Keep It in the Family

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So Marr's is known for some really dark psychological thrillers. I've read two previously - "The Good Samaritan" and "What Lies Between Us" - and loved them despite how dark and twisted they were. But this one takes things to a whole new level of disturbing. I think it's the type of victim in this story that makes it all the more chilling. Don't worry, it's not graphic. Just...chilling. The story is extremely dark but absolutely full of atmosphere and tension. It genuinely does grip you so much you just can’t stop reading until problems get resolved and then straight away something else will happen and you’ll think “oh I’ll just read on and see what happens with this” .. before you know it you’ve finished it in a day.. their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their dream home was once a house of horrors. Mia and Finn buy and old house, hoping to renovate it and move out from Finn's parents. All seems to be going well, the house is being renovated, Mia is pregnant. And then, they find the remains of children in the attic, which is clearly the work of a serial killer. The book starts with an intriguing chapter and alternates between different POVs and timelines. It can be super confusing if you don’t note the years (something I gave up halfway through the book).

John Marrs is without a doubt, my all-time favourite author and let me tell you, my excitement levels (insert excited shriek) when I was approved this eARC were through the roof. This was a deliciously dark, disturbing and unnerving psychological thriller, centred around a truly dysfunctional family. The opening prologue, was in itself spectacular and spine chilling. Written from an unnamed narrator, admitting to being the bait for children being lured to a house. This novel has strong themes of child abductions and murders - big trigger warnings to be mindful of before reading. What I Disliked: After the big climax it took a bit too long to end it, I liked where to story went eventually but that's the only part where the book loses it's pace and slows down way too much. There was one moment that was so set up to go one way I think it would have benefitted the story if it went the way the audience thought it was going instead of Marrs not going that way. I found myself on tenterhooks at the end of every chapter, bamboozled by the multiple twists and turns and desperate to read on. Yes, there may have been one or two eye-roll moments, but the relentless pace of the unfolding plot made these very easy to overlook. The best is reserved for the ending - I just wanted answers and was greatly satisfied at how things wrapped up, even if it breeched some realms of reality. It was so all-consuming, that it never mattered.

The incidents of the story are wholly absorbing. YOU. ARE. THE. DEAD. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak Double Plus Good. Let me preface this with an apology. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can’t help it. My mind is completely fried. This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings, with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully developed language called Newspeak. This would genuinely be one of the most remarkable novels readers would ever read. From the very start, I thought it was an interesting, but yet a very familiar family dynamic. Mia and Finn are desperate to buy their first house together. Mia more so than Finn, so she can escape her overbearing Mother-in-law, who likes to demean her at every possible opportunity. Their dream house doesn’t turn out to be quite as they were hoping for, in fact, it is a deadly nightmare. The house has been keeping very disturbing secrets, within it’s run down walls.

The ending was a perfect blend of twists, revelations and adrenaline palpitations that left a bittersweet taste behind! In this chilling novel from bestselling author John Marrs, a young couple’s house hides terrible secrets—and not all of them are confined to the past. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. This time we meet Mia and Finn who finally found a house to start their family. But there is a lot of work to put into before they could even move in. When they make a horrible discovery in the attic dark secrets start to uncover and Mia wonders what kind of family she married into.

Here is Complete Info About Keep It in the Family by John Marrs

Then one day as Mia is surveying what will be the nursery, she discovers seven words etched into the skirting in a childish scrawl. Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant, after all the failed efforts of the past, and she and Debbie establish an unspoken ceasefire. Mia is still working at her PR job, remotely though you don’t hear much about it. It doesn’t seem to be part of her life. Nor do you get more than glancing references to the work on the house that occupies Dave and Finn. In fact, if you’re looking for a book that offers well-rounded characters, as well as a chilling plot, this may not satisfy. I'm talking two hours before, no chance for an extension, and your grade counts on handing something, ANYTHING, coherent in by the deadline....even if all you think you'll manage to squeak out is a 'D'? In 2019 Mia and Finn, a young couple expecting their first child, have just bought their new home which they start renovating. My only criticism is that, although full of twists, the plot was a bit predictable and I was able to figure it out quite early on (all except one twist, which was maybe the most important, so that was a very nice surprise!).

Since reading What Lies Between Us, I have been anxiously awaiting John Marrs’ next dark and disturbing psychological thriller. As a result of the fall, Sonny, their baby is born early but Mia is struggling with thoughts of her being a danger to her son and obsessing about the discovery in the attic. Their dream home has become their house of horror! The story itself is filled with twists and red herrings that will keep you guessing - is it or isn't it? - leaving you wondering if you are able to figure them out. I did work out who the anonymous narrator was through a few drip-fed clues and things that were left unsaid. But that wasn't the only twist to be revealed...there are plenty more to come! Into this fraught domestic scene are interspersed chapters set at various earlier points, regarding events in the old house that led to the deaths of the children in the rediscovered suitcases. Some of these chapters are from a child’s point of view. (Marrs uses the ‘their’ instead of ‘his’ or ‘her’ even when the gender of the person is known to the speaker, a grammatical trend that creates unnecessary obfuscation.) Some are from the point of view of someone preying on children, whose mental processes are certainly disturbing.Happy Pub Day to @johnmarrs and his newest novel “𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚”. Thank you, John, for gifting me the @netgalley E-ARC of your book to read. Readers, if you love a good story about a dysfunctional psychotic family read on for more. Public announcement: I think we may have just found my new favourite book of 2022! And I'm so happy that it's by the brilliant John Marrs, cementing his place as one of my favourite authors! In the wake of their traumatic discovery, the baby arrives and Mia can’t shake her fixation with the monstrous crimes that happened right above them. Tormented by the terrible things she saw, she is desperate to dig into the past to find answers.