This book had me hooked from the first chapter. Lapena has such a way with words that constantly had me grasping for straws to figure out her next move.
Not a Happy Family was a very enjoyable read. There was mystery, suspense, lying (so many lies), and family drama (so much drama). I was always so eager to know more.
I was constantly guessing what would happen next and who would be the culprit but with every chapter, I became more unsure.
Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
Published July 27th, 2021
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Adult
Pages: 349
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 Merton. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons 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?
Spoiler-Free
After an Easter dinner with the family, the parents of the Merton family were found dead in their home. Having been murdered, all eyes were aimed at their three children: Catherine, Dan, and Jenna.
This story starts with the dinner and follows over the next few weeks as detectives try to discover just who killed the parents. However, with every passing day, the children get more nervous yet still deny their knowledge of what could have happened.
The thing that made this book so engaging? No one, and I mean no one, is telling the truth about anything.
Not the house cleaner, not Catherine, not Dan, not Jenna, not the aunt, absolutely no one is completely honest.
I learned this early on which only made my guesses on who the killer is all the more confusing. Being unable to believe anyone meant that no one was innocent.
Lapena’s writing, as I mentioned, had me hooked from the beginning. Her ability to give just a bite but then snatch the plate when I went for more is amazing. There is just enough info about the murder to keep you wondering but not enough to have you convinced.
Catherine’s hunger to get the family home; Dan’s desperation to get out of debt; Jenna’s long-burning rage, all of them had something to gain in the death of their filthy rich parents. Just as we’re convinced it is one person, Lapena tells us that someone else isn’t where they claimed they were or that there was something else to be gained from the murder that we didn’t know before. I couldn’t get enough.
I love mysteries and Not a Happy Family definitely checked off most of the boxes on my list.
Most.
As much as I have gone on about how much I loved this book, there are reasons I couldn’t give it 5 stars.
The main thing that caught my attention was the constant repetition of cliché murder mystery plots. It seemed like every chapter or so I was reading lines like these:
“I don’t trust them”
“They will pay”
“Nothing you need to know”
These lines specifically didn’t repeat but the repetition of the stereotypical murder mystery lines got annoying. For example, after the introduction of Audrey, the aunt of the children, it seemed she was constantly saying “I don’t trust them” and “One of them did it” in every chapter that she appeared in.
I found that boring.
One more thing that made this a 4-star read for me: the once again cliché ending. Unfortunately, I can’t go into too much detail about this without spoiling (continue reading at your own discretion for more). However, I can say that if you are a mystery fan like myself, guess three possibilities for the ending and I can guarantee it is one of your three guesses.
Given, I didn’t assume the ending right away, but even once I learned who committed the murders I still felt unsatisfied. No big plot twist, no big drop, nothing spectacular.
But of course, this is just my opinion.
Spoilers
Let me remind you that I didn’t guess the ending. I kept assuming it was all these extra characters when it was the most obvious person: Jenna.
Lapena doesn’t talk about Jenna as much as Dan and Catherine, but Irena and Audrey come off as more suspicious. Of course, the most obvious person ended up being the killer.
In typical mystery plot scenarios, it will be the maid. I suspected it to be Irena until I read that she wasn’t home during the murders. Then, I suspected Audrey because of the insinuation that she poisoned herself that the detective made. I thought maybe she had a condition like a split personality that made her both love her brother and hate him for what he put her through as children.
Given Lapena’s use of clichés as I pointed out earlier, I should have guessed Jenna. However, it was a pleasant surprise to find it was her.
What wasn’t pleasant?
The ending didn’t feel like enough. As I started to go into the spoiler-free section, there was no big drop. Jenna’s DNA is found in the car, she denies her involvement to the police and her family, and that’s it?
I am not particular about cliffhangers or whether a book has a definite ending but this just seemed incomplete to me.
As for the epilogue, I wasn’t crazy about that either. However, I credit that less to the writing in the chapter itself and more to the way Audrey had been painted the entire book: nosy and annoying. I think if the ending were more sudden and even a bit jaw-dropping, I would have enjoyed the epilogue.
I know all I have been doing in this section is putting the book down but despite what I have said, I did enjoy this book.
Not a Happy Family as I said checked off most of my mystery checkboxes. There are plenty of moments when I was too stunned to speak such as when Ted discovered Catherine lied about what happened:
“But what he can’t understand is how she was able to come home that night and climb into bed beside him and whisper, “Everything’s fine”…”
My trust in Catherine? Eviscerated.
Lapena did an amazing job of making me distrust everyone which I must give her props for.
Final Thoughts
If you love drama with a slice of murder, you’ll want to pick up Not a Happy Family.
There was always something new which made for a fun reading experience and an impossible book to put down.
Absolutely no one was completely innocent and I was constantly changing my mind on who killed Mr and Mrs Merton. Everyone had something to gain from their deaths but who was crazy enough to make the move?
Regardless of my cons, Not a Happy Family was a wonderful book that had me intrigued with every chapter.
I recommend this book if you are trying to jump into the mystery genre and want a light, easy-to-read book.
