Home Is Where the Bodies Are

So this one is tough because on the one hand, the characters were interesting and I liked the setting and the whole general atmosphere of the book. The fact that the characters are roughly my age made the flashbacks particularly enjoyable, in that “wow that's familiar” kind of a way. It's clear the author, too, is probably around my age, considering the little details in the eldest daughter's memories in particular were extremely close to my own teenage years. I think the handling of grief, substance abuse, and inequitable family dynamics was really well done here, and I really liked the parts of this story that dove into “how does a family with a bunch of secrets and seemingly unfair treatment of siblings deal with the death of a parent?”

However I'm not sure that's enough to make up for the lackluster thriller/mystery portion. There's a fine line between “this was a predictable ending” and “I figured it out because the author properly seeded the mystery and I followed her breadcrumb trail to its natural conclusion,” and I am not entirely sure this author pulled it off. There were some side plots that were mildly interesting, but the overall reveal of it left me in a kind of a “meh” place when it was all said and done.