One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day
This atmospheric thriller is set at The Precipice, a remote and iconic hotel on coastal Maine. The Bishop sisters are three very different and guarded ladies, all meeting up for an unexpected family reunion – namely the reading of their father’s will. The Precipice was their father’s hotel, and now the 3 of them are all expecting a piece of their rightful inheritance.
But there’s a monster lurking outside. And it doesn’t take long for the monster to try to break into the hotel. The monster’s name is Larry. He’s the worst hurricane Maine has seen in decades.
Charley Kelley is the hotel’s chambermaid and the only staff at the hotel that didn’t leave to beat the hurricane. She’s under a lot of financial pressure to support her ailing grandmother, so she’s staying behind to make the Bishop sisters, their family members and their attorney, as comfortable as possible.
Three sisters with 3 very different agendas. While the 3 of them are not very “close” and haven’t been keeping in touch with each other, dark and hidden secrets from their youth will bind them together forever.
As the hours pass by, Charley starts making her own observations of everyone trapped together in the hotel. Every family member appears to have disquieting issues. Their family attorney, Brenda Black, is a staunch hardcore lawyer with a “sketchy” past. The sister’s emotions are running high. Tempers flare, fingers are pointed, back-biting, accusations and sarcasm rise to the surface. And as the hurricane closes in, the sisters get stranger and darker.
Charley’s being extra cautious with the guests – after all, she’s harboring a pretty big secret of her own that she doesn’t want anyone to discover. This secret could put her job in jeopardy.
When Larry finally reaches the hotel, he’s every bit of the beast the newscasters made him out to be. As if Larry and the overall situation isn’t frightening enough, multiple messages of impending doom sporadically begin to appear throughout the hotel. At first everyone just brushes them off as hallow threats. Then reality hits – someone is murdered – and Larry made sure all lines of communication with the outside were severed!
One Big Happy Family is a prime example of a “thriller” that’s hard to put down. The characters are subtle, yet intriguing. The brooding setting oozes with so many entangled family secrets that you begin to feel a tinge of anxiety as you try to figure out who is the cold-blooded killer. The Bishop sisters have to face retributions for their past – but does that make one of them a killer? Is this about an inheritance that went shockingly wrong? Or does their scheming lawyer have her own agenda?
This outstanding thriller is a perfect summer read and has just been released! You’ll be weaving your way through a challenging maze of suspects and motives. And like any maze, I guarantee you’ll be hitting a lot of dead ends! Bestselling author Jamie Day gives us a summer thrill with One Big Happy Family!
A copy of this book and photo were provided by St. Martin’s Press.