We sometimes (sort of jokingly but also sort of not) say in my immediate family that we only get together with the extended family when there is a wedding or when there is a funeral. Big life events bring people together, and it is the passing of their mother (Laura) that brings the siblings in this novel back into each other’s orbits. And once they are back in each other’s lives, old tensions start to rise, exacerbated by the little fact that, oh yeah, their parents may have murdered someone.
You have the oldest sibling, Beth, who is the one who is sort of holding down the fort at home. She’s never escaped the sibling’s hometown of Allen’s Grove, Wisconsin, and she’s not happy about it. She’s also not happy that she’s the one who has been taking care of Laura solo as she succumbs to cancer. Then there is Nicole, she’s an addict and while she stayed in the sibling’s hometown, she’s been missing from Beth and their mother’s life due to her addiction. Coming back into town is the brother Michael who has gone off to become wealthy, which is far from the sibling’s humble beginnings. Missing from the family for the last seven years is their father, Brian. He vanished, leaving a hole in the family unit that has never been patched up. Or did he….?
Did Brian vanish that is, on her death bed Laura tells Beth that her father did not run away, and passed away before warning her not to trust. But she passes on before she gets a chance to finish and say who or what not to trust. All of that would be enough for a juicy family drama, but oh wait – there is more! While going through the items in the house, the siblings take a trip down memory lane with some home movies. It’s all fun and nostalgia-tinted as the kids pull out some home movies and then stumble across footage of their parents taking care of a body.
First off, a killer hook and cover for this book (seriously, shout out to the people who designed the cover). I love mysteries and family drama, so I was excited to read a story where they came together like this. I enjoyed that we got perspectives from the siblings and their mom as the story unfolded, as everyone had different takes on the narrative. I felt sympathy for Nicole and her issues because we were in her head for part of the story, so her struggles felt real, for example.
I overall enjoyed the family dynamics part of this, the parts around grief and grieving the loss of their mother resonated with me. The mystery, however …. It felt really telegraphed to me. Like … really obvious. And I guess since I saw where things were going it felt like at the end things were getting teased out so slowly. I got a bit impatient, not going to lie, and was having that experience of mentally yelling at the characters to put it together.
I’d say that this is a family drama with murder, but the murder is kind of a side on a larger story about grief, and being stuck. Being stuck mentally or physically in a place, and you know, needing a murder investigation to kick you into the next phase of your life.
