Insanity at its finest!! The Blackburn Killer has struck! Is this a serial killer? Is this a madman? This quaint island has been placed in a shroud of intrigue and culpability as someone knows what happened but isn't telling a soul.
The world is a dark, mysterious, sometimes disturbing and cruel place that warrants our attention, our ideas, and our talents.
Imagine if you will an isolated rural mansion that has no boundaries, a home with hidden secrets, trap doors, and floating images that creep in the night upon the minds of its inhabitants concerning crime plots, masterful twists, and dioramas! Wait, what dioramas...
Imagine a family that's about to unearth the scariest thing imaginable- a dead brother, a dead twin, a dead son! Killed by his own ax and placed in a reserved burial plot with a fractured skull.
OMG! This is only just the beginning folks, as Megan Collins has created a world so calculating, cold, and terrorizing that I honestly started this in my bathtub after shoveling snow and by the time I left my feet were all wrinkled. No joke! That's how long I became immersed in the writing, the revolving plot, this enormous twister, this gigantic novel that just engulfed me from the start and refused to let me escape its wrath!
I wish I could think of more action words to describe this terrifying scenario but there's just something about the Lighthouse family. They're odd balls, weird, off-kilter in some form doing bizarre things - I guess you can't blame them since they were named after infamous serial killers. What parent does this? You know that type of family that's just too quiet that you ponder the meaning as to why they're all the same.
Oh, Daniel!! Their dad must have had quite the imagination!
Speaking of which their mother was quite a treat in her own light. She's equally as nuts with plenty of squirrels with plenty of cookies, door less rooms, and missing notes. After all, this is a family that seems to enjoy creating things but also in a way destroying them just the same.
I mean take Andy for example: Didn't he have an issue with taking out his frustrations on trees. As if ruining the bark was similar in fashion to leaving an eternal scar.
Ok, now the other three kids aren't as plain either because each has their own traumas - Charlie, Tate, and Dahlia - all are processing their own concerns.
What starts off as seemingly a story about a dead body turns into several bodies and sadly, an entire house of horrors. To the point that everyone is suspect including the neighbors, the friends, and even the darn groundskeeper Fritz.
People who have been entrusted to this family are now in the spotlight and for good reason as something happened to Andrew aka Andy almost ten years ago. But who would kill him and better reason as to why?
Photographs, journals, diaries - isn't there something to tell us the back story?
I suppose gut feelings do exist but is that what we must rely upon?
I mean there's so much history here, there's bound to be more information that can be crucial to unlock this mystery. Speaking of unlocking isn't there a key or something?
Well, look there's also an issue with leaving a lasting legacy and you can't rely solely on images from the past if you're not present in the future. If only we had something of value -say like trophies!!
Oh, gosh -don't dare go to the trophies or the shed because everyone in these rural locations loves both of those items.
Just take out a notebook , grab a pen and pad, and start jotting notes because you'll regret it by the end if you don't -especially in keeping it all on track.
Is this the beginning of the end for this Murder Mansion? What about the islanders? Will they ever get resolve? Justice?
Ahhh! The beauty of nature!
That reminds me Daniel (dad) was quite the hunter in his time. I wonder if the kids picked up a trade or two during those special bonding moments. You know the kind when the father takes you out to the woods and....
Ok, well- that's not a good example to provide at this moment because it seems Andy is dead and numerous others are missing and this island is getting creepier by the minute.
I feel like the lil guy asking for 'da plane' to take me off as it's nerve wracking yet, in a darn good way.
In fact, "Nature is a continuum, with these discrete, sublime moments that most people miss because life moves so fast."
Ruby Decker has arrived thankfully with her shovel so perhaps she can help us dig a hole or something and get us out.
Or is she digging something up...
Ok, not a good example again...
Ruby did love Andy that's for sure and it's sad his life had ended so abruptly but I have to wonder will this ever be solved.
The detectives are hot on the trail in seeking clues but their may just be more than one person taking up the spotlight here so don't put all your eggs in one basket and surely, don't take them from the hen house.
I'll never look at a shed or a mansion the same way ever again thanks to Megan!
You know how many guys keep a trophy room - could this be something of significance? We need motive, we need substance, we need answers. STAT!
People are so quick to judge, to take snapshots, to send out damaging information to the universe.
To go so far as to make assumptions, accusations, and even falsehoods.
Could this be what happened here?
Parenting is never easy. It doesn't come with instructions. But, surely there's more to this story than meets the eye.
Were their signs? Warning symbols? Could something have been done differently here?
Sometimes toxic individuals use their children as pawns, as trophies, as objects of desire to mold, shape, and transform so that they can come out smelling like a rose. These helicopter style parents want that appearance of perfection, of superiority, of confidence, and an ego boost.
Sadly, in the end the children are the ones who suffer as they're unable to express themselves having been told their feelings don't matter. Their emotions become constrained, hidden, and in retrospect ignored.
Is this what might have occurred? Could this be the reason for their silence?
There's just something that's downright troublesome and it's breezing through this novel that we learn just how toxic this family was and how discarded and abandoned the minds have warped.
The Family Plot was a quick, submersive, enjoyable thriller that had me on edge the entire time. I couldn't put this down for a second not even to update my progress.
When you find something this good, this enjoyable, and this valuable you have to tip your hat to the writer and author because she banged this out and made me a believer!
Thank you to Megan Collins, Atria, and their Publicity/Marketing Team for contacting me via email to give me this exclusive ARC widget.
I couldn't wait to read this and did so within one day of receiving and I'm so glad I did as it was a gem. A must read! An epic tale that will shock you to the core!
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