I’m over the moon to be sharing my review for Louise Jensen’s latest psychological thriller, The Family.
Here’s the blurb …
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…
My thoughts …
Wow! Wow! Woswer!!!!
What a cracker this one is!
In typical Jensen style, we are taken on a twisted journey through a family dynamic full of lies and deceit.
Once again, Jensen has created a book full of tension and an unease that doesn’t let up from the first page until the last.
Laura’s husband is dead. An accident at work has robbed him of his future and has crushed Laura, and their daughter Tilly. As things fall apart for them, starting with their relationship, Laura is also fighting the insurance company as her finances are in a mess. With no end in sight, Laura takes drastic measures to get them back on the right path.
Jensen shows us just how easy it is for things to change in the blink of an eye. One wrong step can have the most devastating effect on your future and those changes can turn you into a person you never thought you’d be. The lose of a loved one is never easy but when everything else unravels too, it is easy to fall into a state of vulnerability and depression … to see no way out … and Jensen has written these characters with such skill that their emotions are more than obvious on the page, you actually feel them. I felt Laura’s desperation, her turmoil at how to things better for her daughter, how utterly heartbreaking each decision was to make … all these things were right in my head. All the way through.
And so was the unease.
As soon as certain characters appeared there was an immediate shift in my emotional reactions. I was on edge, I was terrified at times, I was sucked in to the new life Tilly and Laura were making and I was completely sucked in to the action.
What always gets me about Louise’s work is the rawness of the characters. The reality of their situations and how easy it is to relate to them. They are so real. Every time.
As you expect in a Louise Jensen book, all is not what it seems and when Laura and Tilly move into Oak Leaf Organics, the tension is palpable and the thrills start coming thick and fast. Strange things start happening, emotions are running high, and nothing is what they think it is!
You really must get involved with this one, it’s another belter from Louise!
Huge thanks to the HQ team for my proof copy and spot on the tour.
Go and get your copy now!
About the author …
Louise Jensen has sold over a million English language copies of her International No. 1 psychological thrillers The Sister, The Gift, The Surrogate and The Date. Her novels have also been translated into twenty-five languages, as well as featuring on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller’s List. Louise’s fifth thriller, The Family, will be published in Autumn 2019 by Harper Collins.
The Sister was nominated for the Goodreads Debut Author of 2016 Award. The Date was nominated for The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ Prize 2018. The Surrogate has been nominated for the best Polish thriller of 2018. The Gift has been optioned for a TV film.
Louise lives with her husband, children, madcap dog and a rather naughty cat in Northamptonshire. She loves to hear from readers and writers.
Emma The Little Bookworm 