How far would you go to protect the ones you love? The Sandell family is facing a situation that they never in their wildest imaginations thought would happen to them. Eighteen-year-old Stella has been charged with brutally murdering a man almost fifteen years older than her. Stella claims not to know what happened, but her parents don’t know what to believe.

Stella’s father, a pastor, embarks in his own investigative process by following every move the lead detective takes and even going so far as to reach out to a few persons of interest himself. Stella’s mother, a criminal defense attorney is working to get Stella the best representation available, while struggling with a moral compass that leads her to question Stella’s innocence. How well do you know your children? What would you do if they were charged with murder?

M.T. Edvardsson has blown me away with A NEARLY NORMAL FAMILY! I walked into this book expecting a legal thriller, which for all genre picking purposes, it certainly fits. What I found was so much more! This book is broken down into three parts: the father, the daughter, and the mother. The reader walks through the current situation with the father, the events of the night in question and those days leading up to it with the daughter, and ends with the mother leading us through the court case. I absolutely adored this breakdown! I was able to sympathize with each member of the Sandell family, while piecing together the events of what was happening present day, as well as the night of the murder.

The Sandell family serves as not only the narrators, but also the basis to the story, so the reader is able to intimately bond with all three of the family members and see the situation from all sides. I really enjoyed the order in which Edvardsson chose to introduce us to the family and the perspectives we were told from each. I would easily pick Stella as my favorite character and section of the story, simply for how real she seemed as a person. There was nothing hidden about Stella. Did she hide herself from her parents? Yes, but once the reader was inside her mind, you truly got to understand what made her tick.

The plot to this book as a whole is filled with suspenseful moments. There are tense situations from each family member, where the reader is put in a place of not only wanting to know what will happen, but also wondering what they would have done in that person’s shoes. I can’t imagine being any member of the Sandell family and having to go through this situation. There is also an overwhelming element of distrust to the story. The reader can’t fully believe what the narrators are telling them, but there is truth to everyone’s story, it just needs to be drawn out. To make matters more complicated, it seems that everyone surrounding the Sandell family is hiding something as well.

A NEARLY NORMAL FAMILY is a book focused on a realistic scenario that will make the reader think about their morals and compare themselves to those involved. Would you have done what the Sandell family did? You’ll have to read this one to find out!

This is being marketed as an intense legal thriller and I don’t agree with that at all, in fact I don’t think it’s a thriller in any way. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, but knowing that instead of a super tense and fast paced thriller it’s actually a slow burning domestic drama will enable you to go into the read with the right expectations and hopefully, help you really enjoy this read because it is a good one!

This whole thing was unique, it’s broken up into three sections, it begins when you hear from the father of the family and stays with him until part two which is the daughter, and then part three is the mother. I enjoyed both the mother and daughters sections the most, the fathers wasn’t bad or anything, but it was the slowest of the three for me.

This was a very emotional sort of drama, which coupled with the crisp Scandi writing style gave it a wholly original feel. You’re witnessing a family unit at their very worst, everything in their life is crumbling and seeing each point of view separately instead of the ever popular alternating chapters was not only clever, but also a strong way to tell the story, and one that’s memorable for sure. Recommended when you’re in the mood for a story that you can sink your teeth into, and also if you are just in the mood for something different.

A Nearly Normal Family in three words: Unusual, Smart and Methodical

Loved this book! It’s a must read that will leave you up thru the night! I put it down many times only to pick it back up because I had to know more!

Had I not gotten past the first section of this book, I would have given a very different review. This is written in three parts: the first from the father's perspective, the second from the daughter's, and the third from the mother's.

We begin with the father. A priest, he seems to believe himself morally superior just because he has outgrown (groan) his atheism. We find out about the murder and his daughter's initial arrest through his eyes. His unreliable, self-righteous, overzealous, religious eyes. I found myself wanting to skim through large portions of his narrative and just figure out what was going on. It was awkward and I though that might be because of the translation, but the awkwardness diminished a great deal in later parts. The father seemed to have absolutely no idea what was going on at any time. At least, that is the impression he wanted others, and us, to have as we read. He made terrible decisions and had to ask about legal terms even I could figure out and I know 0 about the Swedish legal system.

Next we get to the daughter's perspective. She becomes a little more understandable. A little disturbed and trouble, and also unreliable as a narrator in this section, we see the other side to some of the interactions with her father and the stories behind some of what we learn about her. She still often behaved like an entitled brat, but other actions become much more clear and understandable. We feel for this 17 year old who thought it was a good idea to get into a relationship with a man almost twice her age.

Finally, we get to the mother's story. Mom helps bring it all together. She tells us what she saw between her husband and daughter from the outside. But we know that she, too, is hiding something from us. At least she is honest about it. We don't really know the whole story until the Epilogue. By then we start to make some guesses.

Overall, translation issues aside, this was an interesting look into the legal system in Sweden and what seems to be a worldwide mistreatment and misunderstanding of our young women. Every woman or girl in this novel is trying to either live up to or shatter the expectations of her. And everyone around her, including other women, are constantly judging her and trying to push her back into her little box. The result is a lot of pain and not a lot of support or real help. There is some, especially in the end, but it takes desperate times before that happens.

I think Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I'm gonna read at the end of the world.

I like a good thriller, especially a legal one, so I was excited when I received an advance reader copy of A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson (translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles). It’s set in a small-ish city in Sweden and tells the story of a teenage girl accused of murder, and we see the story unfold from the father’s point of view first, then the teenager’s, then her mother’s.

It was a reasonable read, but I found the pacing slower than I would have liked and the story to be a little too predictable. I was hoping for a dramatic twist, but it ended exactly how I thought it was going to, which was a little disappointing. Once you get through the father’s account, which is the first third of the book, it picks up a little.

I felt so many things as I read A Nearly Normal Family. The parents of eighteen year old Stella are professionals, with dad Adam being a well respected pastor and mom Ulrika being an attorney. Stella has always been her own person, more likely to rebel against what she is told or is expected of her than to do the right thing. Over the years, as Stella has acted out and rebelled, her parents have tended to make excuses for her or play down her misdeeds, rather than trying to reel in Stella's bad behavior. At some point, the entire family attends counseling and therapy and at times doing so seems to help although each family member thought it was too invasive.

The book starts with a murder trial, with Stella being accused of murdering a 32 year old man. The book is divided into three parts with each part being from the point of view of Adam, Stella, and Ulrika. As upright and moral as both Adam and Ulrika seem to be, we learn where they made allowances, failed to act when they should have acted, and minimized, in their minds, actions that they took for appearances sake, for keeping up their high reputations. It becomes clear that things they did or did not do, over the last twenty five years, helped to lead up to this moment of Stella being on trial for murder.

This is a very slow moving character study type of story and I enjoyed it very much. I'd say my least favorite part was at the end, when we find out all the nitty gritty behind the scenes of what happened during and after the man was murdered. Everyone had a part to play and everyone has secrets and lies that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?

I loved this mystery! It was full of family and legal drama that keeps you guessing until the end.

This book has a lot of hype- I am seeing it everywhere! And for once, I was not disappointed. This is a knock-out debut novel, perfect for readers of suspense, family drama and Swedish noir. The tone reminded me of The Dinner and some of the questions at the heart are similar- how far will you go to protect your child?

The novel is told in three parts- Adam's perspective, Stella's story and Ulrika's POV. Adam is just the worst. Annoying, self-righteous, needy... and an extremely well-written character. I found Stella and Ulrika's stories the most compelling. Is Stella a reliable narrator or do we think this because we heard Adam's story first? Is Ulrika as distant as both her family members seem to think? The layering of each family member's recollections of the night in question and their relationships with each other added so much to the mystery and my enjoyment of the novel.

This is a fast-moving book that kept me riveted from start to finish. I highly recommend it to all suspense and family drama fans.

Thank you to #Netgalley, #Celadon and the author for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Is any family ever considered normal? Or are we all just a web of lies waiting for the fly to drop?

A Nearly Normal Family had a very twisty, tangled family secret that each member was fighting to protect in their own way. But was it even their secret they were protecting? Told from three different points of view (Stella, Adam and Ulrika), M.T. Edvardsson takes us through events surrounding, what seems like, an out of the blue cold blooded murder. And who is charged? None other than, Stella, the precious daughter of the seemingly perfect Sandell Family. As the time is ticking toward a conviction, Stella's family and best friend must fight to uncover the true events of that night in hopes to save Stella. Or is the punishment justified? Will these web of lies help to save her or seal her fate?

I absolutely loved this book. It was a quick read and kept you on the edge of your seat the whole journey. This book reminded me an episode of Law & Order: SVU.
Trigger Warning for rape and murder.

Thank you for the ARC copy NetGalley and Celadon Books in exchange for honest review!

I can't decide what I think about this book. The title was apt, since it is really more about family dynamics than police procedure or courtroom strategy (although both play a role).

The 18-year-old daughter of a Swedish pastor and his attorney wife is charged with murder at the outset. This serves as one of those catalyzing events that reveals to all -- the characters and the reader -- what has been going on within the family all along.

So far, so good. The author uses three points of view - the father's, the daughter's and the mother's --to further these revelations. Here is where it started to break down. A LOT of repetition between the sections came off as patronizing and insulting to the readers' intelligence.

If I had been more invested in the book, I would have gone back and done a word-for-word comparison between how the father described a memory and how his wife and daughter did so. We EXPECT contrast among their perceptions (it's what POV is all about), but redundancy is just boring and puzzling.

Also, it felt really long. There were great, suspenseful moments, but it seemed to me they were widely separated. Perhaps if I could read it in the original, there would have been a smooth flow. Alas, I am dependent on translation.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance reader's copy.

I REALLY wanted to love this one after all the raving reviews I've seen for this. Unfortunately, this book just didn't work out the way that I had hoped.

I can see why this slow building legal thrillers has gained lots of hype and to be honest I didn't see the ending coming but the translation piece here was a bit choppy for me.

I would definitely recommend to my court room drama fans, family relationships and dysfunction, and suspense thrillers.

I found this book to be a bit repetitive for my liking and its just was a tad annoying for me. I feel like I never truly connected with the storyline or the characters. I of course am in the minority here once again but what can I say? I wasn't that impressed!

Yes.. there was a big buildup but ehhhh just kinda lost me here in my interest.

3 stars for me on this one

Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 6/25/19
Published to GR: 6/23/19

There is no such thing as justice - in or out of the court.

3.5 nearly normal stars!

An intensely slow-burning Swedish noir about the Sandells...a nearly (but not quite) normal family, dealing with the catastrophic repercussions following the murder of a wealthy, local businessman. The alleged perpetrator? Stella Sandell, the 18 year old daughter of Adam (a pastor), and Ulrika (an attorney).

Told from the perspectives of each family member, none of whom agree about anything that fateful night, at it's heart, A Nearly Normal Family is an engrossing family drama. How far would you go to protect your child?

The book begins with a very dry, almost monotone version of their lives from Adam; then morphs into an angsty, anger-fueled retelling by the mercurial Stella; and finally, closes with an introspective, and surprising, glimpse from Ulrika. This is literally a story which contains a little something for everyone...murder, mystery, sex, drugs, religion, politics, morals, and a climatic courtroom conclusion.

Unlike most of the other reviews I've read...the ending, unfortunately, didn't surprise me. I honestly felt like it was quite obvious throughout, which is the main reason I opted not to give 4 stars. Having said that, everything was handled quite cleverly. I also didn't find the writing clunky or choppy, but did find it a bit repetitive. There were times I felt as though I was reading the same sentence and/or paragraph over and over.

Recommended to those who enjoy a slow-burning mystery set in a foreign country, and the effects it has on a family.

'It takes a long time to build a life, but only an instant for it to crumble.'

Many thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel, in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: June 25, 2019
Goodreads review posted: June 23, 2019

A family drama and a compelling psychological thriller. The story is told by three narrators and three different points of view. A good fast-paced legal thriller.

M.T. Edvardsson’s novel A Nearly Normal Family is truly unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s smart and full of imagery, and also full of people I hate and cannot trust. But I love it.
I enjoyed the three different points of view of the husband, daughter, and mother. It added so much to the reader’s experience. I also enjoyed the epilogue. I could walk away understanding what happened, when and why.

Stella is an 18 year old who is arrested on suspicion of murdering a wealthy local businessman. Her father is a pastor and his conscience is battling between doing whatever it takes to clear her name, and being honest & having integrity. Stella's mom is a criminal defense attorney and she has her hands full trying to keep her husband from creating havoc with the case. As the case goes to court, facts come out that turn the case on it's head and change everything.
This book is told in 3 parts: narrated by the daughter, the father and the mother. I loved that it gave the story 360 degree coverage. The story was very fast moving and kept me riveted from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book!

What a great read and what a family! Adam, a controlling pastor father, Ulrika, a workaholic mother who does not seem to be that interested in her daughter Stella and lets her do pretty much what she wants to. Stella turns 18 as the story starts with flashbacks to her younger years. Stella has been friends with Amina since preschool and they are inseparable. Stella and Amina meet Christopher Olsen, who is about about 10 years older than they are, at the bar one night. Christopher starts seeing Stella and then one night Christopher ends up murdered. Stella is arrested and charged with the murder and the story takes a lot of twists and turns as the case goes through the court with a very surprising ending. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this fascinating book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book a lot!
When a mother and father lawyer and pastor find out their daughter is under suspicion for murder they find themselves questioning the one thing they each are....mom the justice system, dad his faith. How far would you go to save your child?

Told in three parts, each by a different character, this story repeated itself quite a bit. The father was a pastor but seemed conflicted throughout which was a bit odd. The mother, a criminal attorney was shady in her own way. Stella, at eighteen was already a mess when arrested for the murder of Chris. This story did not flow well but that could be because of the translation. Was not as enjoyable as I had hoped.

This story is told from 3 POVs - Dad, a pastor, Mom, a lawyer, and their teenage daughter Stella. Stella has been accused of murdering a man 15 years her senior. Her parents struggle to come to terms with their daughter being a suspect - how far will they go to protect her?
I really enjoyed this book! All the twists and turns were great and I found that I was putting myself in the mother's shoes and wondering what choices I would make in that situation.
Thank you to M.T. Edvardsson, Celadon and NetGalley for the ARC of this great book!

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. It was wonderfully written and fast paced. Each part is told from the point of view of a different main character. Stella is an 18 year old who is accused of murdering an older man whom it is discovered she is having an affair with. Her father, a pastor, is very torn but wants to support his child. Her mother is an attorney who also will do anything to protect Stella. I immensely enjoyed this book and will highly recommending it!