This book was on but the story was just too familiar. If I hadnt read The Couple Next Door or The Accident, I might have liked this more. Decent read though.

Occasionally a mystery is just plain quirky enough to keep one's interest. That's the case with this flawed and unlikeable protagonist, a psychotherapist who is outstandingly narcissistic and dislikes his clients. When he uses a deep pocketed client to get a lease in an exclusive neighborhood, he ends up living next door to a most unusual and disturbing family as well as within eyeshot of his former client and his stunning girlfriend. Despite disliking all the characters, I found myself wondering what would happen next and who was murdered in the opening scene of the book.

Felt this was not particularly original very similar to couple next door but still a decent read and enjoyable perhaps l need a change of genre

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC of this book for review.
I read this book just after the Accident (the author's first book), and knew what to expect. The book was well written and I just had to see what weird stuff the characters think out!
Interesting and well done.

The first part of the story admittedly left me a little confused along the way. There seemed to be a lot of sort of cryptic information being thrown my way that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. But there is something immensely compelling about the author’s writing that urged me to keep on reading.

Connor is going to have to move his office to another building, and when his narcissistic patient shows him a pamphlet advertising a brilliant home where he can also set up his office, he jumps on it. However, when he moves in, he finds that his patient also lives in the neighborhood, in fact directly across from him, and that's when things start to go awry.

Everything Connor does seems to have a negative result from the minute he moves in. A selfless act of animal rescue is deemed an act of abuse on a child, and then it gets worse.

A truly twisty tale that reinforces the old saying, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is".

You don’t know where this book is going through it which is good. Felt for all the characters and never expected the ending. Recommend it

Wow! This book gets you hooked from page one. I could not put it down. I had to know what was happening. A thrill ride from start to finish. I would definitely read more from this author

Not enjoyable. I like my thrillers to actually keep me thinking during the time I’m not reading, I want to go through scenarios to try and solve it before finishing the book. This didn’t have that for me. The characters felt weakly written and not at all believable.

I am seriously in deep love with these suburban drama/suspense books. Can't get enough of seeing the secret lives of soccer moms these days. The Family at No. 13 is a thrilling and engaging story.

Conner's stress level is high. Not only does he have to find a new office, but he has to find a new place to live as well. Not an easy feet when you've been putting it off for weeks. If only Air BNB's weren't the new in thing that people wanted to capitalize on.

When he's handed a solution, Conner reluctantly accepts. He accepts knowing there could possibly be consequences, but he could never imagine how large consequences would turn out to be.

The story follow's Conner's move and reveals the inner workings of Mary's family. Showing long buried and denied secrets, bonds that have broken and a family that needs some serious therapy.

A great book for the beach or a lazy weekend at home.

A little drawn out but a pretty good read. Thanks to Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh, I really hate giving bad reviews, but wow, this was a bad book! The only reason it gets two and not one star is because I actually finished it, so there had to have been a tiny, remarkably elusive fragment of something intriguing. I don't want to harp on, but when giving a negative review, I have the need to explain why this did not work for me. I felt very quickly that the characters were all quite weird - which does not have to be a bad thing, I might add - but in this book weird translated as stiff and akin to terrible actors in a soap opera. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, the plot dragged on and on, and was remarkably unspectacular when the conclusion FINALLY arrived. To be honest, I found myself at the end thinking, why did I even finish this? But I did, and thus I feel I am entitled to an opinion, even if it is unfavorable. I wish I could have loved this and it had been as "gripping" as the title suggests, for me, however, it was a waste of time.

I quite enjoyed this book it was wacky bit strange but I gave it a chance and enjoyed it not my usual read but I kept going and found I enjoyed it thank you for letting me read it I will reread it also i would reccomed it to friends I like different peoples opinions on books like this so yes good one for me 😀😀

This sounded like it was going to be a very good book but I just couldn't get into it and gave up on it

I really wanted to enjoy The Family at Number 13, it sounded really good.
However I was bored, I tried to continue but after the first few chapters I had to give up and did not finish it.

Unfortunately this was not a book that I enjoyed reading. It really dragged on with no apparent direction for a long time. None of the characters were likable to me .I especially hated the cat scene. Which normally that doesn't matter if there is a strong story line. Since there was neither in my opinion, it was a long, tough read. I was excited to read this book but I personally did not care for it.
#TheFamilyatNumber13#NetGalley

EXCERPT: I just love these family get-togethers. So much shared history. So many happy memories. You're all such open books. No resentments. No secrets. All light and day. I love you both. I love being here. I can't for the life of me think why Mum hates you, Aunty Mary. And it seems Brona does too. Silly Brona - doesn't she know how to play this game?

ABOUT THIS BOOK: The most perfect lives can hide the darkest secrets…
Mary has everything. Beautiful and rich, she lives on an exclusive street in the heart of the city, in a house with gorgeous views and an immaculately maintained garden. Her life looks perfect.

But behind closed doors the truth is very different. Her husband Andrew barely speaks to her, spending his days down in the basement alone. Her teenage nephew is full of rage, lashing out with no warning. Her carefully constructed life is beginning to fall apart.

And then someone starts sending Mary anonymous notes, threatening her and her family…

Everyone has secrets. But is someone at number 13 hiding something that could put the whole family in danger?

MY THOUGHTS: After reading something like this, I thank God I never had sisters. S. D. Monaghan has captured the bitchy rivalry, the love hate relationship between these three sisters with an amazing accuracy. I recall seeing exactly these same dynamics, these same psychological games being played out between friends and their sisters and indeed they continue with them still, albeit on a more subtle level. But while these three may profess to hate one another, an emotion covered by the thin veneer of civility, there is still that belief, that hope, that deep down they still love one another and have one another's backs.

The fact that there are three sisters adds a whole nother dimension to the dynamics. For these three can never form an equilateral triangle, although each of them feels hard done by, resentful and/ or envious of the others and, at some point, left out. And each of them harbors a secret. Is it the same secret? Or is one secret somewhat deadlier than the others? A secret that just may drive one of them to the edge of insanity.

Add into this mix a supporting cast of less than reliable men with their own set of problems, including a highly intelligent but equally unstable teenager, and you have all the ingredients for a compelling page turner.

I liked this clever psychological-thriller. None of the characters are particularly likeable, captivating but definitely not likeable. Monaghan keeps the unpredictable plot moving along at a mostly good pace and throws in a few curve balls for good measure. I was never quite sure where this book was heading and there was enough mystery and suspense to keep me turning the pages late into the night.

Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Family at Number Thirteen by S. D. Monaghan for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This sounded like it was going to be a good psychological thriller unfortunately, it was just a very drawn out drama about a very psychologically damaged family. Not a winner for me.

'The family at Number 13' by S.D Monaghan had so much potential but left me disappointed and baffled.

My main issue is the main character Connor. For some reason he is the focus of the story but all the drama and excitement is happening elsewhere. His story and character didn't have any purpose or value to the story and instead irritated me as he just got in the way. I wish more time was spent on other characters traits and their backgrounds. If the story didn't involve Connor and included more detail about the others it would easily of been a 5 star read for me as the revelations and secrets of everyone else's lives were fascinating and shocking, unfortunately Connors character dragged the story down and made it messy and boring.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free ARC in return for an honest review. I will read S.D Monaghan again as I enjoyed aspects of 'The family at Number 13' but I would not recommend this novel.

I wanted a book which would grip me from the beginning to the end and distract me away from the realities of life but unfortunately, this book could not do the trick.

I picked up this book due to the cover; there is something so intriguing about it. This was one of the slow starts which showed the darker side of people, their actions and its after-effects .

The story goes thus, Connor a therapist finds a new home in an elite neighborhood and starts his practice from home, but his clients soon turn out to be one different than the next. The story is told in Connor and neighbour Mary's POV. There are other characters like the crazy nephew and the silent husband, all of them equally unlikable.

Every single character was described in such minute detail that they added nothing to the story but just diluted everything from the plot. The pace was so slow that the initial parts felt like the cryptic clues of the Sunday newspaper crossword. There was a lot of information which just added to the pages, not to the story.

I skimmed through the book till I reached the end. Done with it, no DNF so far for 2018

This book is for readers who like a slow burner of a dark drama.