Published by MacMillan Audio on June 25, 2019
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: Library, Net Galley
Pages: 480
Amazon UK
Goodreads
"...deceptive and riveting novel. A Nearly Normal Family will make you question everything you know about those closest to you.” — Karin Slaughter, internationally bestselling author
M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family is a gripping psychological thriller that forces the listener to consider: how far would you go to protect the ones you love? In this twisted narrative of love and murder, a horrific crime makes a seemingly normal family question everything they thought they knew about their life—and each other.
Seventeen-year-old Stella stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?
Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect.
Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions:
How well do you know your own children?
How far would you go to protect them?
I was completely invested from the get-go with Mr Armitage narrating. It was sad but strangely fascinating to watch him lose his marbles, so to speak, not Richard, the dad! He couldn’t accept that Stella may have killed a man, and this was eating him alive. His relationship with his daughter was already very precarious and that was sad to see. But as we delve deeper, he begins to unravel rapidly.
Stella’s point of view was my favourite. I was hooked on the narration but mainly on the story of Stella and Chris (the older man) and how the bloody end came about. So much was packed in, seeing events that her dad had described from her point of view and you can’t help but feel a bit sorry for her at times. Plus it helps I love Georgia Maguire, who of course is Rhiannon in the Sweet Pea books that I love! She was engaging and intense all at the same time!
I did lose a bit of interest in the narrator for the mum. I just couldn’t connect and I think I switched off a couple of times so will be going back over the book to look at some bits to fully comprehend what I missed.
I love the style of this book and the climatic conclusion. I do love courtroom dramas, and this gave me a small taste of it, happy days! It was intense when the jury went away to deliberate Stella’s fate.
I’ve not read anything by this author before, but I would definitely read something again. This was a tantalising web of lies throughout. No one could really be trusted and I suspected the wrong person for ages!! That is kudos to the author for sure. The format added to the book, instead of flipping back and forth with the characters they had sections dedicated to them allowing us time to get to know them and see what really made them tick. Just fab
Until next time xxx
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2022 Backlist Challenge
- 2022 NetGalley
- 2022 Reading
- Published before 2022
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