Thoughts on : Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
Genre : Thriller
Stand alone
About the Book :
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 Mercer. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mercers 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?
I’ve read all of Shari Lapena’s thrillers but one (which I’ll get to eventually, it’s on my shelves), so it’s fair to say I enjoy her books. Her mysteries are the kind I can easily read in one or two sittings. Her style is engaging and her stories usually hook me from the first page.
I say usually, because while I had a good time with Not a Happy Family, it was my least favorite of Lapena so far. I thought the intrigue wasn’t offering anything new and all the twists and secrets were predictable. Plus, I felt the story was very slow, running in a circle while skipping from one point of view to the other.
One thing I enjoyed though was the epilogue. Shari Lapena always has an epilogue or last chapter that twists the story one last time in a new direction. I usually don’t enjoy them, but this time, I did. It was kind of satisfying considering the ending, and it added a little something fun that had been missing from the story.
I also liked the investigation itself. Even though I knew where things were going, seeing it come together was fun.
I’m really not shy about dnf’ing books these days, so I wouldn’t have finished this one if I wasn’t at least a little intrigued. But even though it had all the elements of a good thriller, I had a hard time connecting with this one, and I’m not entirely sure why. I love mysteries about inheritances and dysfunctional mysteries, so I wish I could have loved it more! I’ll definitely be reading her next book though.
