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In Transylvania, Count Dracula laments about his loneliness with his three bat servants. He receives a phone call from Emma Wishbone who has mistakenly called him instead of a monster costume store. She talks to him briefly before accidentally dropping her cell phone down a storm drain. Emma is depressed as family tensions build up - her own bookstore is in dire financial straits, her son Max is a victim of bullying due to his awkward and stereotypical mannerisms, her daughter Fay is a narcissistic teenager, and her husband Frank is overworked and sleep-deprived, neglecting her. Dracula decides to make Emma his new bride and persuades Baba Yaga to curse her and turn her into a real vampire so she will stay with him. Dr Beth Mosley MBE is one of the UK’s most experienced and respected consultant clinical psychologists, and she works with children, young people and their families every day. In this groundbreaking guide aimed at parents of children aged 4-21, she offers a comprehensive toolkit that will help you make sense of what your child is going through and give you the hope and reassurance you need to make a change. Having read her previous thriller "The Perfect Couple" , I had high hopes for this book...and I wasn't disappointed. Addicted pretty much from the beginning, THE HAPPY FAMILY is anything but a happy family. But oh how it's dysfunctionality worked! Take every conceivable part of what makes a great psychological thriller, add every ingredient from a family drama and mix it up with a classic whodunit and you either get a disaster OR you get this
As the story Is narrated by Beth it is really intriguing to get the story in tiliae from her point of view. Beth as our protagonists is relatable, like the rest of us she's just trying to get by and has some hidden trauma. I believe the author has a skill not many authors do. She was able to show the psychological changes in our character without being so overtly obvious. It's a skill and many readers themselves may not read between the lines. The downside? Since there are only so many characters to choose from...I felt I could eliminate the 'obvious' suspects at about 60-70%. I had a very interesting ending in mind that I was hoping would somehow be accurate (and provide me with the crazy twisted ending I was looking for) but it didn't come to pass.On the upside? Lapena always keeps her character list short, which I honestly appreciate. Too many thrillers and suspense novels get cluttered with a bunch of people who either don't matter, aren't interesting, or seem to exist only to serve as potential suspects. This tightly-knit family provided just enough options without a bunch of filler. My god- "The Happy Family" had so many emotions running through it I really felt for Beth, I felt it when she was happy and content, and I really felt it when her life started to go a bit pear shaped!!.
But no, Beth takes everything this woman says as gospel truth. It’s bleedingly obvious to the reader that this is all too good to be true. Told by mum that the two women you thought were your best friends had made some horribly hurtful comments, wouldn’t you want to ask them personally for an explanation? But not our Beth, she just pours another drink and sniffles away. It’s hard to buy into a plot which contains a gaping hole of this size. Eldest daughter Catherine and her husband, leave in a huff, followed closely behind by beleaguered middle child, Dan and his wife, Lisa. Even the former nanny/now part time housekeeper Irena is angry! Shortly after, their youngest daughter, Jenna and her current boy toy Jake say their goodbyes. Over the story, we gradually find out about Beth’s past, informing us of why she is so paranoid in the present. To be honest, I was not that surprised by the revelations, having guessed, to a degree, what had happened. With this in mind, I thought the story just took far longer than necessary. Elements of the story were too obvious for my liking and I felt frustrated by Beth’s acceptance of everything around her. It slowed the pace of the plot and I found there were many moments where I thought the narrative was tedious and predictable. This was reinforced by the fact that I had sadly guessed how the story would conclude and I thought it took too many chapters to get to this point. But for me, the real star of the show was Bina. I thought getting her perspective in the book made it so much more interesting. So often in family dramas the parents are to blame for everything and their perspective and experience, especially as middle-aged members of the unit, are often overlooked. That was not the case here. I loved Bina so much even though in initial chapters told from the perspective of her children I thought I would not. Her struggles were so real and the pressures put on her by her culture, society, and experience as an immigrant made for such an interesting character. I thought she was an amazingly strong woman and would love to go to one of her coveted Chats Over Chai meetings!
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They have three children. All of them were at Easter dinner. Two of them were with their spouses. One was with a random “boyfriend”. The former nanny and current cleaning lady was there too. One guest couldn’t make it.
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