The Family

The Family by Louise Jensen is a suspense mystery that got on my TBR after I’d read another of the author’s books. I enjoy everything she’s written and I’m focused on reading all her past books by the end of this year, so that I’m ready for her 2022 release. I have two left, and if they’re anything like this one, it’ll turn out quite strong in the end.

Laura’s husband dies on the construction site. His brother sells their business. They each had a daughter, and both girls struggle to deal with the consequences while in high school. One of the homes the brothers built was on land that had potentially caused another girl to get sick. Was the accident really something more sinister? Laura loses everything after her husband’s death, and she’s forced to move into a commune to survive. She’s sick herself, and Tilly, her daughter, is constantly humiliated at school. As the days progress, we learn more about who really knew what was going on, and it’s a holy mess!

At first, the story was a slow build and good, but not super interesting… I’ve read several of these commune/cult books and after a few, they can get a bit boring. Halfway thru, the plot thickened… and it became clear there were way more hidden secrets than we’d been led to believe. The writing was strong, the characters well developed, and things really took off. At that point, I couldn’t stop reading the book. My only real frustration was that as bad as things were with Laura’s life, I think she should’ve recognized something was wrong with the commune from the beginning. That said, she was blindsided by two facts that were never part of the original story — and that made up for it! Definitely looking forward to reading more by Jensen. She has a masterful way of linking points in the end, and even though there are way too many flawed characters (as human nature is), it is a work of fiction and it does its job rather well on the whole.

This was a good psychological. Laura has just lost her husband to a horrible death, and both her and their daughter are grieving. She is not sure how to move forward and with lawsuits looming and her business failing she has no idea how she will be able to continue to support her and Tilly. An unexpected offer comes her way, and even though something in her gut is warning her, she pushed it aside and decides to take the help that’s offered.

Laura and Tilly head out to Oak Leaf Organics just to see what it is like. This is a place of refuge for those who need help getting back on their feet and need a place to stay for a while. All that is asked is that they help chip in with chores around the house, meals and farming and they can live there essentially rent free and no questions asked for however long is needed. Laura also finds that Alex, the one who runs the place used to dabble in law and is willing to help her with the lawsuit and all that comes with insurance payout and settlements with the death of a loved one.

It seems too good to be true, and yet things seem off. Tilly seems happy for once though. She doesn’t mind the hard work, has settled in well with the others and seems to laugh once in a while again, maybe Laura is just reading into things a bit. But as the time progresses more and more strange things keep happening and even though there is a valid excuse for each Laura knows that something is not right about this place, and possibly these people.

Each time Laura convinces herself that her and Tilly are going to leave and figure out how to make it, it seems something comes up that either changes her mind or blocks her ability to leave. What is really going on here, and can they get out?

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the free book. This was a good psychological and you just never knew what was going on, and how was doing what. Told from mother and daughter perspective it was interesting to see how each one interrupted situations and events that were happening.

Couldn’t put it down!!

Laura was just 17 years old when she became pregnant with her daughter, Tilly. As The Family opens, Laura is mourning her husband, Gavan, and awaiting the conclusion of the coroner’s inquest into his tragic death. Before he died, there had been scandal and stress because he and his brother, Iwan, formed a construction company and built homes on a former landfill site. Ashleigh, one of Tilly’s classmates, was diagnosed with leukemia after he parents purchased and moved into one of the homes. They blamed Gavan and Iwan for Ashleigh’s illness. Now the rent is due on both the home in which she and Gavan raised Laura, and her flower shop. But Laura has no way to pay it until she receives the proceeds of Gavan’s life insurance policy. The company, however, refuses to pay until she can provide a conclusive, not provisional, death certificate and the coroner’s inquest is still months away.

Through Laura’s first-person narrative, Jensen convincingly conveys Laura’s despair and desperation, and her chance meeting in her shop with a young woman named Saffron, a member of a local community known as Oak Leaf Farm that sells organic vegetables. “Three is a power number, although I didn’t know that at the time, I came to learn it later. . . . It took three decisions to destroy my life,” Laura laments. Saffron explains that Alex is a former attorney and would be willing to help Laura pro bono since Laura has no funds with which to retain counsel.

What begins as a consultation and tour turns into a full-time residency. In exchange for living in the farmhouse, Laura and Tilly work alongside Hazel, an older woman who took up residence after leaving behind an allegedly abusive husband and children who sided with him, and Olivia, an idealistic young woman. Tilly notices that they dress only in white and soon adopts their dress code, leaving behind her dark eyeliner and colorful, mismatched clothing.

Laura’s desperation, gullibility, and naivete are required for the storyline to work, but in Jensen’s capable hands, it does. Laura gradually recounts the tragic history that led her to Oak Leaf Farm, including being disowned by her parents when she was just 17 years old, how she met Gavan, and a medical condition that complicates things. Her explanations reveal that her predicament is understandable. Describing the little kindnesses that exemplified her relationship with Gavan, she notes: “The big thing, the truth, was that he saved me all those years ago after my parents cast me adrift. He’s be heartbroken to know that I was once again drowning, but this time it was his fault. . . . I had to save myself, save Tilly But how? So much was broken, I didn’t know where to start.”

When Laura arrives at the farm, she dreams of the ways she will use Gavan’s life insurance proceeds to get her life and Tilly’s back on track away from Oak Leaf Farm. But she believes Alex when he relays developments and delays in the case and authorizes him, as her representative, to act on her behalf.

As time passes, Laura finds herself drawn to Alex . . . but Tilly is thoroughly enchanted by him. Suspicious events, including the death of a young visitor to the farm, and foreboding messages meant for Laura cause her to rightly be increasingly skeptical about Alex’s motives. It slowly becomes clear to Laura that Oak Leaf Farm is a kind of cult that she and Tilly will never be permitted to leave of their own accord.

The Family is a skillfully crafted, slow burning thriller about vulnerability and loss, the longing for family, and the power of secrets and lies. Despite her flaws, Laura is likeable and empathetic, her devotion to her only child completely relatable. Their mother-daughter relationship is believably fraught and complicated, more so because of the secrets both are withholding from the other. As Jensen reveals details about Laura’s past, events begin unfolding at the farm at an accelerating pace. The story is full of unexpected twists and secrets, and as they are unveiled they propel the action forward to a frantic, life-and-death climax. When Jensen finally divulges how the characters are interconnected, it all makes perfect sense and showcases the uniquely clever story she has constructed.

The Family is a creepy, engrossing, and thoroughly satisfying thriller that keeps readers guessing right up to its bone-chilling conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.

Dark, suspenseful, and unnerving!

The Family is a creepy, engrossing tale that takes you into the lives of Laura, a widowed mother, and Tilly her seventeen-year-old daughter as they each grapple with grief, community whispers, financial insecurity, and a new home on the Oak Leaf Organics commune where things may not be quite as they first appeared and danger might lurk around every corner.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are vulnerable, secretive, and troubled. And the plot told from differing perspectives unravels quickly into a gripping tale full of twists, turns, shocking revelations, familial drama, lies, deception, instability, obsession, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Family is another sinister, entertaining, character-driven thriller by Jensen that does a wonderful job of combining the isolating atmosphere of commune living with unsavoury characters, poor choices, and eerie motivations.

Too much new and coincidental information disclosed at the end to make very strained “twists” – this was not appreciated as the author did not play fair. Not very likeable characters.