Iris meets Hue. He seems to be such a good boyfriend. He even offers Iris and her daughter a place to stay when he learns that Iris has lost her home
When Iris and Elory arrive at Hue's home they find out that the entire family lives there Brothers and sisters and their spouses whom Hue failed to even mention he had.
All these relatives are strange and some things just don't add up
Iris doesn't feel comfortable and wants to leave but will she be able to do so of her own free will or is she trapped in this house with this family

I would like to start off by thanking netgalley for the arc of this book.

When I saw that this book was perfect for readers who enjoyed Knives Out, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I love nothing more than a perfect twist and this book brought it. I always think I know the answers and then Garner came in and turned it on its head. This story follows Iris and her teenage daughter Ellory. After the tragic and untimely death of Iris' husband she is struggling to make ends meet especially when. her mortgage is due. Then comes in her new beau Hugh Smoll who of course has the perfect answer. They can move into his mother's old estate. What Iris did not know was that Hugh had siblings, let alone that they would be living together in the estate.

If you love murder mysteries, dynamic and intense familial issues and twists and turns than this book is perfect for you

This was a good story with an interesting twist. I felt something was off, but what I thought was off was not even close. The author keeps you guessing with each passing chapter. I appreciate that the plot was not what I expected and what has been done so much before. I don't feel like I can say more without giving anything away, but I definitely feel like this book is a solid 4.5 stars.

Katie Garner’s The Family Inside is a gripping psychological thriller that masterfully intertwines gothic suspense with domestic drama. What begins as a hopeful fresh start quickly unravels into a chilling tale of secrets, deception, and unexpected twists.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for this book.

Ugh. I wanted to really like this one as the premise was so interesting, but I just couldn't get into it. I may have not been in the right frame of mind, so at some point I may try it again. But for now, two stars

It was a good story at first and I was very into it but at about 65% it was taking too long to get to the final twist. And then the last 10% was long.

Thanks for opportunity to read this arc.

This was a really engaging book. Iris is down on her luck and loses her house. She decides to move her daughter and herself in with her boyfriend. But this house and this family don’t seem to be what they appear and secrets are everywhere.

This one is crazy! Late review but still, coming in hot!

Twisty and shocking, there’s no drama like family drama!

Iris is struggling. Struggling with finances, grief, and her relationship with her daughter. Her husband was murdered three years ago, the killer never caught and since then, everything has went downhill. Now, her new boyfriend, Hugh, has swept in to save the day, offering a place to live for Iris and Ellory. Moving in to Ravencliff seems like a dream at first and Iris eagerly accepts but when she gets there, she finds that Hughs eccentric family is also living there, something he never mentioned. Things get stranger and stranger as the days pass and as more secrets are revealed.

What a mystery and the secrets! So much to reveal and the atmosphere in Ravencliff is just the chef’s kiss to this escapist thriller! Bravo, Katie!

My thanks to HTP books for this gifted copy!

Iris Blogette, a recently widowed woman, finds her life in a state of despair when she loses her job and home. Her new boyfriend invites Iris and her daughter to stay at his mother’s century-old home while it undergoes renovations. Upon their arrival, Iris is shocked to discover that the extended family of her boyfriend is already residing in the house. As the narrative unfolds, the family’s unsettling dark secrets and the house’s chilling past swiftly transform Iris’s life upside down.

The narrative presents a multitude of simultaneous events, which may be perceived as adhering to a generic thriller or suspense trope. Overall, I would rate it as 3.5 overall.

I love the spooky vibe of the entire book. It's a haunted mansion, a weird family, and an ulterior motive all combined in one. I loved the individual personalities of each character and the house itself.

This was a solid 4 star read! I enjoyed the story and pacing, but some of the story was unbelievable and a little confusing. Putting that aside, a solid fun read.

Thank you Netgalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA and Katie Garner for the arc of Th Family Inside.


This is the first book Ive read of Katie Garner and I throughly enjoyed it! The Family Inside is a slow burn, psychological thriller which has some great twists and turns. It really surprised me as I expected the narrative to go one way and it definitely went in another. I loved the foreshadowing as It gave me ways of getting my theories of what was happening. I loved the ending.


Ill be looking out for more books by Katie Garner

4 stars

I love the mystery/thriller books that include unexpected twists and turns to surprise you and this book has many!

Dive into the Twisted World of The Family Inside!

Get ready to be utterly captivated by Katie Garner's latest thriller, The Family Inside. This isn't just a novel; it's a chilling descent into a gothic nightmare where family secrets lurk in the shadows of an ancient mansion.

Imagine this: Iris Blodgett, reeling from her husband's unsolved murder, is offered a lifeline by her new beau, Hugh. The solution? Move into his family's centuries-old mansion, Ravencliff. Sounds perfect, right? Wrong.

Garner masterfully cranks up the tension as Iris and her daughter, Ellory, step into a world where nothing is as it seems. The house itself seems to breathe with malevolence, and Hugh's family... they're not exactly the welcoming committee.

Just when you think you've figured it out, Garner pulls the rug out from under you.

This book is your next obsession. It's a stay-up-all-night, page-turning experience that will leave you breathless.

Don't just read a book; experience a thrill ride. Pick up The Family Inside and prepare to be haunted.

Check out this teaser :

It takes a special family to turn a home into a nightmare.

Since her husband’s unsolved murder three years ago, Iris Blodgett’s life has unraveled. Awash in grief and buried in debt, she can’t pay her mortgage—and now that she’s lost her job, she has no idea how she’ll provide for her unruly teenage daughter, Ellory.

Facing eviction, Iris turns to her new beau, prominent architect Hugh Smoll, for a shoulder to cry on. But the seemingly perfect Hugh offers her something more: an invitation to move in to his mother’s centuries-old mansion while he renovates the property.

It seems like the perfect solution, but when Iris and Ellory arrive at Ravencliff, the family inside isn’t quite what they expected. Iris didn’t even know Hugh had siblings, much less that they’d all be living together.

With repairs underway, the house gives up its dark secrets one by one. Before long, Iris unearths a chilling family history—and the terrifying reason she and Ellory were invited in the first place…

This is a Domestic Thriller/Psychological Thriller. WOW...this book is creepy and that twist I really did not see it coming. There was so much craziness and drama packed into this book. The end wrapped everything up, and once the big twist was revealed everything made sense. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

This was a WILDDDDDDD ride. There was so much going on at one time but I was thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. I was screaming at Iris to get away from these psychos and while I initially loved Hugh for her, it pissed me off that he didn’t have her back when it mattered the most. This was an insane family drama that I would love to see turned into a movie. It shows just how far some will go for the ones they love; even at the expense of innocent people. The audio was FANTASTIC.

4.5⭐️

I was looking for a palette cleanser after a handful of romance novels and, boy, did this deliver.

Iris Blodgett is a grieving widow, faced with sudden unemployment, crippling debt, and no way to provide for her daughter, Ellory. That is, until her new partner, Hugh, offers to let Iris and Ellory move into his family's estate while he renovates the property. Perfect solution, right?

Ravencliff Mansion is sprawling and full of secrets, and this book will keep you guessing on what those secrets are until the very last moment. I couldn't have predicted where this story would end up, and reading The Family Inside is truly a roller coaster ride full of twists and turns you won't see coming. The writing is phenomenal: the atmospheric tension Garner creates is almost visceral, and the description of the mansion in particular really makes you feel like you're in it. Contrary to some other comments about Iris, I appreciated the consistency of her demeanour throughout as a kind of nod to the classic female main characters in horror: is it really as enjoyable (and believable) if she's completely rational and calm in the face of confusion and chaos? Of course not. The building frustration in the reader over the main character's choices enhances the overall tension and emotional response to the book, which is genius. I literally couldn't wait to see what would happen, which is reflected in how quickly I finished.

Fans of Lisa Unger, Simone St. James, and Shari Lapena will love this addition to the psychological thriller genre and keep even the most seasoned readers of the genre guessing.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. So happy to have read this one!

The Family Inside
What a wild ride this one was! I couldn’t conceive this plot on my own by any stretch of the imagination.

Iris is just having a hard time. Her husband was murdered, and she and her daughter Ellory are struggling terribly, and the most immediate concern is that Iris lost her job and she can’t pay the mortgage. Where will she and Ellory live?

Enter a new man, Hugh, handsome and charming, and he invites them to live with him at his mother’s house. Oh, and there are a few other family members there too. Shortly after Iris and Ellory arrive there, Hugh proposes to Iris and Ellory leaves the house with her boyfriend. It is beside herself with worry.

There are a couple of subplots pertaining to Iris’s best friend Sloane and another one of their friends, Ainsley. But things get *really* weird really quick!

Once the surprises start, they just keep coming, and direction kept shifting from one character to another. I’m not going to spoil the suspense—-it’s worth reading!

As mentioned previously, I couldn’t have predicted this one, but I enjoyed it, and it was an enjoyable read.

4 stars!⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a copy of the digital ARC via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Okay! You’ll be fully invested after reading only the first page. YEP! The very first page hooks you and doesn’t let up until the very end. But even then you didn’t want it to end. The writing style was hilarious while also staying true to the thriller genre of also being suspenseful.

Couldn’t love this book more and I highly recommend it. It’s engaging, entertaining, unputdownable, and you’ll never forget this one!

You know those books that make you say WTF? That was The Family Inside by Katie Garner for me in a nutshell. For the longest time I didn't even know what was going on and now that I'm done, I feel like that was the whole point. The timeline was what confused me the most, so if that happens to you, I urge you to stick with it and it will all be worth it in the end. The twists in this book shook me to my core, and the family drama and creepy house against the backdrop of Iris’ dead husband and new love interest Hugh was nonstop action and head scratches. The number of secrets in the story were enough to fill up an ocean and I LOVED IT.

The audiobook for The Family Inside was nothing but pure perfection, and you will love Emily Lawrence & Ashley Klanac’s narration. They actually sounded pretty similar, so I did have times where it was a bit hard for me to tell them apart, but this honestly heightened my experience if anything. For the longest time I didn’t even know if I would LIKE this book, but once the big twist hit, I was thinking how on earth did I miss this?! Garner is a tricky one, and I definitely need to go back and read her debut now. My advice is to go in as blindly as possible, and don’t stop!

Read this if you are looking for gothic vibes, dysfunctional families, and unreliable narrators!

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Audiobook Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐