Reviews

Harriet "Harry" Reed is a novelist on the brink of stardom. Edward, her since, is seemingly perfect. In love, and newly engaged, their bliss is interrupted by the re-emergence of the Holdbacks, Edward's eccentric, dare I say weird, family (old money). Edward left them all behind to forge his own path. But there are eyes and ears everywhere. It was only a matter of time before pulled Edward is pull him back into the fold. Despite being estranged, Edward id is in line to inherit everything. When she finally meets the family, the patriarch, Robert Holbeck, gives Harry a cassette where he shares a devastatingly horrifying secret. Now, she has to determine why he chose her and how it might affect her future as Edward's wife and a member of his family...not to mention she has a devastating secret of her own that she would do just about anything to keep from coming out.
Interesting read, interesting plot but some of the characters got on my nerves. I gave this book a 3.71 out of 5 star rating.

shanajade's review

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4.0

My goodness, Catherine. You're so clever. So, I thought I had this figured out twice. Lol. Nope. I look forward to checking out more of your books, this and Something in the Water kept me enthralled through to their very ends.

readsathomewiththedogs's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. The plot developed really well, but I did feel like the ending was a little rushed. I enjoyed the way the author had me rooting for some of the characters even when I was lead to believe they had done some really horrible things. Some gory descriptions that I didn’t mind reading about, but don’t know if I could have handled watching

justinkhchen's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

A fun time, just don't expect it to make much sense, The Family Game is extremely engaging in the moment, with a lot of suspicious activities and questionable rich people behaviors layering one on top of another (p.s.—Catherine Steadman is also brilliant narrating her own words, highly recommend this audiobook). Unknown to me prior, the entire plot unfolds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, making it a great and nontraditional pick for a holiday read.

That being said, the story really fell apart as it drew to a close; the final act intensely favored hysteric over logic, leaving many plot elements unresolved and characters’ motivations murky (for example, the way the 'message' was delivered was hilariously inadequate in retrospect)—while I was definitely disappointed at the abundance of plot holes, I was emotionally invested enough up to that point that the flaws didn't completely turn me off from the novel.

The Family Game was glossy and certainly appealing, but light on substance; even though the weak payoff pretty much flushed all of its credibility down the drain, miraculously it didn't ruin the book, and I still had an immersive reading experience. Probably won't remember much of it as time goes by, but it was good while it lasted.

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