My first title from this author, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My heart was in my mouth the whole read! If you are looking for a new thriller author, try this! definitly a good recommendation.

"The Happy Family" is, ironically, anything but happy. While it has garnered praise from many readers, I found myself struggling to see the appeal. As someone who loves a gripping thriller and an intricate mystery, I was left disappointed by its predictability and pacing.

The plot felt drawn out, lacking the twists and turns that keep readers on the edge of their seats. I kept waiting for the story to deliver more—more thrill, more mystery, and, most importantly, more depth in character development. Unfortunately, it never quite reached the level of complexity or engagement I was hoping for.

While it may resonate with others, for me, "The Happy Family" fell short of its potential. Thrillers thrive on tension and unpredictability, and this one left me wanting more of both.

I was eager to read this book by Jackie Kabler, my first one from her.
It was a very easy read, you got to know the characters very well early on. However I guessed early on how it was going to pan out, and you done it and who it was. I feel that the book went on too much. I had to finish it to see if I was correct and I was.

I absolutely loved this book so much, I literally was unable to put it down, I'm so excited to read more by this author.

This is a suspenseful mystery book. It is very slow moving. I did guess the big reveal quite early on.
The ending made up for the slowness

Every coin, as every story, has two sides and can easily be flipped from light to dark, strong to weak, happy to sad. We meet a young woman who felt deserted when her mother left her. She was only 8 yrs old and did not understand what she could have done for her mother to leave. She has moved on, enjoying her present life but is surprised and excited when her mother returns many years later. She's sure her life will be wonderful from now on and asks her mother to share her home. The coin flips......small things become problems and the future she was so sure would be happy is not. But someone is behind all these small things that have suddenly become larger problems and much darker.
This story line has been worked many times before but I found Jackie Kabler's treatment different than others I've read. The characters had enough secrets that it wasn't easy to settle on a suspect and in the end, I didn't figure out the reveal under the last chapters.

Jackie Kabler brilliantly explores the myriad tensions within families and the destructive nature of long-held secrets and resentments in her latest absorbing chiller, The Happy Family.

Ten year old Beth’s life had been turned on its head when her beautiful and irrepressible mother Alice had vanished off the face of the earth. Alice’s disappearance had had a deep and profound impact upon her daughter Beth. Beth’s childhood and teenage years hadn’t exactly been a bed of roses and she had plenty of struggles to undergo, however, now that she is an adult she is finally content with her life. With a thriving career, a loving family and a beautiful home, Beth couldn’t be happier – until there’s a knock on the door and a flabbergasted Beth finds herself coming face to face with the woman who had abandoned her all those years ago: her mother, Alice.

Alice wants to lay old ghosts to rest. She wants to build bridges with her daughter and have a relationship with Beth. Desperate to get to know her mother, Beth invites her in and they quickly begin to bond. However, their relationship is immediately troubled and threatened by persistent rumours about Beth which seek to damage her reputation. As her friends begin to drift away from her, Beth cannot help but feel uneasy. But surely her mother couldn’t possibly have anything to do with this orchestrated campaign to damage her…or does she?

Why did her mother come back into her life after so long? What did she hope to gain from Beth? Did she really want to have a relationship with her daughter? Or was her plea to be a happy family nothing but a deadly charade?

Jackie Kabler strikes again with a first class domestic thriller that kept me gripped and terrified throughout. The Happy Family is a tense and twisty chiller that will send your heart rate soaring through the roof as you find yourself completely and utterly transfixed by this superb tale of secrets, lies and deception that is impossible to put down.

A must-read for thriller fans, Jackie Kabler has penned another must-read domestic noir novel with The Happy Family.

I found this thriller to be a tad slow, I was also a little sad that I guess what was going on before the reveal, BUT there was a little plot twist at the end I wasn't expecting! All in all was a quick read, I loved the plot! If you like thrillers give it a read.

Really enjoyed this book, as I have with all Jackie Kabler's work. I have now read her entire back catalogue.
But God did I want to shake Beth for not seeing something was blindingly obvious. She let herself get all consumed in her happy family and didn't notice the problems being created around her. That said I loved the premise and it just goes to show not everything is at it seems.

The Happy Family Jackie Kabler
Its not often I want to shout at a character as much as I did with this book.
Beth's mother disappeared when she was 10, then suddenly reappears years later, when Beth is a mother of two. Life begins to fall apart, and she cannot see the woods for the trees.
I did work out what was happening and why, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book.

First of all, thank you for the ARC.

I agree with many other reviews that this started out slow but got better along the way. Beth was a likable and I felt sorry for her. I did have trouble relating to the storyline but enjoyed the surprise ending.

I would like to see more books from this author!!

This book was everything I look for in a book. It was so exciting. The plot was fantastic. It really had me on the edge of my seat, and my heart racing. It was very well written and flowed well.

Loved this one. Loved the characters, the pace, the plot. Very readable and I devoured it in one sitting.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley that was good.

My first book by Jackie and not my last.

The characters and storyline were really good. The ending not what I expected. Very unputdownable.

Definitely need more by Jackie
Thank you - recommended

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙮 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙚 𝙆𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙧

So I was really excited when I received this book - I have Kabler’s THE PERFECT COUPLE on my bookshelf and I’ve heard incredible things about that one! Unfortunately, despite definitely having good parts, on the whole this book just didn’t do it for me. And that’s okay!

The characters were real, relatable and raw (despite being downright annoying a lot of the time). I found the “divorced mum who has her shit together” view very refreshing as I feel in most books, divorced couples are generally always portrayed as struggling and unable to function alone. This was an easy read and I didn’t hate it— it just didn’t keep me super engaged and have me desperate to pick it back up.

However, I found this very unrealistic. Maybe it’s just me but if my Mother turned up on my doorstep after thirty years without a peep, I would need to know straight away what the excuses were and where she’d been— am I right!? I wanted to reach into the book and shake Beth— how it took her so long to realize the down right obvious was beyond me. I also found the storyline super repetitive with a lot of the same speech/phrases used over and over.

At first I liked that we were drip fed information. This normally keeps me engaged and desperate to find out more but for me this was very much a slow burn thriller— I found the first 70% quite monotonous with not much happening. The book definitely turned around in the last 30% however- suddenly we had fast paced drama, secrets and revelations left right and centre. It definitely made sticking with the book worthwhile!

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ (2/5)

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 + 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐀𝐑𝐂!

It was a little slow to begin with, but give it time to build suspense, as it makes it worth it.
With secrets hanging all around, it was hard not to be swept up with the plot as it thickened through each chapter.
Throughout the book, I was convinced of how the ending should go when I was woefully unprepared for the twist!
A good book for all those who enjoy mystery and thrillers.

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

A fast paced mystery that is hard to put down. I truly enjoyed this book. I liked the fact the chapters were shorter. I look forward to more by this author! Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of my book.

A slow burn so I did struggle with it. The ending was easy to predict but the book was still enjoyable. A good twist at the end, but not shocking. Good writing and a good book.

This was my first book by this author and won’t be my last this was a brilliant slow burning domestic thriller with lots of twists and turns and a brilliant story line. I was hooked from the very first page and couldn’t put it down until I had got to the end. I will now be seeking out more of this authors books.