2.5 Stars
One Liner: Intriguing premise but a convoluted presentation

Mia and Finn invest all their money in an old house. They are busy repairing it when Mia realizes she is pregnant. The couple is elated. However, Mia sees a message carved into the wall in the nursery, resulting in a series of incidents that change their lives forever.
The past horrors of the house come to light, bringing more secrets to the surface. The killer is around, too, lurking and waiting for the right time. With the dangers surrounding Mia, her newborn, and the family, can they find a way to deal with it? Can Mia save her family and herself?
The story comes in the first-person POV of six characters. Sigh! Why!!!

My Thoughts:
The book starts with an intriguing chapter and alternates between different POVs and timelines. It can be super confusing if you don’t note the years (something I gave up halfway through the book).
The information comes in bits and pieces, but we are essentially going around in circles, with each character having its POV [Mia, Finn, Dave (Mai’s father-in-law), and Debbie (Mia’s mother-in-law]. We know many of them are hiding something but what? It gets revealed towards the end.
Though things aren’t too graphic, we know that a lot of bad things happen to kids. If you are sensitive about this, be prepared for it. What made it easy to read is the writing (and not in a good way). I wasn’t the least bit affected, as the whole thing felt distant.
Thrillers tend to have unlikeable characters. Here, except for Mia (with exceptions again), the rest are pretty much unlikable. DC Mark is cool, though (he has very limited space in the book and is not explored at all).
The reveals start around 63%, which means a majority of the second half has a twist, reveal, twist, reveal, and so on. It got tiring when I could already see what the twist would be. I don’t usually mind guessing right, but here, it gets too much.
The epilogue is like a final and special presentation, but I couldn’t feel awed by it. There are enough hints to show this would happen. In fact, I might have upped the stars if the twist deals with Mia.
The best part of the book is that I could speed-read it and not miss any detail. That frees a day for me (hence the additional 0.5 stars). But it shows how much rambling could have been edited to make the narration taut.
The title is all you need to guess the plot. Really. It can’t be more evident than this, and once again, I pat myself on the back for listening to my friends and asking for help titling my stories. To summarize, Keep It In The Family could have been a wow thriller but ended up underwhelming. I see the author has written some fab works, so time to check them out.
Thank you, NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

*****
P.S: Also, can we please not have men ‘press the right buttons’ to excite a woman? It sounds weird.

3.25
I was enjoying the book until I read that freaking epilogue. It ruined the whole book for me:(
Seriously tho the book felt like a 4-4.25 star read but after that epilogue I had to lower my rating to a 3-3.25 star.
Other than that I really enjoyed how twisted and unhinged these characters were and their motives for everything they did.(whoaa!!)
Def recommend this one! Especially if you are looking for a dark fast paced thriller (with extremely unlikable characters) that you can prob finish within a day or 2. But beware of that epilogue:)

Thank you to NetGalley, John Marrs and Amazon publishing UK for my free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This was twisted and darker than I’m used to from Marrs, but it was good. I enjoyed how it all tied itself together in the end. It was a quick read and although I did predict one twist, it was still a great idea.

boy oh boy John Marrs came to play with this spooky, atmospheric and DARK thriller!!!

i was expecting something more suspenseful and thrilling like THE ONE or THE PASSANGERS but this was far from it. from the synopsis, i was expecting a haunted house vibe like HOME BEFORE DARK or THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS but when the plot got going, it gave me THE WHISPER MAN and PRETTY GIRLS vibes… if ya know what i mean 🫣😅🫠😦😱🔪

i don’t typically love dark thrillers, but Marrs’ writing is unmatched. he has you hooked from the start and the twists just don’t stop coming. the first twist really shocked me and in hindsight i’m surprised i didn’t see it coming… but that’s how good of a writer he is! you’re just hooked with a good story.

the back 1/3 had twist after twist and my head was spinning 😂 there was a lottttt going on, but somehow it all worked. all you need to know is this family is TWISTED!!! and the ending… wheewwwwww!

this is a perfect fall, spooky thriller for your TBR.

This was a twisty creepy read that kept me guessing.

It's told from the past to the present where the past has an unknown speaker sharing recollections and with each memory, the reader gets a picture behind the storyteller.

The present centers around Finn and Mia Hunter, who live with Finn's parents, Dave and Debbie. Debbie and Mia clash, so Mia tries to avoid being around her. So when Finn and Mia find a house, that Debbie and Dave were planning on buying and renovating, they are allowed to put a bid on it.

The house sat vacant for 40 years and needs a lot of updating, but Finn and Dave plan on doing the work themselves to save on costs. During this time, Mia who struggled to conceive finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, putting more financial constraints on the couple.

During renovations, Mia is checking out a room to be the nursery where she discovers a strange sentence scratched into the wall. When they check out the attic, they find a gruesome scene where Mia observes from the ladder, only to fall off it.

As a result of the fall, Sonny, their baby is born early but Mia is struggling with thoughts of her being a danger to her son and obsessing about the discovery in the attic. Their dream home has become their house of horror!

Mia's obsession has her seeking out families and attending funerals, where one in particular she befriends a mother and daughter. Mia spots a photo with someone very familiar that only leads to more questions.

The Pandora box has been opened!

This story left me trying to guess who was guilty and who was innocent where one particular totally threw me off, and the shocking twists just kept coming. A thrilling, twisty, creepy read! This was my first book by John Marrs, and won't be my last!

I received an ARC from NetGalley via Amazon Publishing UK and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.

First let me thank Netgalley for the ARC of this book - I was preapproved for this one AWHILE ago and I really forgot about it after starting it...oops!

I will always read anything that John Marrs writes simply because his writing style keeps me hooked and keeps me wanting more. That being said, this one didn't live up to The One and The Passengers in terms of blowing my mind. It was a pretty guessable plot and it felt like it was just handed to the reader instead of making us guess what could possibly happen.

I didn't hate it by any means but I also had to force myself at times to read it because I just needed to finish it before the pub date...oops

This book drops on October 18th! A spooky read just in time for spooky season!

John Marrs is one of my favourite authors and I was super keen to read this book. Let me tell you it did not disappoint.
Everything I love was in this book, short chapters told from alternating point of views, some of the book was told in the present and the past.
So many twists and turns they were like mini explosions.
I highly recommend this book who loves a twisted mind blowing read.

Keep it in the Family

I will save them from the attic
Moving into their new dream home Mia finds a chilling message which points them to a horrific discovery in the attic of their new home. Mia struggling to come to terms with this becomes fixated on finding out what happened. As the truth comes out Mia realises the danger but Is it already too late

This book was so intense from start to finish. The twists in the book just kept coming I loved it. Very dark and Creepy would highly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley, Amazon Publishing UK and John Marrs for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest Review

🄷🄰🄿🄿🅈 🄿🅄🄱 🄳🄰🅈 🄴-🄰🅁🄲 🅁🄴🅅🄸🄴🅆

Happy Pub Day to @johnmarrs and his newest novel “𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚”. Thank you, John, for gifting me the @netgalley E-ARC of your book to read. Readers, if you love a good story about a dysfunctional psychotic family read on for more.

𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚
𝙱𝚢: @johnmarrs
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Thriller, Mystery
𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚛: @
𝚁𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝙾𝚗: TODAY 10/8/22
@𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎: 4.33
𝙼𝚢 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎: 👪👪👪👪 / 5 Families

Mia and Finn are husband and wife. They just bought a house that needs major work. While turning this house into their dream home Mia falls pregnant & then discovers a chilling message scrawled into a skirting board: “I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC”. Intrigued by the message Mia, Finn & Finn’s parents go up towards the attic and discover the unthinkable. Their dream house has just turned into a house of horrors.

ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ

Marrs writing is once again on point. He hooks you in from start & the twists just don’t stop. I'm not going to go into too much detail because you just need to read this for yourself. Once again, John has delivered a dark, disturbing and dysfunctional story with an OMG and WTF factor. The character development was very well done. I despised Finn’s mother; however, it was in a good way. I loved Mia and understood her. I was glad she was given a backbone, unlike Dave who just swept everything under the rug.

I had a few issues with some inconsistencies as well as repetition. Each chapter is told through a different character’s perspective, sometimes replaying the same events through a different viewpoint. It’s understandable if some would want that other character’s opinion but I found it unnecessary.

All in all, another fantastic dark & disturbing read by John Marrs.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩: A dream house turns into a horror house for young couple, Mia & Finn, when they made a gruesome discovery in their home.

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨: I was really excited to read my first Marrs book after seeing all the glowing reviews on his other books. The premise is interesting and was not lacking in suspense. I was invested in the story from the beginning. The story is narrated through multiple POVs, excerpts from newspaper articles, podcast & police interviews.

I really want to love this book but it left me feeling conflicted in the end. I think you do have to suspend disbelief to a certain degree to enjoy this book. The plot was predictable and the super short chapters didn’t work for me as I wasn’t able to connect with the characters at all. This book did feel a bit long and dragged a lot towards the end, which felt more like an afterthought plot.

Please do not let my personal thoughts deter you from picking up this book. I see a lot of great reviews on this book and you may enjoy it more than me!


𝑃𝑢𝑏. 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑒: 𝑂𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤

***𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐴𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑁𝑒𝑡𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑦. 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛.***

This was perhaps the most disturbing book I have ever read.

Mia and Finn purchase a dilapidated house with plans to renovate it, just in time for their unexpected arrival of a baby. Just when they think they are ready to move into the home, Mia discovers a chilling message etched into the baseboard of the baby's room: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Mia can't shake the feeling that their new home was once the scene of unspeakable horrors. The further Mia digs, the more she discovers that these horrors might hit closer to home than she ever imagined.

I love John Marrs' books, they are truly unique and imaginative. That being said, this book was truly disturbing and I don't think I can ever shake the feelings that I had while reading this book. Just be aware that this book contains depictions of child abuse and is not for the feint of heart. This was an extremely dark thriller, for those looking for such books.

Special thank you to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this one was a bit of a miss for me. I find it difficult to read about child abuse and neglect and there was A LOT of it in this book. I also spotted the twist from a mile away. It was an interesting concept, but hard to read at times. I think it showed dysfunction passed down in families and how that can affect your life in the worst way.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for access to this ARC available now.

Keep It In The Family by John Marrs is a twisted, dark, crazy story. It took me a few chapters to really begin to understand the different narrators but once I did, the story took off. There were many twists, and there was not one that I guessed. These were not sympathetic characters and at times, I wanted to throttle each one of them. What kept them interesting were the layers that they all had. Just when you thought you knew what they might be thinking, you are proven wrong. This isn’t the easiest read as there is child violence but I had to find out what was going to happen.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. This book was just the perfect dark and mysterious read I was needing for October. A couple buy a run down house sight unseen and as renovations start they find literal skeletons in the attic ...what unfolded was an atmospheric, unputdownable read that had me captivated until the very end. One of those reads that haunts your mind long after the last page is read. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ #johnmarrs #keepitinthefamily #netgalley #goodreads #litsy #thestorygraph #amazonaustralia #tea_sipping_bookworm #thriller #bookqueen #bookstagram

Keep It In The Family
John Marrs

Wow! Actually, all the Wowsers! Call me old! 😂

This was my first John Marrs novel, and geez - what a wonderful introduction to his writing. Just brilliant, I couldn’t put it down. It was dark, disturbing, mind boggling and utterly compelling - I’m sure you get the gist.

The opening prologue, was in itself spectacular and spine chilling. Written from an unnamed narrator, admitting to being the bait for children being lured to a house. This novel has strong themes of child abductions and murders - big trigger warnings to be mindful of before reading.

Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their dream home was once a house of horrors.

Told from multiple timelines and POV’s from Mia, Finn and his parents Dave and Debbie . Marrs cleverly wrote Debbie as the MIL we all love to hate, her manipulations were palpable, believable and brilliant, I was rooting for Mia throughout. Oh, there is also the POV from a creepy, and disturbing murderer, just to muddy the already unsettling narrative.

Full of twists and turns, that didn’t stop coming, and had me shuddering right up the genius conclusion. This book will stay with me for a long time. Have I mentioned brilliant enough times?

Many thanks to @netgalley @amazonpublishing @johnmarrs for an advanced reading copy.

* Review will be posted to my instagram account @lilyraiti on November 5 2022 AEDT *

I love John Marrs, he’s one of my favorite authors and I was excited to grab his newest book on NetGalley. It unfortunately felt like something was missing for me with it. I was able to predict many of the twists which is surprising for his plots. There was a lack of suspense for me too, which also is unexpected given the dark and violent content. The characters felt a bit underdeveloped and I unfortunately just couldn’t connect with them. I’ve seen some good reviews and recommend you check them out! I’ll be eagerly waiting for his next novel still, this just wasn’t the novel for me.

Sadly I found this book one of the author's less engaging. As the plot unfolded, only one twist caught me unaware. The rest just felt like they were inevitable. The plot is undeniably clever but it just didn't grab me this time.

I also find his repeated use of book club members names for different characters in different books a distraction, as it breaks the immersion and is frankly unnecessary

Thank you netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the complimentary e-ARC.

Two and a half stars rounded up.

John Marrs is an auto-buy author for me. Unfortunately this one missed the mark.

What I liked
- short chapters
- extremely fast paced
- typical John Marrs writing with twists that you never see coming, you may figure some of it out but never all of it.
- The storyline kept me interested enough to keep reading through to the end.

What I didn't like
- I can't believe I'm saying this, but there were too many twists
- the characters felt one dimensional to me
- A character takes it upon themself to become a detective when they have real police on speed dial

While I was disappointed in this one, I will absolutely be picking up anything Marrs writes next

A dark, chilling suspenseful book that will keep you up at night! Keep It In The Family by John Marrs is twisty and I couldn’t wait to see how it was going to end. A quick-paced book that I flew through! I really liked this one!

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first John Marrs book and I read it as a buddy read with 2 friends. Theories were flying backwards and forwards, we were re-reading sections to make sure we'd not missed anything and we had notes that we thought might prove important being saved in a shared doc.
When we were about 2/3 of the way through I started to think how amazing it would be for an author to sit in on a group like ours so that they could see, chapter by chapter, what sort of effect their book was having on a group of readers.