Title: Keep it in the Family
Author: John Marrs
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 380
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤
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Keep it in the Family
Mia and Finn have just bought a new house, but it needs a lot of renovation. It’s a very old house, and no one has lived in it for decades. During the renovation, two shocking things happen.
First, Mia discovers that she is pregnant. Second, she finds a disturbing message somewhere in the house that says, “Save the children from the attic.” Of course, this completely creeps her out, so she and Finn decide to check the attic to see if there’s anything there.
At first, they don’t find anything unusual. But then they discover several suitcases. When they open them, they find the bodies of young children.
Review
Honestly, I had no idea how to rate this book. At certain points, I was really into the story and thought it was good. At other times, I felt confused and distracted. Because of that, it was hard to decide on a rating. In the end, I chose to give it an average of three stars (or hearts).
The story is pretty interesting and very twisted. You read from multiple perspectives, which I really liked. The story is told from Mia’s and Finn’s points of view, but also from Dave and Debbie’s perspective (Finn’s parents). You even go back in time and read chapters from the murderer’s point of view, although at first you don’t know who that is.
That said, it’s not very hard to guess, since there aren’t many characters. I personally guessed the wrong person, but at the same time I wasn’t surprised when the real identity of the murderer was revealed.
The characters are absolutely crazy and mostly unlikable, which honestly made all of them feel like suspects. The only character I truly liked was Mia, mostly because I felt sorry for her. The rest of them were genuinely sick in the head.They were incredibly mean to her and constantly gaslighting her. I honestly would have run away. I understand that she was pregnant, but it didn’t even feel like she truly cared about Finn anymore. She would have been better off on her own.
The chapters written from the murderer’s point of view are absolutely insane. He or she explains why they are killing these innocent children, and the reasoning is complete nonsense. The murderer is incredibly creepy—maybe even worse than the killers I’ve read about in other thriller books.
Still, there were some real “oh my god” moments. Certain scenes genuinely caught me by surprise, and I really liked that. Even though the story was a bit predictable, some details still shocked me. I also loved that the chapters were very short—I’m a big fan of short chapters.
Overall, I think this was just an okay thriller for me. It was hard to connect with any of the characters because they were all pretty terrible. The story was a bit predictable, but it did have a few surprising moments. If you’re in the mood for a twisted story about a murderer who kills children for a disturbing and irrational reason, this might be a book you’d want to read.