Review: The Family Plot by Megan Collins

The Family Plot by Megan Collins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via Edelweiss, all opinions are my own.  This book comes out today August 17, 2021.  If you are looking for a light thriller without tons of twists, lacking gore and violence, check this out.  It doesn't have that ominous scare factor that many thrillers have, so if you are looking for a thriller that isn't scary check this one out.  I personally like something a much more atmospheric and with a lot more tension.  What thrillers have you been loving lately?  Leave me suggestions.

Dahlia has returned home to put her father to rest.  She left home at 19 and hasn't been back since.  You see Dahlia and her siblings were raised a bit unconventionally.  Their mother homeschooled them, but where most of us learned history the Lighthouse children learned everything about crime - murder to be specific.  Their mother made them learn every detail about specific murder cases, that coupled with living in a mansion on a secluded island made for an interesting upbringing.  Her twin brother and best friend Andy disappeared when they were 16, and everyone assumed he ran away to get away from the weirdness of their family.  Dahlia was heartbroken but she hoped he would come back, especially for their father's funeral.  Everything is thrown upside down when Andy's body is found in the plot reserved for the elder Lighthouse.  The story kind of takes off from here with each of the members of the family coping with the two death's in their own weird way.  Dahlia raised on how to solve a murder, is determined to figure out who killed her  beloved brother.  Being that this is a thriller/mystery I won't give you anymore than that because it will spoil the reveals.  

As far as the mystery/thriller part goes this wasn't particularly gruesome or scary.  I also wasn't really surprised by any of the reveals.  There were only so many suspects that could have been the killer despite the author trying to throw you off track here and there.  For me it wasn't filled with the twists and turns that I expect leading up to the "ah ha" moment.  

This was an interesting read for me.  I was engaged the entire time, but none of the characters are likeable and they are all so over the top.  I often found myself rolling my eyes at the interaction between characters because they were so unrealistic, then again I think the family was meant to be kind of ridiculous.  I am struggling with how to rate and review this book.  It lacked some of the key things I'm looking for in a thriller.  There is really not much character development and it lacked that ominous atmosphere that is usually present in a mystery/thriller.  The house was creepy and the actions of the siblings were over the top weird, but they lacked the depth of description needed to really build something haunting.  This felt almost more comedic than thrilling.  I didn't dislike this book, but it wasn't what I was expecting and doesn't check the boxes for things I look for in a thriller/mystery.

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