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The Happy Family: The gripping new psychological crime thriller from the No.1 Kindle bestselling author of The Perfect Couple

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All of the children were in line to inherit millions of dollars. But, would any of them kill their parents to hurry the process along?

From the very first chapter I was hooked into this story. Lapena wastes no time jumping into the nitty-gritty and it kept me guessing until the very end. Within a couple of months, her life has gone from happy contentment to a complete humiliating mess. And the only one who remains in her corner is her mum. Thank goodness she is there to support her. Or is she? The main character is Beth who’s mother walked out on her and her dad at 10. What unfolds is a story of a heinous childhood act, and an unraveling present. You know when Beths mother suddenly appears that something is amok, but how long will it go on before Beth figures it out. There are a few others who had a stake in the early demise of the Mertons, giving us plenty of suspects to choose from, and what was really unique was that almost ALL of them were women! My favorite character was of course Suhani. She’s the epitome of who I want to be. Up until recently I had actually not read or seen a lot of Indian women going into the field of medicine because they actually wanted to rather than their parents just telling them they should. Anyways, I felt like Suhani was a reflection of myself and her relationship with Natasha, her sister, definitely had some similarities to my sister and I’s relationship. Besides the wonderful cast of characters, I thought the writing style was easy to read without being juvenile which is an aspect that I was looking for in a South Asian adult fiction book. I found that many SA adult fiction books had characters or contained writing that came across as juvenile which is just difficult for me to relate to because of how I was raised and the independence I’ve had from an early age.This was a fun book to listen to on audio. The narrator was great, and I enjoyed the stories off all involved - not just the siblings. I put on my super sleuth hat- not easy to do while driving and tried to do some detective work of my own. Who could be the heartless killer? What could Fred and Sheila have done to evoke the ire of a killer? Quite a bit as it turns out - well Fred mainly as he was not ever going to win a "Dad of the year" award. In all honesty to start with Beth's relationships all seem a bit to perfect even with her ex husband and his girlfriend. So the fall out during the book is great to read. The Wishbones return home, and their circumstances change. Frank stands up for himself at work after putting a photo of their family adventure and the frozen Dracula on his desk, Max's bully has realised the error of his ways and befriends him, and Fay meets a nerd in a knight's costume at a costume party that Emma throws at home. Baba Yaga, Renfield, and the three bats crash the party. The family takes another photo together, showing their happiness.

Janet and Allan Ahlberg's Happy Families series is full of wonderful and funny books, perfect for children learning to read. This new, bigger, edition means that even younger children can enjoy the stories. Look out for Mr Biff the Boxer, too! Suhani, Natasha and Anuj are the American children of Indian immigrants Deepak, a psychiatrist like his oldest daughter Suhani, and Bina, a former Bollywood actress with a promising career cut short and a prominent member of her local Desi community in Atlanta, Georgia. The three children have all faced different pressures from different aspects of their parents and surrounding community. It’s been said there are four motives for murder: Lust, Love, Loathing, or Loot. There’s no shortage of the latter two here. There are no tears shed for Fred and Sheila, but plenty of anticipation and elation at the thought of the inheritance. I loved how the author dropped little secrets/bombshells throughout the book about the characters, that made me see each of them with new eyes. I've read quite a few Shari Lapena books now, and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them. I think I've finally figured out that I adore her mysteries (someone is killed and there are multiple suspects), while I don't like her domestic thrillers (husband or wife could be lying, so are they or aren't they). This mystery definitely goes onto my list of favorites from her.But the journey to get there was utterly addicting, kept me on my toes and had me feeling rather creepy at times, with some of what Beth was experiencing. Without giving much away, it is about a long lost mother who comes home to her daughter after many years of her being gone. Everything for Beth seems to be going so well with her mother being home. That is, until it’s not and Beth’s perfect little life begins to crumble around her.

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