The Perfect Family is a twisty tale of secrets, lies and family breakdown. Narrated in the first person by each member of the Adler family. Thomas is a real estate agent, Vivian an interior decorator, Eli a college football star, Tarryn a moody teenager.

We learn early in the book that each character has their secrets that are tearing at them and making their actions hurtful to others.
The family home is targeted with what seems like random acts of vandalism but each family member thinks these attacks are brought on by something they did. As each person agonises over their secrets, and the problems they may be causing, the family unit is further broken down.

Everyone in this book made me angry. Thomas was an idiot, Eli a coward and Tarryn a hypocrite. I didn't mind Vivian, her secret was a bit humorous and, although she wasn't doing a real good job of it, she was trying to hold her family together.

I think if the attacks on the family had have come first in the book, before I knew all their flaws, I may have felt more empathy as the attacks were quite terrifying. Although I didn't connect with the characters and found it mostly unbelievable the story did actually hold my interest and I was eager to get to the final conclusion.

No spoilers here, but that ending was just wrong!

The Perfect Family is a compelling family drama centred on peer pressure and standing up for yourself and what is right.

A very interesting book that I found it full of mystery, twists and turns and certain situations seem to be not real and not really sure on what’s going on for the perfect family.
The perfect family are they really perfect as they seem to be.
Secrets they all have and are they really as happy as they appear to others. Events occur, and due to previous actions they accuse others but what’s really going on. A book for those who like to read about family dynamics mystery.
#ThePerfectFamily #NetGalley.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Simon & Schuster Australia via NetGalley for my honest review of the book . The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own thoughts, feelings and viewpoints of the book.

Review run date was set for 28 July 2021 for Netgalley, my health became an emotional roller coaster so here I am today 14 October 2021 review will be post on my WordPress blog, Facebook blog, Instagram, LinkedIn, Amazon.com.au, goodreads, along with the non-linked retail online stores that sell the book is at:

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I absolutely love Robyn Harding’s books, so I was so excited to receive an ARC of this one (which I did read ages ago but I’ve been terribly slack in posting the review for!).

The Adlers are the picture perfect family - at least from the outside. Two successful parents, two lovely children, and a perfect house. However, each of them harbour deep secrets. Could these secrets be behind the sinister attacks that start plaguing the family? It starts as eggs being thrown at the house, but quickly escalate in their violence.

Told from the alternating perspectives of each of the four Adler’s, the reader is able to gain an insight into each character and what their secrets are - and the motivations behind those secrets. A fast paced, action packed thriller that was really enjoyable!

Thanks to @simonschusterau and @netgalley for the arc!

I don't know how Robyn Harding manages to write books filled with characters that are completely unlikeable but I STILL want to read - how does that work??
The Perfect Family is basically 4 privileged people behaving badly while pretending they're not, all the while screaming "WHY US" when dealing with the fall out of what they've done.
The events in the book unfold slowly but the switching POV and short chapters make it feel quite pacy.
A book I loved with characters I hated - Robyn Harding does it again.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* The Adler family seem to have it all - a lovely home, solid jobs, and one son and one daughter. But, as is often the case in this genre (my favourite genre), all is not as it seems. All four of the Adlers haver secrets that they are hiding, that could have devastating consequences for the whole family. As such, when the family home is repeatedly targeted, any of them could be the cause. I loved how the book kept you guessing as bit by bit, the pieces all fell into the puzzle.

When a privileged, seemingly perfect family are targeted by vandals with increasing malice each member begins to suspect its their own secret that is the cause. This is a fast paced, low stakes thriller that touches on darker undercurrents, but never quite goes there. I prefer my thrillers with a bit more bite, but if you feel like a fun read without too many stabby bits - this domestic thriller is for you.

The Perfect Family is Thomas and Viv Adler and their children. The successful and charming couple are the envy of their neighbourhood, until their perfect facade is broken when their home is under attack from unknown assailants. It soon becomes clear that everyone in the Adler family is feeling guilty because they're each keeping a juicy dark secret.

Now, the characters in The Perfect Family aren't the most likeable or relatable. But nevertheless, this twisty book has you constantly turning the pages to find out what happens. Harding knows how to write a suspense novel that keeps you guessing until the end and changing your mind multiple times about who the culprit truly is.

If you're looking for a captivating domestic suspense novel and family drama, I recommend The Perfect Family.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

From the outside, the Adler family seem to have it all. Their house is beautiful, the parents have successful, fulfilling careers, the two children are doing well at school. But, all is not as seems, as the family experience a series of escalating attacks on their house. As the novel progresses, we discover that each member of the Adler family is keeping a secret, and one of those secrets might be the one that tears the family apart.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. It is, however, one of those stories that could have ended in the first chapter if any of the members of this family had a proper conversation with each other. But, if you can ignore that glaringly obviously fact, this fast-paced book is an entertaining way to spend some time. It would be the perfect read for a poolside vacation

This was a good read about what appears to be a put together family but behind closed doors is fairly dysfunctional with plenty of secrets from one another. Everyone is getting on with life until their home comes under attack and with not knowing who is behind it sees everyone in the family looking at each other and accusations fly and the happy family façade shatters. You are kept guessing on who in the family has a link to what's happening to them and you go from thinking its one of the parents Thomas or Viv Adler to their teenage children Eli and Tarryn and flipping between them at times. I did find a times things were a bit drawn out but it didn't stop it from being a great read.

This was a book I couldn’t put down. I was intrigued to see where it was going and where the drama was heading. I couldn’t predict the ending, even with the snippet from the start!
Great read!

After establishing herself as one of my favourite authors I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Robyn Harding’s newest novel and let me tell you I wasn’t disappointed.

I had trouble putting it down every night and it kept me guessing right until the very end.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading thrillers.

I want to thank Simon & Schuster Australia and Netgalley for generously providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for family dysfunction and domestic drama then look no further as THE PERFECT FAMILY is it! Has there ever been a more dislikeable or disliked family - probably not!

Viv and Thomas Adler have a beautiful house, good jobs, two smart, beautiful children in Eli and Tarryn. They appear to have it all. But as is often the case, the 'in real life' is so disparate from the image they are all portraying to the world. They are all harbouring secrets, from their community, from their friends, and from one another.

Suddenly things start happening around the Adler home that can't be explained as mere coincidence. There are too many strange goings on, and the situation is escalating. The problem is, each Adler wonders if they are the reasons their lives are unravelling. And if that's the case how are they going to rectify the situation. Can they discover what's going on without everyone else knowing, or will the have to come clean and suffer the consequences before one of the family are seriously injured.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. As is often the case with ARCS the formatting on an e-reader was a little tricky and and jumbled. I felt within the chapters including the multiple points of view was a good idea, it just seems a little overwhelming and messy early on, but I eased into it by the end, and felt it suited the final chapters, portraying the speed with which the family's life was disintegrating. You could feel Thomas and Viv's desperation most obviously, Thomas in his wanting to react and lash out, and Viv in her withdrawal and wish that things would just return to normal. This book definitely confronts the notion of coveting what your neighbour has - as not even the Adler's themselves could have predicted things would head south so quickly. Every worst case scenario possible was explored in this book which made this a little unbelievable .... and don't get me started on the ending. I have no idea what it meant.

I think the most interesting thing about the characters in this book is that they could be anybody. Your family. Your neighbours. Your best friends. Yes, they’ve got secrets, but they are the kind of ‘normal’ secrets anyone could have - the mother has a touch of kleptomania, the daughter is raking in cash on the side as a cam girl, the son witnessed something shocking at college and is wrestling his conscience, the father got wasted at a bucks party and is now being blackmailed. The thing is that at least one of these secrets has got seriously out of hand. Someone is targeting the family, and it’s escalated quickly from throwing eggs to slashing tires and setting fires. The tension between the family members is ratcheting up tighter and tighter, like a string being tuned… until it finally breaks.

This isn’t your traditional mystery in that there’s no dead body to investigate, but I was nonetheless fascinated. I was a bit puzzled as to why you wouldn’t hire, for example, a private security team to surveil your house properly, rather than relying on cameras which were blatantly ineffective immediately. I’d have dipped into savings and hired someone with a scent dog to be trying to track the offenders, just to start with, but apparently none of the family have ever watched any crime shows because it didn’t seem to occur to them. They were all far too caught up in panicking guiltily about their secret coming out.

I have to admit I never did quite comprehend what the heck Eli was playing at. Tarryn was very relatable, she was clearly doing her cam girl stuff to get the affection and attention she wasn’t getting in real life, and at the end of the book it seemed like she was working through things the best, putting herself on a great upward trajectory for the future. Thomas and Vivian were both too obsessed with appearances and didn’t seem to really get much character growth. Thomas in particular was clueless… who doesn’t go to the police when someone is trying to blackmail them? Especially once he’d realised the photos were faked? Again, utterly illogical.

I was disappointed that the ‘boys will be boys’ attitude referenced several times here was never really pushed back against, except by Tarryn running her mouth a time or two (I told you I liked her best). Eli was kind of spineless (obviously inherited from Thomas). And all of them seemed particularly clueless at moments where the plot required it… calling the police when you’ve finally caught one of the delinquents trashing your home would seem the obvious play, as would asking the police to follow up on the fact that the brat actually named the person who paid him to do so, but following up that thread would have led too quickly to real answers.

The best thing about this was how relatably ordinary everyone was. It really does feel like it all could so easily happen to you or someone you know, but there were times when characters behaved illogically for the sake of stretching out the tension, something I find frustrating. Overall, I enjoyed the read, and I’ll definitely read more by this author in the future. I’ll give it four stars.

The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding was a chilling and unhinged domestic thriller.

Full of intriguing and diverse characters this perfect family are all hiding their own sordid little secrets! The parents had to have the perfect home, perfect yard and status-symbol cars. They dress like a wealthy stylish couple and obsessively care about appearances.

We have Viv who has perfect taste and style and her own home decorating company. Her husband Thomas is obsessed with work and is a competitive real estate agent. The ‘perfect’ children are Tarryn seventeen who is moody and bitchy and can’t wait for her parents to go to bed each night so she can cam online. Son Eli is going through a highly emotional time and has left college to come back home.

This family are pushed to breaking point as continuous assaults on their picture perfect home turn into violence. Who is behind these attacks, harassing them and why?

This was a page turner for me, what a mind blowing train wreck of a ride. Fabulously entertaining, I think I love every book Robyn Harding comes out with especially The Swap!

The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding

The Adlers are the Perfect Family, living on a perfect street in a perfect upper-class suburb. They mow their lawns every Sunday and keep their house in perfect condition so that everyone who walks past will see how perfect they are. But all this perfection is just for show, every member of the family is hiding a secret that they don’t want anyone to know.

When they wake up one morning and see their house has been attached by eggs, they don’t think anything of it, its just kids being kids they say but soon the attacks get more dangerous and more sinister. Who is doing this and why?

This book is written from four points of view; Thomas, the husband and father, Vivian, the wife and mother, Eli, the son and Tarryn the daughter.

The drama and suspense are excellent and you feel it right throughout the book.

I Loved this book, once I started reading it, I could not put it down until I finished it.

I would like to thank Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Each member of the family has a secret... A gripping read! I was engaged from the start. A first, for me, from this author, though it won't be the last.

This book is interesting and engrossing and has a shrewd storyline. It is about a wealthy family that is being harassed, but they are not sure by whom. Each member of the family has a secret that they are hiding from the others and they are all convinced that it is their secret that is the reason for the harassment. This is an engaging read and contrary to the subject matter is written with a kind of lighthearted feel. The characters are a written with a bit more depth than you might expect. An entertaining novel. Thanks to Simon and Schuster Australia and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel.

The Adlers have the veneer of the perfect upper-middle class family, but simmering not far beneath is a family full of dysfunction and lies, a family where people talk but nobody communicates. Everybody has a secret, and these secrets cause the family to become victims of a targeted hate campaign which quickly escalates from simple egging to death threats.

Told from the viewpoint of each of the family members in turn, The Perfect Family is a domestic psychological thriller that keeps the pages tuning. Who's dirty secret is to blame for the attacks?

This was an intriguing read. It was a bit of a slow burner for me, because I disliked all four of the Adlers (believable but unpleasant characters), and the hanging chapter endings, but once the pace picked up, it was hard to put down! Nobody comes out of this squeaky clean; nobody is innocent, and who is still out there...?

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“The Perfect Family” is a domestic thriller riddled with secrets and credible threats. Harding has a knack for writing believable characters who engage you whether you like them or not, and here she uses this to involve you in the slow motion collapse of a family. It’s an excellent novel, very hard to put down.

In fact, I read this in a day. That’s partly because of Harding’s easy, flowing style, but also because you get so involved in the story that time just passes without you noticing. Luckily, I started it on a weekend morning.

The Adlers do indeed appear to be the perfect family: mother and father, daughter and son. All physically attractive, intelligent, and well off. They live in a nice home in a nice neighbourhood, with nice friends. The parents have good jobs and the kids attend good schools.

But scratch that veneer even slightly, and the perfect starts to flake off. Each Adler has a big secret. And each of them has reason to fear that someone knows it. So when their home starts being subjected to physical attacks, each of them reacts with fear and increasing paranoia.

Each of the secrets is quite credible, and I guessed at least one of them within pages. That doesn’t really matter – Harding doesn’t keep the secrets from her readers for long. The point is that the Adlers are trying to keep the secrets from each other – and from becoming generally known – and unless this is the first novel you’ve ever read, I probably don’t have to tell you that this only makes the situation worse.

Mind you, if you had one of these secrets, you’d probably try to keep it too – the parents’ secrets more so than the kids’. Harding uses that to ratchet the tension up. Readers will believe how the characters react, and empathise, even though the characters aren’t always entirely likeable.

I’ve read all of Harding’s books, and have really enjoyed them. She’s extremely good at taking a situation that initially seems quite low key, and building it into a tense situation with a dramatic climax. Readers will be quickly drawn in, and probably find it hard to tear themselves away.

There’s not a note wrong in this novel. The settings are vivid and grounded. The characters are believable. The action is credible. And worst of all, the situation is both horrible and believable: you’ll be able to picture yourself getting into this kind of problem. The writing style is invisible but utterly involving.

I can’t imagine many readers not enjoying this. It’s very well written, original, and perfectly crafted.

Tom and Viv Adler are the perfect family. Great jobs, nice house, two perfect, well mannered children.
From the outside looking in they are the picture perfect family.

Until one night there house gets egged and then Tom’s tyres get slashed. The vandalism slowly intensifies.

The family are not so perfect after all. Each one has a secret and whoever the vandal is knows this and will do anything to expose them.

This book was hard to put down, I absolutely loved it.
The Adler family were likeable even though they had done some not nice things.
The plot was great with many twists and turns that kept me guessing who the vandal was. As it turns out I was completely wrong.
There was many layers to this book, as there was not one vandal but multiple threads that all tied together at the end to expose a few people who had beef with the family.