The best way to catch a killer? Offer yourself as bait. Becky Morgan’s family were the victims of the ‘crimes of the decade’. The lone survivor of a ritualistic killing, Becky’s been forever haunted by the memories of that night. Twenty years later, with the killer never found, Becky is ready to hunt them down and exact revenge. But the path to find the murderer is a slippery slope and she finds … is a slippery slope and she finds herself opening up some old wounds that should have been left sealed.
Will Becky avenge her family or join them?
Praise for The Family:
‘A tour de force of a thriller! I absolutely loved this heart-stopping, spine-tingling novel that had me completely and utterly gripped throughout. And hats off for scaring me silly!’ Amazon Reviewer.
‘This book is a must read for fans of dark, psychological thrillers, very cleverly written with some great shockers and I had no idea how it would end – I wasn’t disappointed’ Amazon Reviewer.
‘This was a fast-paced murder thriller that kept me turning the pages late into the night. It was intelligent and slick with just the right amount of blood and gore’ Amazon Reviewer.
‘It’s always something of a risk trying a new author, but I was really glad I did … I did not see the plot twist coming, and it was very surprising’ Amazon Reviewer.
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/ 5
What the HECK did I just read?! The Family by P.R. Black totally blew me away and I wasn’t even expecting it.
What it’s about: Becky Morgan has had a rough, to say the least, life; the lone survivor of the brutal murder of her family, it is twenty years later, and the killer still hasn’t been caught. Sick of living in fear, Becky decides to start her own hunt for the killer using some less than legal measures to do so. As she digs into murders of families that appear to be connected to her own family’s murder, she’s about to uncover a whole lot more than she bargained for. Will she be able to catch the killer before he catches her?
I want to say right off the bat that this book is GRUESOME. There are some violent scenes that are sure to give you nightmares if you are that type of person. At the very least it is going to have you looking over your shoulder at night when you’re alone. This isn’t Karin Slaughter type of gore either, this is like a slasher movie. I would say it would make a supremely scary movie! It is very dark, and very disturbing so consider yourself warned.
I couldn’t really connect to Becky but being able to visualize her struggle with life after seeing her family murdered in front of her is something else entirely. I couldn’t understand all of the choices she was making, but I could definitely understand some of them. She is a bit of a badass with a sassy mouth and I really liked that about her.
The Family is definitely a book I would consider action-packed, and it gave me chills quite often, but especially when I got towards the end. The end is especially nasty, and I had a hard time reading through it all. It completely surprised me as well, and I would say this is one of those books that will have plenty of twists readers won’t see coming. I was at a 4 rating in my head for the majority of the book, but the big twists and the end pushed it all the way up to a 5 for me.
Song it brought to mind: Take Me to Church by Hozier (don’t ask me why!)
Final Thought: Even though there is a ton going on, I ended up reading this novel pretty slowly and it took me almost 6 hours to read around 350 pages. I will chalk this up to the content I was reading, and how disturbing the story is. If you are a fan of gory mysteries with disturbing themes, you are going to have to put The Family at the top of your list. I don’t even know what kind of imagination you need to have to write this shit, and I cannot FREAKING WAIT to read more from P. R. Black.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I thought it would be good, but man, it really pulled me in. It involves Becky, the sole survivor of her family’s horrible ritualistic killings. Now a journalist, she’s taking time off at the twentieth anniversary of the crime to travel and hunt for the killer who destroyed her family and who has eluded the authorities for so long. She suspects he has killed others and has escaped justice because he is well-connected to high-ranking authorities who cover his tracks.
The story can get pretty gory but somehow it works fine with the narrative and doesn’t feel like it’s written purely to shock or exploit. The characters are well-developed and realistic even though Becky can come across a little too ‘Look at what a badass I am’ sometimes. There’s a lot of detail involving hacking and the dark web and for me personally, those parts could get a little hard to follow. There are good twists right up until the very end that should delight even the most seasoned mystery lover. Definitely not a book to miss!