Home Is Where the Bodies Are

“No,” I lie again. I don't know why I don't just come out and tell them.

I don't know why either, girlypop.

I honestly did not enjoy this book but by the time I realized it wasn't for me, I was too far in to quit and decided to just power through. I'm new to mystery/thrillers in general and I don't usually enjoy “unlikeable characters” so please take my review with a grain of salt — you may love this book, as the majority of the reviewers seemed to love it. But for me, this was a miss.

Home Is Where the Bodies Are is about three miserable siblings discovering their parents were also miserable and half-heartedly investigating a string of disappearances.

THE GOOD

★ I always appreciate a book set in the rural midwest, and I can see this setting really working for people that enjoy the trope of “small town struck by the horrors of a murder in their own backyard realize their tight-knit community isn't as trustworthy as they once imagined.”

★ How could you not be drawn to a book with that cover?

THE BAD

★ The writing often drifted into this cheesy “chicken noodle soup for the soul” style that felt like it was trying too hard to create a quotable moment, but without the atmosphere and tension required to make it hit home.

”The moments that change us forever always feel recent, because we carry them with us whether we want to or not.”

this book could have ended at 20% if Beth had just opened the lockbox and read the letter that explained, quite literally, every detail of the mystery.

she overcomes adversity by realizing how precious life is — while I'm glad she gets her happy ending, I wish it was less straightforward. Addiction is a disease and healing is not linear, so this ending was overly simplistic for me.

Re: the Ending

I'm glad that everyone got their happily ever after, but I don't love that the big moral of the story is that their parents weren't bad people, they were just trying to protect the ones they love (according to Beth, at least). To me, the moral of the story is that if your child commits a horrible crime, you should get them the psychiatric help they need instead of hiding the body and rewarding them with a computer— but hey, that's just me.