This book will be available Tuesday, July 16.
One Big Happy Family: A Novel
Domestic Thriller
Setting – Maine
Publisher : St. Martin’s Press (July 16, 2024)
Hardcover : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250283205
ISBN-13 : 978-1250283207
Kindle ASIN : B0CGS1QT8G
Audiobook ASIN B0CKLY1NSB
Could this reunion be the death of them?
The Precipice is a legendary, family-owned hotel on the rocky coast of Maine. With the recent passing of their father, the Bishop sisters–Iris, Vicki, and Faith–have come for the weekend to claim it. But with a hurricane looming and each of the Bishop sisters harboring dangerous secrets, there’s murder in the air– and not everyone who checks into the Precipice will be checking out.
Each sister wants what is rightfully hers, and in the mix is the Precipice’s nineteen-year-old chambermaid Charley Kelley: smart, resilient, older than her years, and in desperate straits.
The arrival of the Bishop sisters could spell disaster for Charley. Will they close the hotel? Fire her? Discover her habit of pilfering from guests? Or even worse, learn that she’s using a guest room to hide a woman on the run.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Geroge Bishop, the owner of the acclaimed Precipice Hotel on the coast of Maine has died and the Bishop sisters, Iris, Vicki, and Faith have arrived to take over their inheritance. They are not going to let the quickly approaching hurricane deter their plans. Sadly, not everyone checking in to the unique hotel will make it through the weekend.
Charley Kelley, the young chambermaid has a vested interest in what happens with the hotel. Will the hotel remain open? Will she still have a job? Will she survive the weekend?
What a family! The father was a letch. The daughters are self-absorbed and totally unlikeable. Vicki is the eldest and she is miserable, harsh, and at times vicious. She is married to her perfect match, Todd. He is a greedy, cheating womanizer with no redeeming qualities. Middle sister, Iris, has found God after spending time in prison for selling drugs so that she could feed her own habit. Faith, the youngest, was told she was beautiful so she became a model to get the attention she craved, but did she get her big break on her beauty or because of the actions of someone else? She is married to Hope, yes, Faith is married to Hope, a vegetarian cook and spiritualist. We also meet Vicki’s son Quinn and Oliver, Hope and Faith’s son. Oliver is on the spectrum and speaks in rhymes. Quinn is older but with Vicki and Todd as parents you know he has issues.
It was Charley Kelley that drew me into the story. At just nineteen she needs to work to be able to pay for her grandmother’s care which is getting more and more expensive. George Bishop paid her so poorly but he did let her live on the premises in a closet near the kitchen that was turned into her bedroom. He also made advances on her day in and day out. To have the funds necessary for her grandmother’s care she sometimes pockets dollars here and there from the well-to-do guests. When a young woman asks to stay at the hotel to hide out from her abusive boyfriend, Charley can’t say no, especially when the woman offers her cash that would really ease her burdens. Charley has a good heart but it could cost her plenty. This kept me turning the pages. I needed to know how her story would play out, especially with a murderer on the premises.
Yes, the Precipice Hotel had the eerie feel of Hotel California, where you can check in but never leave. The hurricane is hovering outside the doors, one person is dead and another is missing. Someone is leaving creepy messages around the house, the cell phone signals are non-existent and the electricity is iffy. Everyone is harbouring secrets and some are getting to the ends of their ropes.
One Big Happy Family was an entertaining read but it could have been even better had the author delved deeper into some things and pulled back on parts that felt overly wordy or repetitive.
Ms. Day had shown in her first novel The Block Party
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
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