A quick read that held my interest right to the last page. The story combines a true crime c podcast aspect to that of an insider l o ok into a family known for crime. The book was intriguing and the two stories were so different and the way they came together was quite spectacular

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

This book was really pushing the limits of how far I could lean into its "reality". I can't tell if it was trying to deliberately be campy, or if the writing was not at the level for adult readers.

There was literally a scene where they are fleeing their reunion because someone died, and when they noticed they were blocked in from flooding, proceeded to pull over and hook up??????

The premise had great potential, but the writing lacked finesse. There was also an entire storyline of someone writing to their journal as if it was a person who talked back to them. It seemed like it was a book written by a teenager in a way this kind of story would go down. It was overly dramatic in all of the wrong places, and it was extremely difficult to get into.

Elle Marr has done an amazing job of putting together a complicated story and turning it into a thriller that you can't put down!

First the premise: A family of psychopaths and neurodivergents (diagnosed and not) are coming together for a family reunion, 10 years after their last. And in the vein of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians or Ruth Ware's One by One, people are disappearing. As a storm rages on, this remote mountain retreat is cut off from electricity, police, and ambulances. Olivia, one of the Eriksen family, has come to answer her dissertation question: is psychopathy nature or nurture? Are some people born with it? With all the mayhem that ensues, and her elusive grandfather who might hold all the answers, will she be able to find the answers she's looking for?

The author has done an outstanding job of providing research, and showing the different personalities of each of the Eriksen family members. Chapters are told from various points of view: Olivia, who accepts the invite to the reunion along with her fiance Howard, a podcaster researching the disappearance of Li Ming Na, journal entries from an unknown (to us) author, and local news reports about the Eriksen family. All of them are hints, though seemingly unrelated, to the story that unfolds

Thanks to Goodreads and Thomas & Mercer for an eBook copy.

Engaging and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of The Family Bones by Elle Marr from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinions. Holy cow this book takes you on one heckuva ride. You will find you can't read fast enough to find out what is going to happen next. Absolutely gets the adrenaline flowing. So good and the ending will take your breath away.

Love, love, love Elle Marr’s crazy good, “The Family Bones,” which could more accurately be described as the family that’s crazy together, kills together. This surprisingly terrific tale seamlessly weaves multiple timelines, multiple points of view, and multiple perspectives on missing and/or murdered individuals.

The novel’s two primary protagonists, Birdie, a True Crime Podcaster, and Olivia, a doctoral candidate in psychology, both are on a quest that will converge with unprecedented and unexpected outcomes.

Birdie in San Diego receives an anonymous message about an unsolved missing person case from years past. Being of Chinese ancestry herself, Birdie is intrigued and totally immersed in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Li Ming Nu from Oregon years ago. Was this about discrimination against foreigners, she wonders? With a mixed race child who is experiencing taunting and harassment at school, she knows on a firsthand basis that this could be the situation.

On the other hand, Olivia needs primary resources for her research documentation topic regarding at what age does psychopathy typically display itself in a individual. Can it be detected from infancy or do to the traits typically emerge in early adulthood? For these answers, Olivia has perfect references if she can get them to talk. Her family, the Eriksens, have generational histories in her direct line of murderous, and delusional mental disorders.

Birdie and Olivia’s separate research paths diverge on a remote mountain in Oregon during a Eriksen family reunion. The retreat turns unpredictable when a horrendous storm hits the area creating mudslides, flooding, power outages and roadblocks for days on end. Family tensions run hot and cold; staff members are terrified; and dead bodies keep turning up. With finger pointing and accusations flying, everyone is a suspect, but one person in particular, Olivia!

But why are family members blaming her? She’s probably the sanest one of the bunch. With a wonder twist of an ending, “The Family Bones,” is a killer of a thriller!

JoyReadergirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Elle Marr, and Amazon Publishing for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review.

Olivia Eriksen, psychology student, brings her boyfriend to a family reunion for some research. Her family is known to be full of psychopaths, sociopaths, and narcissists. Olivia wants to know if it is caused by nature or nurture. But could she be a psychopath as well? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I want to start off by saying I did enjoy this book. There are a lot of characters though, and that’s always a hard thing for me to follow. Off the top of my head in total, there was more than 12 that played in the day to day parts of the book, with the descriptions of what’s happening. But throughout the whole book, there was probably over 20. Not a bad thing, but hard for me to keep track!

The plot in the overall storyline is really good. I love the intrigue and suspicion it brings. The mystery, suspense and questions you constantly have.

I love the the dual POV from Birdie and Olivia. It is definitely a book that has you guessing and wondering, and wanting more consistently. While, it’s only 303 pages, I feel like it could probably be a little shorter. It felt dragged on, and I felt like, even though it’s well detailed, it didn’t need to be as detailed and drawn out.

It makes sense in the end, why Olivia isn’t AT ALL worried or fretting about her fiancé being gone almost 70% of the book. But I hated it. It constantly annoyed me 🤷🏻‍♀️

The premise of this book sounded great but I struggled reading it. It took me a very long time to read it and I struggled to connect with the characters. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and I struggled to keep it all straight. This book just wasn't for me.

This was a decent book. I loved the twists and it was fast paced and easy to read. Thank you netgalley for making this book available to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Loved this book. The psychology aspect of it was well researched. The story itself was great. Kept me waiting and wondering what was going to happen next. Great dive into a very abnormal family.

This was unfortunately a DNF for me just couldn't get into the story. I want to thank NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review, just not the book for me.

This book reminded me of “Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone” by Benjamin Stevenson; a family full of psychopaths at a family reunion. I didn’t like this one as much as I liked the other & perhaps that’s due to me preferring the main character of EIMFHKS.

This book was a slow burn & I had a difficult time connecting with the characters… which is actually fitting, but makes for just an OK book.

Thank you Net Galley & to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The plot synopis appealed to me right away and sounded like a fresh take on the familiar family-gathering-at-a-secluded-location setup. Sadly, I didn't connect with this story as much as I'd hoped I would.

Psychology student Olivia Eriksen’s family is notorious among true-crime buffs. Faced with a legacy of psychopathy that spans generations, Olivia has spent much of her academic life trying to answer one chilling question: Nature or nurture?

Overall the book was well written, but felt a little slow in the beginning. Once the story started to roll it didn’t stop and came together nicely at the end. I personally wasn’t surprised with the ending (I read way too many mystery/thrillers), but some may be. Definitely a book for fans of true crime, podcasts and thrillers.

I want to thank NetGalley, Elle Marr and Thomas & Mercer for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

I reeeealy wanted to like this. I love dual timelines, I love added media (like the articles and journal entries here), but overall this was just too difficult for me to stick with plot and writing wise. I also couldn’t see the family tree at the beginning properly (it was tiny on my kindle and I can’t zoom or anything), which may have helped with my understanding and following of characters. The storylines felt a little disjointed overall.

I loved the setup of this one: family of psychopaths, sign me up! I also loved the dysfunctional family reunion setting. I could tell the author did her research for the book and included more clinical information on psychopaths than I expected. There was plenty of suspense and I liked reading the book from Birdie and Olivia's POVs. There were a good amount of surprises throughout the plot and the ending was exceptional. My main issue was there were way too many characters, so I found a lot of it hard to follow.

This was an excellent audiobook! It starts with a family reunion. Olivia isn't excited to go and, as you get to know the family, it's easy to understand why. And the bodies start to pile up pretty quickly. And wow, were there a lot of suspects!

But there are 2 other perspectives to this story. One is a journal - telling the struggles of a new relationship and worries. The other is of a armchair sleuth that is mother by day, true crime hound at night. I loved the different perspectives. At first they were confusing but I liked how it broke up the tension by flipping to another POV. It rounded out the story and didn't slow down the pacing of the mystery. I have to be honest and say I had no idea who was doing what. I was completely sucked into the family drama and the unsolved crimes. I liked the detective and the tenacity of the amateur sleuth.

As soon as I started this one, I was sucked in. So glad I flipped to audio. The narrator did a great job, really adding flavor to the story!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

#TheFamilyBones #NetGalley

I would like to thank the author, Thomas & Mercer publishing and NetGalley for providing me a copy in exchange of an honest review.

Elle Marr spins a delightfully twisty tale using two of my favourite tropes, 'locked room mystery' (here, the victims are trapped in a remote place with the killer) and 'solving a cold case'. Just like Olivia's ( the protagonist) study of psychopathy, the book is a good character study into what makes a psychopath and the impact it has on family. I couldn't stop reading till the end, and through the use of dual POVs, the twists are both unexpected and seem to fit right into the narrative. I recommend this book wholeheartedly! I personally look forward to reading Marr's backlist and all her future works.

I give this book: 4 out of 5 stars!