One Big Happy Family

One Big Happy Family is a story that has a great 'locked room' setting in a secluded boutique hotel right before a massive storm is about to hit. A very dysfunctional family meets at this hotel that is owned by their family to hear the reading of the will of their not-so-dear old dad. 

The Bishop sisters, Vicki, Faith and Iris, along with a couple of spouses and kids have more baggage than Samsonite, many axes to grind and even more secrets they'd rather keep hidden. The cast also includes the lawyer who has come to read the will and a few staff members, including nineteen-year-old Charley, an extremely naïve, down-on-her-luck chamber maid at the family-owned hotel who tells the story.

The story is divided into four parts, but despite the short chapters, this was an extremely sloooowww story that will require readers to suspend disbelief. We get the backstory on several characters which explains the animosity, but I found many of them to be caricatures with the rhyming teen too odd and over-the-top. There are some good dysfunctional family secret reveals (a la Jerry Springer) but the actual mystery and Charley as the protagonist were weak and the culprit blatantly obvious from the start. 

While this wasn't a good fit for me, but if you're looking for an atmospheric family drama with murder and colourful but despicable characters and a locked room mystery vibe, you may want to give One Big Happy Family a try.

Disclaimer: Thanks to St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 2.5 stars

Author: Jamie Day

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: ebook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: St Martin's Press

First Published: July 16, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: The newest, riveting summer suspense by the author of The Block Party, Jamie Day.

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 Precipe'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.

With razor-sharp wit, heart, thrills, and twists, Jamie Day delivers a unique brand of SUMMERTIME SUSPENSE.