The Family At No. 12 by Anita Waller is a marvelous contemporary psychological thriller that gripped me from the start. It is set over a period of nineteen years moving forwards in time from 1999.
The plotline was very unique. I also found it incredibly upsetting and disturbing as I was emotionally invested in the main character. What happened to her affected me in my heart and mind. I had taken her into my heart – her innocence appealed to the mother in me. I just wanted to look after her.
All the characters were well drawn and realistic. They elicited a variety of responses from me – from feelings of intense dislike to incredible care.
Our upbringings and our genes affect our character make-up. Not necessarily good traits travel down the generations. We are a mixture of nature and nurture.
The novel is seen from a variety of females points of view. We witness both physical weakness and mental strength. Female camaraderie abounds as characters bind together.
An artistic trait also travels down the generations. With comprehensive descriptions from Anita Waller, I could almost ‘see’ the quilts.
The Family At No. 12 was completely engrossing. It is a book that demands an emotional response from the reader. You cannot read this book and remain unchanged. It is not a tale you can be ambivalent to. This is a very powerful and disturbing psychological read that will keep you up at night.
I received a free copy from Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
A note to the reader: please, if you are affected by any of the issues in this book, tell someone and get help.

At the start of the story we meet Janette Gregson. She’s bit of a loner, wary of people, but comfortable with animals especially the dogs she looks after in her dog caring business. When a stranger arrives at her door enquiring about possible boarding for his dog, Janette doesn’t suspect anything until the man viciously attacks her with devastating consequences for both of them.

This compelling psychological thriller had me hooked from the opening chapter and whilst it’s impossible to say what happens without giving much of the plot away, I thought the story was well done and entirely plausible, capturing the horror of the truly terrifying situation in which Janette finds herself. The story is quite chilling in places especially in the early part of the novel and even though I felt sympathy for Janette I didn’t like her at all, and was quite glad to move into the second, equally complex, part of the story as we get to know another character who is known, initially, as Child.

The Family at No 12 is a rather disturbing story, and with several twists I didn’t see coming, the plot kept me fully engaged from start to finish.

✰✰✰✰
Thank you to Rachels Random Resources for the opportunity to read this viciously captivating novel.

Ms. Waller chose to open this psychological thriller with an assault that is brutal and violent.

Janette is single and boards dogs at her house as her source of income. She’s a loner and a little strange but she loves dogs. When she invites a potential client into her home, she has no idea how much he will change her life. He will be dead within hours and soon after she will find out she’s pregnant. She knows she killed him in self-defense. She considers calling the police but talks herself out of it. The thought of the police in her home and going through the legal process is too much. The fastest way out of this mess is to put his body in the cellar where no one will find him. Her pregnancy proves to be more of a challenge.

Janette solves that problem by keeping the child locked in a bedroom, which she doesn’t leave until she’s discovered at the age of 13. At that time, we learn the sordid history of the family at no. 12! They say history repeats itself. Will that be the case with the child that is rescued from unspeakable conditions?

Sincere thanks to Boldwood Books and Anita Waller for providing a gifted copy of this ARC through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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The Family at No. 12 by Anita Walker

This is my first book by Anita Walker & the premise was intriguing. The start was really promising however, it went really dark very quickly. It’s a tough subject & I felt trigger warnings were required. Whilst hard going, I was invested in the story until the last 40%. The storyline bordered on the ridiculous & I felt as though I was reading two different books. Unfortunately it wasn’t for me but I would read more by Anita Walker due to the promising start.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the preview copy.

I'm going to say this is more a 2.5 for me than an actual 3 star read. I liked parts of it but more so didn't like parts of it. I think the publisher's summary could have done a better job of letting the reader know what they were getting in to. There is child abuse, there is possible sexual abuse but it never felt like that was actually made clear, and there were jumps in the plot that didn't make sense. I also felt like the writing was very simplistic. It read like something a young person who wanted to be a writer might write before taking any actual writing classes would write. Follow that? The premise for the book was a good one. I just wasn't a fan of the execution.

Dark and disturbing, this story starts slowly, but as it reveals its terrible secrets, the reader is constantly stunned by the events that follow up to the final twist. The first events are shockingly violent, followed by horrifically violent scenes that resonate and make it hard to read. All of the events twist into a compelling domestic suspense. Cleverly crafted characters drive the story and give it a chilling ethos.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I have read many many books before however this was certainly of a type which I hadn't! One of the main characters doesn't even get a name until a third of the way through and then just when I thought I had figured out where the story was going, it went off in a completely different direction! I often read a book with the thought "could this really happen?" and the answer here is yes and even more so nowadays, where you can get anything delivered directly to your door! A very thought provoking book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

Janette is a bit of a loner with a boarding kennel business. One day a potential client attacks her and raped her, she hits back and kills him. Instead of reporting it to the police she throws him down the stairs into the cellar and seals it up. 9 months later she has a baby who she names Child and keeps them a secret. The Child is brought up in just one room with ensuite and never meets anyone except Mother and is beaten if she does anything wrong.

Eventually the child is discovered and taken into the care system and the book tells her story as she becomes an adult and has to come to terms with her upbringing and her Mother’s crimes. When she is 18 she will find out the truth about her life and how will she react to it?

Started off ok but soon deteriorated into a dark nasty story with themes of child abuse I wasn’t expecting. The counter position of Janette as a dog lover but without any other redeeming quality was uncomfortable and the whole story unlikely. Skim read some parts but I don’t think I missed much. Sometimes an author’s imagination is better left alone.

I was intrigued by the blurb for The Family at No.12 and Anita Waller is a new author to me, so I thought I’d give it a go. There is a harrowing opening to this book, in which we see Janette being attacked and raped by a random stranger in her own home. There are some vivid details in this scene. But what is even more distressing for Janette, is when she finds out she’s pregnant with her attacker’s child. This throws her into a new terrifying situation she knows she’ll have to deal with on her own.

I felt for Janette in the opening pages in this book, and I could sense how the attack, and subsequent events, had left their mark on her. I liked that she ended up getting a dog, and the relationship there was between them, but I struggled to warm to Janette further after her daughter was born. I could see why Janette treated her child with disdain, not even giving her a name, referring to her only as “the child,” and why Janette almost, didn’t want anything to do with her child. But I was willing there to be some sort of a bond to develop between them, as I thought this would be good for both of them.

I was interested to see what would happen to Janette’s child, and this is what the second part of the novel is devoted to. I don’t want to give anything away here, as this will spoil what happens, but it was fascinating seeing what becomes of her, especially, as she was never allowed out of her house in her early years, and had no social interaction with anyone else. I felt the pacing did drop a little bit in this second half of the novel, but I was still kept invested in her story.

Anita Waller creates a lot of tension, and I was never sure what was going to happen to Janette’s child as she started to grow. Despite the horrific event that happened to her mother, her daughter was innocent in what happened and this was what made me really feel for her as the story progressed.

The Family at No.12 is quite a harrowing read, but I was invested in the characters particularly in the life of Janette’s daughter, and this kept me reading.

Janette leads a solitary life, her contact with the outside world limited to the clients who entrust her to look after their dogs. When she meets one of these potential clients, she never envisages that this meeting will completely alter the course of her life. Within minutes of their meeting, he is dead and weeks later, Janette discovers she is pregnant. Not wanting anyone to know about the child, Janette completely closes the door to the outside world, Mother and Child becoming confined to their house. However, secrets have a habit of not staying hidden…

First of all, I think it is important to say that there are several triggering storylines in this book, sexual abuse and child abuse being two of them. The beginning of the story is very graphic with not much being left to the imagination and although the events were very disturbing, I found myself instantly gripped. It was heart-breaking to see Janette being violated in the one place she felt safe – her own home – and her actions were understandable. I found my opinions of Janette changing drastically throughout the book, moving from sympathy to hatred and then feeling a bit more empathy towards her by the end.

There are three sections to the book, the first dealing with the aftermath of Janette’s rape and the way she deals with her unwanted child. This was very harrowing as we see the young girl growing up knowing nothing of the outside world, thinking that what is happening to her is the norm. Despite the hard-hitting storyline, this was my favourite part of the book and I read quickly, wanting to know how the situation was going to end.

The rest of the book deals with the daughter (who we later know as ‘Marta’) and her life outside of the house. We meet new characters, some nicer than others and we learn how manipulative some people can be. There are lots of twists and turns along the way that left me wondering how it was all going to end. The story stays dark right until the very end and continued to be unpredictable until the very last page.

This is not for the faint of heart, but if you like an intriguing plot with genuinely shocking moment, then you will enjoy The Family at No 12.

This book is a bit of a departure for Anita Waller and it is all the more special because of that. Her style of writing pulled me right into her story and I lived and breathed it way beyond the last page.

All the women stirred up so many emotions in me. I went from sorrow and compassion to hate and anger and that was just in the first chapter!

Janette comes across as being a bit of a misfit, preferring her own company and that of dogs to humans. She runs boarding kennels, but on the day she opens the door to a customer looking to board his dog, she finds herself fighting for her life.

The next part is told from the perspective of the “Child”. Because of the emotionally disturbing content, I found it hard to read at times. However, the need to know what happens next, and because I have total trust in this author’s work, the pages just kept on turning.

I have to say that Janette telling her own story through drawings really caught my imagination.

Once again Anita Waller has weaved her magic to create an extremely intelligent, well plotted, taunt, emotive, psychological thriller. I am in awe of how her fictitious women never trod the path I was expecting, but instead branched off to reveal their own dark and twisted secrets.

The Family at No. 12 by Anita Waller was a hard and emotional read for me and took a while for me to get into this latest book by Anita. I'm still thinking about it now............So split emotions! Did I like it? Did I enjoy it?

What did I just read!!!!!

I've loved all Anita's books as they are Extremely well written and all the characters are excellent - Sadly this book was not for me

Big Thank you to Netgalley, and Boldwood books,and Anita waller for an early copy of her book.

What a great read this was. Emotional in spades and some of the content was quite disturbing and heartbreaking. I’ve read a lot of books by this author and this is one of the most hard hitting of them all. There are going to be a lot of triggers in this book for some so please be aware, particularly in the first part of the book. Well written and despite the graphic content I found this impossible to put down and I read it in one sitting. The main protagonists in the first part was one of the most despicable characters I’ve read, think Kathy Bates in Misery.

Briefly, Janette leads a solitary life following her mothers death but she makes a bit of pin money by boarding dogs. When a man calls asking to see the kennels for his dog she is knocked out by him and comes to to find herself being attacked so she grabs the nearest thing to hand and hits him with it. When she later comes downstairs to find he is dead she hides the body intending to forget it but she is pregnant. What happens after that is dreadful …

Janette is clearly deadly disturbed and her treatment of her Child is just horrendous, physically and mentally. But there is a lot more to the book than this. There are a number of different storyline that meet seamlessly at the conclusion. I don’t want to say more about the story because of spoilers, other than to say it really was gripping. This story is going to stay with me for a good while!

I had a hard time getting through this book. I found it confusing at times later in the book when it switched from different characters perspectives, sometimes form one paragraph to the next.
The first third of the book is written from the perspective of Janette. She is brutally raped by a stranger and raises the resulting child in secret for 13 years.
The rest of the book is mostly from her daughter Marta’s point of view, but it does switch back and forth between many others characters.
I felt there wasn’t enough depth to many of the characters and had a hard time caring about any of them.
The epilogue was completely ridiculous and came out of nowhere. And not in a good way.

Jannette lives alone and a recluse with several anxiety issues. New day, a man comes to the house under the premises to board his dog at Jannette’s dog boarding house, when he brutally rapes her in the kitchen. Janette hits the attacker over the head and kills him and puts him in the cellar. Janette soon discovers she is pregnant and decides to keep this a secret. When the baby is born, she feels no love and can’t even name the baby. The baby is kept locked in their room almost as a prisoner.
Part 2 and 3 is told through from the now older baby’s side and how she is adjusting to her new life. But there is a dark side to her.
Quite an unusual and graphic storyline, but so very intriguing. There is more to the characters than first implied and gets quite dark in places. I really enjoyed this and would like to read more by Anita Waller.

This book really goes off the rails for me. There were bitts I could really appreciate -- like the comparison between the way a parent was treating her dog vs. her daughter. That part of the narrative was most definitely a commentary on our current culture. The plot kept me engaged, but I found the choices of some of the characters to be less than credible. So, in a nutshell, this author is just not for me. This book reminds me of the 90-year-old grandmother who has no verbal filter at holiday gatherings. If you like that kind of a no-holds-barred production, then this may be the book for you. If you are a Carla Lovering or Stephanie Wrobel fan, give it a go. You might really love it.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

This shocking psychological thriller follows Janette a woman who runs a home dog kennel business and likes the seclusion of being on her own.

One day she endures a vicious and horrific attack which changes her life forever.

Thirteen years later a decomposed body and a child are found by the police in the house of a woman who is found to have died. Following on from this the young girl must find a way to fit into society with little knowledge of the outside world.

How will Janette’s life change? How will the young girl find her new life?

Wow this book was amazing and I read through this so quickly, there were parts that disgusted me and were very dark and shocking. It was a compelling read and I just wanted to see where it would lead.

The book is split into three parts and follows two main characters Janette and a young girl. I liked that the book was split in this way, as it allowed the storyline to develop over time. As I have said there are some shocking scenes, and this could lead to distress with some readers who may have certain triggers.

This is certainly an author I will be reading again as I was drawn into the book and really enjoyed reading even with the dark and twisted storyline.

Overall, a shocking and dark psychological thriller where a woman’s attack changes her life forever.

When Janette answers the door to a potential customer looking to board his dog, she never imagines he has nefarious plans. But minutes later he’s dead and in her cellar. Weeks later she realizes she’s pregnant. And so she becomes Mother and the baby Child, and a hidden life begins. But all secrets come out eventually.
This was a very interesting book. It had me gripped from the start. The brutal rape of Janette and then the birth of her baby which she kept in a small bedroom. Janette was a complex and evil character to her child. I found the book well-written with an amazing twist in the end. The unusual plot was written in three parts. First part talked about the rape and the murder. Second part was about her pregnancy and birth of the child. The third part was about the child's teenage years. The book had a slow start in the beginning but later took off. The psychological and physical abuse played a big part of the story. If you love books about psychological abuse then you would love this book. I would like to thank Boldwood Books and NetGalley for a copy for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to The Family at No. 12 but unfortunately it did not work for me. It was far too dark and I really struggled with the subject matter. The whole book was quite shocking and very disturbing and, as much as I hate to see them at the beginning of books, this one should come with a trigger warning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my ARC.