more. This is a rare case where I think a extra 100 pages may helped the book here with the book but I dread to think what a already rambling book would have being

7) The baddie… I thought that was the poorest section of the book and contained a villian if that is the right word with motives which was very unbelieveable and why I admired the P.I, for what he did, it did nothing to make me like him anymore and build him anymore as a 2D character, rather like too much of this book a under developed book.

8) There was too many Points of Views I thought in different time zones. Less is more definitely here would have helped.

Conclusion:

Not the worst book I have read on Amazon Fire Reads, but possibly the most mis-informed , badly researched book I have read from them set in England. It is badly researched, and two many of the characters are simply unlikeable. I guess Rachel who has the first person P.O.V is there as the central emotional core of the book but I thought her woefully undeveloped like too many characters in this book.

This is a book which could have easily being so many more but this is too much missing from the plot and is not developed enough to warrant a recommedation.

4/10

One person found this helpful

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5 star		50%
4 star		34%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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