Bookwild - Dysfunctional Family Thrillers To Add To Your TBR

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

This week, Kate shares her favorite thrillers with dysfunctional families!Follow us on Instagram:Gare @gareindeedreadsKate @thegirlwiththecookonthecouchBooks We Talked AboutApples Never FallAll Good People HereLike a SisterThe Lies We ToldThe Mother-In-LawHe Started ItThe Family Upstairs Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

Guys, welcome to the Killing the Tea podcast. This is Gare and Kate. And we are going to be discussing all things, chills, thrills, and kills. Kate and I are going to be talking about our favorite books, TV shows and movies that are in the thriller or crime fiction genre, as well as some reading habits and other items related to how we met on Bookstagram that will fit in with this podcast. So, thank you so much for joining us and we hope that you have fun and get totally terrified. So I hope everyone has been having a wonderful holiday week, holiday weekend, still kind of in the middle of it. But I was cracking up last night because I saw a TikTok where someone said if being around your family has made you feel a little bit crazy and you want to read some books about crazy families, here are some choices. And I was like, you know what? That is actually something that I could probably talk for a whole episode about. And I knew I had tons of books that I could apply to it. So I was super excited when I saw that because I wasn't sure what I was going to talk about this week. And every time I thought about it, I was like, nothing's just like coming to mind. And I didn't really feel like there

was a way to do like a thanksgiving theme with the books that I read. So I couldn't really pull anything from that. But the one thing I did almost pull from it was we went and saw the Hunger Games prequel last week. And when we got to the point that the Hunger Games actually started. There are there is a cornucopia in that movie. It's also in the other movies, but there's like a huge cornucopia in the middle of the arena, which is where like all the supplies and possible weapons are. And I was like, ooh, can I talk about Hunger Games for like a straight hour and be like, it's because it's Thanksgiving related and the cornucopia. I almost went that route, but I wasn't quite sure. I haven't talked about dystopian stuff for a while. So if any of you out,

there like yes i would have loved an episode about dystopian thrillers also let me know because maybe that's a good one for us to do sometime too um but i am fully re-obsessed with hunger games right now as much of the world is i think right now especially the reading world so if anyone wants to talk about hunger games i can talk about it that's what i'm saying but instead of forcing hunger games to seem like a thanksgiving move i like this one better i thought it was a great And I have quite a few in my red list that would fall under dysfunctional family thrillers. So that's what we're going to talk about instead this week. And the first one that came to mind when I thought of this was Apples Never Fall by Leanne Moriarty.

I'm not sure why I said Moriarty that way. But, you know, that's what's happened. But it is about the Delaney family. The Delaney's are fixtures in their community. The parents stand in joy. are the envy of all of their friends, their killers on the tennis court, and off it, their chemistry is palpable. But after 30 years of marriage, they finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what would be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan

and Joy so miserable? The four Delaney children, Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that's okay, now that they're all successful grownups, and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon. One night, a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy's door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaney's are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs, if only that was all she wanted. Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police questioned the one person who remains, Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seem to have a lot to hide.

Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent. Two are not so sure. But as the two sides square off against each other and perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaney's will start to re-examine their shared family history in a very new light. This was, it really, I really enjoyed it. It doesn't have the same thrilling breakneck pace. as some of Leanne Moriarty's. And I do think they categorize it more as a mystery. Yeah, mystery is kind of even what it's saying here. But the characterization of everyone is so good.

I remember being really attached to all of the characters and being really torn with them because they all felt different ways. And I really understood why each person felt the way that they did. And then it also has the effect that like as the reader, even you are kind of going through like, what do I think? Because basically depending on whose perspective you're kind of in, you really don't know what you think is going to happen the whole time, which really made the tension of it so great. I just remember truly ping pong like back and forth on what I thought

actually happened that night. And the ending was not what I expected in a good way. Like I still never really got to a point of guessing what was going to happen. But the ending also felt very like inevitable is what I say about endings that I like is that it feels like inevitably the story was going to be headed that direction. So I loved the ending. I didn't guess it. And it was just it was really fun. So the next one that I thought of for this topic was a book called The Lies We Told by Camilla Way.

And it is about Clara. When Clara's boyfriend, Luke, disappears. Everyone believes that he's left her, but Clara thinks she knows the truth. Recent evidence suggests that Luke had a stalker and Clara worries that he's been kidnapped. Then Luke's older sister, Emily, who vanished 20 years ago, suddenly reappears. Emily wants to help Clara with her search for Luke, but she refuses to talk about what happened, even though it nearly destroyed her family when she vanished. And the deeper Clara digs into Luke's mysterious disappearance, the more convinced she is that the two incidents are connected.

I remember being so hooked on this one. I read it a very long time ago, so I don't have like all of my memories of the book, but what I remember about it was that there were just so many layers that were getting unraveled in this family that have like a lot of secrets. I mean, the title is the lies we told. So there were just so many different lies that were at play and the way that it got revealed what happened in the past. I remember just loving the pacing of it. And just kind of having my mind blown a little bit at the end. Not like, oh my God, that totally changes everything.

but I really, really liked the ending is what I remember. And I also love the cover, which I'm always going to love a purple cover. But it's such a cool cover. And yeah, this was a little bit more like a psychological thriller. There's a lot more of like the mind games that were going on in different situations. So if that's what you're in the mood for, this would be the one for you. another one that I thought of with this theme is one that I read really recently and it is like a sister by Kelly Garrett and it combines a lot of my favorite things into one book

and it's about Lena Scott when the body of disgraced reality TV star Desiree Pierce is found on a playground in the Bronx the morning after her 25th birthday party the police and the media are quick to declare her death and overdose. It's a tragedy, certainly, but not a crime. But Desire's half-sister, Lena Scott, knows that can't be the case. A graduate student at Columbia, Lena has spent the past decade, forging her own path far from the spotlight, but some facts about Desiree just couldn't have changed since their childhood. And Desire would never travel above 125th Street, so why is no one listening to her? Despite the bitter truth that the two haven't spoken in two years, torn apart by Desire's partying and by their father, Mel,

a wealthy and influential hip-hop mogul. Lena becomes determined to fight justice for her sister, even if it means untangling her family's darkest secrets or ending up dead herself. So this combined elements of reality TV and fame in general with their shared dad, who is a really big hip-hop. He's just famous in that way, in that realm. So it has a lot of the interesting parts that I find about fame in it, but also just like this really fast thriller pacing.

On top of all of that, Lena's voice, the main character's voice, is so fun. Like, I remember I had so many highlights, and you know if I'm saying that I love the voice. It's because I think it's snarky. So of course, that's a part of it. But her voice and her tone and her worldview is just so fun and biting. And it's just really fun to live in her world with her as she's solving what happened to her sister. And then there are obviously just some very intense family dynamics in it. She hasn't talked to her in a while. Their shared dad is kind of a morally gray character. So that creates tension for both sisters. And I just, I really enjoyed it. It was just a very, very fun voice-driven thriller. So the next one that I thought of is kind of a

small town and dysfunctional family thriller. And it is All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers. actually takes place in Walker, Rousa, Indiana, which is really close to me. And for the longest time after I read this book, I was like, I'm going to go get video content about this book. And I never did. But it takes place in Walker, Indiana. Everyone from Wauca Rusa remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditch after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January, and they were next to the next. door neighbors. In the 20 years since, Margot has grown up, moved away and become a big city

journalist, but she's always been haunted by the fear that it could have been her. And the worst part is January's killer has never been brought to justice. When Margo returns home to help care for her sick uncle, it feels like walking into a time capsule. Walker Rusa is exactly how she remembered, genial, stifled, secretive. The news breaks out about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over who's gone missing under eerily similar circumstances. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and solved January's murder once and for all. But the police, the family, the townspeople, they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie's disappearance, the more resistance she encounters

and the colder January's case feels. Could the killer still be out there? Could it be the same person who kidnapped Natalie? and what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night? This one was, it was just so layered. I really enjoyed it. It kind of has a true crime feel to it, which makes a lot of sense with Ashley's podcasts and just everything she's done in that realm

in that world. But it also is, yeah, like very dysfunctional small town dynamics, going on as well as the family dynamics going on. The way the mystery unraveled, I love the pacing of how it came together, basically. And it has an ending that is quite fun for discussion, is what I'll say. And I'll probably just leave it at that so that I truly don't say anything else and spoil anything. But the ending is quite an ending. And if you've read it, we can talk about it off, off mic.

But if that sounds fun to you, push that one up on your list because I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's always fun when an ending kind of surprises you. And that's very much what this one did while still wrapping up a lot of the story. Another one that was like, I even thought of a lot of these so immediately when I was thinking about this topic. But the next one is the mother-in-law by Sally Hepworth, which doesn't the title make you just think of dysfunctional families? And this one is about Lucy. From the moment Lucy met her husband's mother, Diana, she was kept at arm's length. Diana was exquisitely polite and properly friendly, but Lucy knew that she was not what Diana envisioned.

But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice who helped female refugees assimilate to their new country. Diana was happily married to Tom and lived in wedded bliss for decades. Lucy wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law. That was five years ago. Now Diana has been found dead, a suicide note near her body. Diana claims that she no longer wanted to live because of a battle with cancer, but the autopsy finds no cancer.

The autopsy does find traces of poison and suffocation. Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the 11th hour to disinherit both of her adult children and their spouse? houses when Lucy's secrets, with Lucy's secrets getting deeper and her relationship with her mother-in-law growing more complex as the pages turned, this new novel from Sally Hepworth is sure to add to her growing legion of fans. And what I remember about this one was how character driven it was. I felt really connected to a lot of the characters, but especially Lucy. And so it unfolds a little bit like a family drama thriller.

But I was so connected to what was happening. And I remember that I loved the ending more than I expected to even. I think the whole book I enjoyed more than I expected to. And I was just hooked the entire time. So as another one, that would probably be similar to Apples Never Fall and that there is a more family feel to it, but it's definitely still mystery thriller. Like, it wouldn't just be a family drama, but Apples Never Fall and the mother-in-law, if you like one, you'll probably love the other one as well. Another family thriller that I will probably never forget the experience of reading is he started it by Samantha Downing. And it is about multiple siblings.

Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven't been, haven't all been together in years. And for very good reasons, we'll get to those later. But when their wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message in his wake, the siblings and their respective partners must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and, more importantly, secure their inheritance. But time with your family can be tough. It is for everyone. It's even harder when you're all keeping secrets and trying to forget a memory.

a missing person, an act of revenge, the man in the black truck who won't stop following your car, and especially when at least one of you is a killer and there's a body in the trunk, just to name a few reasons. But money is a powerful motivator. It is for everyone. This one, as you can even tell from the synopsis, was very voice driven and very campy. It's very camped up. But like, I remember one covers beautiful and amazing.

So go look at it if you've never seen this cover before. But the like pressure cooker feeling of the fact that they're all like stuck in this. It's like multiple six adults because I think their spouses are with them. Stuck in like one car going across country because that's part of what they have to do to get the inheritance. Like you feel the pressure boiling the entire time and you're also hearing from different perspectives and finding out things. as you go. But the way you kind of figure out each person's different secrets is so fun. And then on top of it, on top of it is the fact that they're like stuck together having to travel across country and all of them want the inheritance. So there's just, there's a lot of shady

shit in this one. And I just remember it being, it's so fun. Like I just flew through. it loves the ending like loves loved loves loves the ending clearly i love the ending on all of these books um which makes sense because i probably wouldn't recommend them otherwise but so cinematic that's what it is like that ending is like cinematically cemented into my brain forever so i feel like i'm just trying to sell you guys all by being like the ending's amazing but i can't help it today and the last one that I could just not, not mention for this. Is the family upstairs by Lisa Jewel? Like, that one is one that, like, I will still just remember how much I was wanting to just fly through the pages when I was reading it.

But I know we've talked about it before, but I just couldn't not talk about it, you know? Soon after her 25th birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she's been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought, I am finally going to know who I am. She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames and London's fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby's life is about to change, but what she can't possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well, and she is on a collision course to meet them. 25 years ago, police were called to 16, Shane, I hope I'm pronouncing that

right, walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy 10-month-old, happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Shane Walk were all gone. Okay, I love that synopsis. but what I am going to say is it is about Libby Jones and it is about everything that was just said, but you spend a large part of the book in the 25 years ago part where you're finding out what happened back then. I am so blanking on the main character's name who we spend a lot of time with. Wow.

Yeah, I just can't remember. we spend time with the son with one of the siblings but that's who you're spending time with and the way that everything devolves in his life as a child is i mean you could almost i'm i'm tempted to say insane like the way that like try not to give anything away but the way that an outsider comes into his family this doesn't give it away it just gives you a little more context an outsider comes in his family and the way that his family just like drastically changes over the course of a couple years is wild and reading it from the perspective of at the time he was a kid going through it. It's even more unnerving when you think of like what would I do if I was in that situation.

And I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that a family moves in and is upstairs in his house, which is where the name where it gets a time, where it gets a family. name from and that family is wild in the best thriller ways like just amazing so i feel like this is one that a lot of people read um especially because people liked it so much they really wanted a sequel there is a sequel called the family remains um the first one is just still my favorite um by far like i was just totally obsessed with it So if that one sounds fun, maybe bump that one up on your list. So those are my picks for dysfunctional family thrillers that I have loved over the years.

I feel like this time I might have had like my biggest spread on like the times in between that I read it because some I read in like 2018, some I read recently. But it was really fun reminiscing on my red list and finding some. some books for this topic. So hopefully you found one that has piqued your interest from this episode. I did want to say, if you ever have topic ideas where you're like, I wish they would talk about this or it just comes to mind, a type of thriller or not thriller that you're looking for, you can always DM either of us because we love hearing what you guys are enjoying and what you guys are interested in. So let us know if you have any ideas.