Saturday 5 October 2019

The Family By Louise Jensen | Book Review


If you are looking for a incredibly well written, compelling psychological thriller to read this Halloween? Then Look no further than The Family by Louise Jensen*. Today I'm going to be reviewing an absolutely amazing psychological thriller that was kindly sent to me by HQ Books. If you like psychological thrillers, you do not want to miss out on this one!



What is The Family about?

ONCE YOU’RE IN, THEY’LL NEVER LET YOU LEAVE.

Laura is grieving after the sudden death of her husband. Struggling to cope emotionally and financially, Laura is grateful when a local community, Oak Leaf Organics, offer her and her 17-year-old daughter Tilly a home.

But as Laura and Tilly settle into life with their new ‘family’, sinister things begin to happen. When one of the community dies in suspicious circumstances Laura wants to leave but Tilly, enthralled by the charismatic leader, Alex, refuses to go.

Desperately searching for a way to save her daughter, Laura uncovers a horrifying secret but Alex and his family aren’t the only ones with something to hide. Just as Laura has been digging into their past, they’ve been digging into hers and she discovers the terrifying reason they invited her and Tilly in, and why they’ll never let them leave…

What I loved about The Family:

The Family is such a dark, creepy psychological thriller. I think it was incredibly well written and fast paced. It had me on the edge of my seat, the whole time while reading. I ended up finishing it all in one day because I could just not put it down.

One of the things I really liked about The Family was that it kind of focused on cults but it wasn't laid out to you directly as a reader, whether they were in a cult or not, which I really liked as it made the book more mysterious. It definitely added to the overall creepiness vibe of the book. 

It also incorporated one of my favourite tropes in thriller books, the closed in setting in which people can't leave. Although it was more subtle than in other books I've read. Which I liked, because it was different and made the book more eerie. 

There were so many twists and turns throughout the book, not just at the end. I much prefer this in thrillers because it definitely adds to the suspense. I made some predictions at the start of the book about where it was going to go but in the end it didn't go down that route, which is great because it definitely surprised me. 



What did I not like about The Family:

Overall, I really liked The Family, the only minor complaint I had was that I wasn't too keen on reading from one character's perspective and reading the same day or scene again from another character's perspective. I just found it got a bit repetitive but it really didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book much at all. Its merely more of a personal preference.

Who would I recommend The Family to?

I would recommend The Family to any thriller lovers! If you like psychological thrillers that are hard to put down and are full of twists and turns, I think you will really like this book. 

I also think would be great for people who aren't as familiar with the thriller genre, however, I will give trigger warnings for rape and bullying in this book. So if that it something that will affect you, maybe go into this one with caution. 



Overall thoughts:

I ended up giving The Family, 4 stars. I really enjoyed it. I think it was incredibly well written, different and a highly enjoyable read. This is the fist book I have read by Louise Jensen but I'll definitely be checking out some of her older books and picking up anything she releases in the future. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you very much for reading, as always X

*This book was kindly sent to me by the publishers, however, all opinions are my own. 

SHARE:
Blogger Template Created by pipdig