I liked this book. It was more than your usual domestic psychological thriller. There wasn't a whole lot of suspense or mystery but there were certainly a lot of secrets. I'm sure that every character had some kind of secret.
Mary, I can't be sure if I actually liked her or not. I think she was a decent person or at least trying to be but she never quite elicited any sympathy. Connor, I really didn't like him at all. These are the two main characters, at least in the synopsis, but I think the other characters were equally as important to the story.
The first chapter reels you in with a murder, you just don't know who was murdered or who did it. The rest of the story is a bit weird but in a good way. The characters are all a bit over the top but somehow it all fits the plot.
While not the best book I've read in a while, it wasn't the worst and it was the kind of book you want to keep reading.

This book was completely different to what a I have ever read. You have an idea in your head about a book from page one but this book changed so much throughout. A poor boy with disabilities looked after by his Aunt. A murder, who did it? A new neighbour with a history and a counsellor, The story reaches a climax but did everyone make the right decision? Please be a saga.

Here’s another thriller that looks like its going to be a gripping read. The Family a No. 13 by S.D. Monaghan

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?

The premise seems intriguing and this looks like the kind of book that I sit down to read and completely get lost in!

This was one of the rare books which I struggled to get through. While the end brought things together, the book itself did not keep my attention.

If I wanted to describe this book by one word it would be 'messy' and perhaps over complicated. Would still read this author because there were elements which worked but for some reason this book did not work for me.

I don't know how to describe this book. It's about a family with secrets, but there are a lot of small stories tangled up together. I enjoyed it as I was reading, but at the end, I wasn't really sure how I felt. As I try to write a brief summary, I find myself wondering what the point of certain aspects of the story was. I am just going to give this one 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 because I did enjoy it to a point. I know this not a great review and gives no real overview of the book, but I'm having trouble summarizing it.

This was a good book. It held my attention all the way through. It’s my first bybtgia author and definitely not my last !

Thank you for providing me with this book to read. Unfortunately- this wasn't for me. Felt all over the place and I couldn't get my head around the story

I enjoyed The Accident enormously. The beginning of the book made me believe it was going to be another winner but nothing much seemed to happen after that managed to focus my interest. There was a motley crew of characters who seemed an odd bunch to me and I didn't connect well with them. To be fair I became thoroughly confused in the end. Worst of all it was slow and verbose for me. There were some interesting issues aired and that got me interested for a while. I hate giving such a poor review as I know books take a lot of writing so I do apologise. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

There’s a lot of information being presented all at once. Most of this information is dumped very early on. This is a character driven story regarding the tenants who live at St Catherine’s Hill. I found most of these characters exhibited odd behaviors but nothing that lead me to believe they were dangerous or threatening. It was challenging to sort through these characters trying to decipher which to focus on.

I couldn’t find my groove with this storyline. I had no connection with any of these characters. Nothing stood out as it was information overload. To top it off, the author continues to add layers to characters who aren’t even remotely developed, just random descriptions and actions with no reasonable explanations for the behaviors taking place.

I took a chance on a new author based on the book cover, title, and genre yet it didn’t live up to my expectations for a gripping psychological thriller. Delivered in three parts with very little happening in part one, to build to this supposed gripping tale was not thrilling. Part two exposes some odd behavioral activity at the St Catherine’s Hill but nothing to create the thrilling edge that draws me in. Finally part three is where it all unfolds. I’m glad to get answers but I still wasn’t thrilled by the results.

Mary and Connor alternate points of view. I wish this aided in my understanding but it didn’t, Mary and Connor are neighbors. The fact that Connor is a therapist is irrelevant. The fact that he is sharing his point of view confused me.
Everything that had been built within the three days prior to this event was anticlimactic. I wasn’t hooked. I wasn’t shocked. I kind of figured out Mary’s secret or I should say I suspected her secret. There really was too much chaos in this story to filter out the purpose of most of these characters. Most characters were a ploy to distract the reader. I’m still not sure why Connor had his own point of view. His character was nothing but trickery.
It’s hard to say if it was written well considering I chose to skim most of the story. It became a chore to read in some areas. Some information didn’t lead to anything relevant. I didn’t fly through these pages like I wish I had. It was mediocre.

Oh, this is quite a messy book.

There are info dumps and every single character – every last one of them – has so much chaos going on in their lives that it gets thoroughly confusing. Even random neighbors who have little to do with anything seem to have chaos and drama.

Imagine one of those Who’s Your Daddy talk shows where everyone is yelling and throwing things and acting completely trashy. Now, take it out of the sound stage and into some houses and…welcome to the neighborhood!

Not all of the drama is logical. I’m still confused why one particular character made a certain decision. Just for the drama of it?

By the end of the book, I was very confused, very sad, and just a bit dizzy.

No, I didn’t really like this one. I read it. I finished it. But I did not like it.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* I wanted to like this. I really did. It had all of the hallmarks of a novel that I would like - thriller, intrigue, set in Ireland... but I just couldn't like it. The characters were all unlikable and the events were just too unlikely to be believable. I did persevere until the end of the novel, where there were a few interesting twists and reveals, but not enough to redeem the novel in my eyes. The book may appeal to other readers, so please don't be put off by my less than rave review.

I love Bookouture and all of their books, but unfortunately I just couldn't get into this one. :(

I enjoyed this book, because I'm a nosy person, but I admit it wasn't my favorite. It grabbed you in the beginning, but slowly seemed to lose its force, which made it rather slow to read after those beginning chapters. I still thought it was well developed and great to read about the people behind door number 13. I will be looking up her other books!

I found the books to have quite a lot going on which made it difficult to follow. I think Connor particularly as a character was a little to busy for my attention and I found myself glossing over parts of the story and missing information.
I did almost guess the twist but not completely and found the latter part of the book more enjoyable than the beginning.

Voyeurs and the watched, but who's watching who on these houses that back onto each other in a gardened square? There's at least one psychopath in the mix, but other secrets come to the fore in this gripping tale. It's a tense tale of murder and relationships. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors and only when things reach a crescendo do we find out the family secret that has been simmering and gaining strength for years. When a new resident arrives all eyes turn to him and when things appear to be calming down after a nuclear fallout and killing we find out a new resident is ready to move in, clean the lenses on your binoculars ~ a new chapter is about to begin.

See link to goodreads review

This book kept me up at night because, not only was it difficult to put down but it gave e the creeps! This book sucks you in from the beginning and keeps you wanting more then suddenly the action stalls leaving you wondering what is going on!. I know this sounds confusing but I have mixed feelings about this. First part was great and suspenseful then slows down some.

I was given this book from Net Galley with a promise of and honest review. So here is my review.
I started out liking this book at the beginning. I made me curious and I was so looking forward in reading it. I like how it started out, but then it went down hill. I felt there was a lot of analysing and psychology which I found my self not relating to the characters in the book. I also found that there were unnecessarily long chapters that seemed to drag on and I felt didn't relate. This book is divided into three parts, I have to say that part three was my favorite. I wish I could have gave a better review, but I just couldn't get in to this.

I enjoyed S.D. Monaghan's debut novel The Accident and looked forward to reading The Family at Number 13.

I love the nosy curtain-twitching of neighbourhood thrillers - as the old adage goes you never know what goes on behind closed doors.
The first chapter opens with a dead body and it would be easy to assume it would be an average whodunnit, but how wrong I was. The rich story was so all-consuming that I almost forgot about the crescendo I was hurtling towards chapter by chapter, until the final twist!

The story is about families.
The story is about relationships and marriages.
The story is about neighbours.
The story is about difficult teenagers.
The story is about ambition.
Above all, the story is about the complexity of people living in close proximity to others.

I lost counts of clever, subtle twists. It was a joy to spend time with the multi-faceted residents of St Catherine's Hill. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of The Family at Number 13 in exchange for my honest review.

What a weird read. I was overjoyed to get to the last page. There were many times that I almost gave up on this one. I don't recommend this book at all.