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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
Definitely not at all what I expected going in, but still a fun thriller if you’re looking for something lighter. I enjoyed the story in a story format, but overall it needed a lot of suspended disbelief.
oh my gosh.
I received this book off sophie & hodder (thank you so much)
This book was simply fantastic right from the start, I honestly have such a massive book hangover right now. It was so cleverly written and thought up of so good. The characters and the written story inside the story was so detailed and fantastic. I can't wait to publish my review on my blog
All-the-bright-places.blogspot.co.uk
I received this book off sophie & hodder (thank you so much)
This book was simply fantastic right from the start, I honestly have such a massive book hangover right now. It was so cleverly written and thought up of so good. The characters and the written story inside the story was so detailed and fantastic. I can't wait to publish my review on my blog
All-the-bright-places.blogspot.co.uk
This book was awful. I wanted so badly to list it as DNF, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. This wasn't thrilling or suspenseful. It was discombobulated and disorganized. The plot made no sense, the characters were supremely unlikable, and it was boring. I spent over half the book wishing for it to be over. This was my second book by this author. It will be my last. I'm so glad others have enjoyed it, but apparently she is just not for me.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Animal death
I found the character of Justine extremely annoying. The story and the characters were just unbelievable. I kept reading it because I was waiting for the twist, something that would turn the explanation of what was going on into something more credible. The twist never came.
I really think Sophie Hannah is underrated in Australia – we need to scream from the rooftops that she is a bloody brilliant writer! Plus, she writes suspense (often from the victim’s point of view) like nobody else. It’s taut, domestic terror that I can never see coming. A Game for all the Family is no exception – it’s creepy, crazy and more than a little bit scary. In between, it’s a novel of family and new directions in life. It’s a standalone thriller – no mention of the Spilling CID detectives but it’s up there with her best.
The story is told from the first person point of view of Justine. Justine, her husband Alex and daughter Ellen are moving to Devon from London. Justine’s left her job and she is incredibly happy about it. Her plan is to do Nothing and revel in it. We get the idea that Justine’s job ended with kind of a bang, but she’s not willing to divulge. But on the way to their new life, Justine gets a strange, premonition like feeling about a little house next to the motorway. One day she will be happy to live there – but why? Not long after the family settle in Devon, strange things start happening. Ellen becomes withdrawn and confesses that her best friend George has been expelled from school. Justine’s aghast and thunders up to the school, only to be told that George doesn’t exist. Then she starts getting phone calls from a woman telling her to leave Devon otherwise she’ll be forced to kill them all…
Meanwhile, Ellen is writing a story for school about a family that just happens to live in their house – and commit a few murders. This understandably freaks Justine out – is it a parallel? Is Ellen making it up? What is truth and what is fiction?
Naturally, the truth is going to be stranger than anything you can imagine and it’s a scarily fun ride getting there. Justine tells her side of the story, followed at the end of the chapter by the next section of Ellen’s story. Ellen’s story is brilliant, I loved the teenage, honest tone of it. The content is freakishly odd though and it takes some time to see how the story and the family’s current dramas are going to come together. Justine is a pretty honest character. She’s not backwards in coming forwards and making an almighty stir or doing some detective work. She’s a bit unpredictable in that sense and it did make me second guess her as a reliable narrator. I do have faith in Sophie Hannah’s ability in creating a twisted tale, so I was hoping that she wouldn’t pull that trick (thankfully, I was right). The plot gets stranger and stranger until you have to stop guessing and run with it. It’s a wild ride, and a fairly satisfying one. The finale, while appropriate, was a little bit neat for me. But if you asked me how else the story could be completed, I couldn’t answer you. It just goes to show that you never really know the full extent of a character or two! And given that all the characters in A Game for all the Family are quirky and flawed, there are plenty of surprises.
Incredibly twisted yet satisfying, this novel shows that Sophie Hannah has the skills and talent to pull off the craziest of situations and make it compulsive reading.
Thank you to Hachette Australia for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The story is told from the first person point of view of Justine. Justine, her husband Alex and daughter Ellen are moving to Devon from London. Justine’s left her job and she is incredibly happy about it. Her plan is to do Nothing and revel in it. We get the idea that Justine’s job ended with kind of a bang, but she’s not willing to divulge. But on the way to their new life, Justine gets a strange, premonition like feeling about a little house next to the motorway. One day she will be happy to live there – but why? Not long after the family settle in Devon, strange things start happening. Ellen becomes withdrawn and confesses that her best friend George has been expelled from school. Justine’s aghast and thunders up to the school, only to be told that George doesn’t exist. Then she starts getting phone calls from a woman telling her to leave Devon otherwise she’ll be forced to kill them all…
Meanwhile, Ellen is writing a story for school about a family that just happens to live in their house – and commit a few murders. This understandably freaks Justine out – is it a parallel? Is Ellen making it up? What is truth and what is fiction?
Naturally, the truth is going to be stranger than anything you can imagine and it’s a scarily fun ride getting there. Justine tells her side of the story, followed at the end of the chapter by the next section of Ellen’s story. Ellen’s story is brilliant, I loved the teenage, honest tone of it. The content is freakishly odd though and it takes some time to see how the story and the family’s current dramas are going to come together. Justine is a pretty honest character. She’s not backwards in coming forwards and making an almighty stir or doing some detective work. She’s a bit unpredictable in that sense and it did make me second guess her as a reliable narrator. I do have faith in Sophie Hannah’s ability in creating a twisted tale, so I was hoping that she wouldn’t pull that trick (thankfully, I was right). The plot gets stranger and stranger until you have to stop guessing and run with it. It’s a wild ride, and a fairly satisfying one. The finale, while appropriate, was a little bit neat for me. But if you asked me how else the story could be completed, I couldn’t answer you. It just goes to show that you never really know the full extent of a character or two! And given that all the characters in A Game for all the Family are quirky and flawed, there are plenty of surprises.
Incredibly twisted yet satisfying, this novel shows that Sophie Hannah has the skills and talent to pull off the craziest of situations and make it compulsive reading.
Thank you to Hachette Australia for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Interesting, unique "twist" but not super well done in general. Liked the two time + story lines simultaneously and their intersections.
Super weird, but highly enjoyable. Didn't find it confusing at all, all the twists and turns made complete sense to me. Everything is there for you to be able to figure it out. Ending was definitely Occam's Razor, but in the best way. Definitely recommend.
Justine Merrison, a former television executive, has resigned from her high pressure career and moved to a manor house in Kingswear, Devon with her husband Alex (an opera singer) and her teenage daughter Ellen. This family was very interesting and I loved the parts of the novel in which they featured – in other words the parts that were ‘in the real world’. I enjoyed the part where Justine brings home a Bedlington terrier puppy who is called Figgy. Also, I liked that Justine was newly free of her career and that she felt almost ‘smug’ about her newfound freedom. She is burnt out and craves nothing and she wants to do nothing alone.
The introduction of a mysterious, threatening caller added to the plot immensely. As did the wry humour interspersed within the narrative.
When Ellen is tasked by a teacher to write a story, she and her best friend George decide to swap stories. True stories. She tells him the story of how her mother left her job in London and he tells her his family story as told to him by his mother. It is this story that comprises the second storyline throughout the novel. At first I enjoyed it, but then I became more and more unhappy as it became more complicated and convoluted.
The narrative delves so deeply into Ellen’s story that it eventually crosses over into the main plot – and there is where I began to feel disappointed…
This is a novel which examines truthfulness and falsehood. Lies. Lies we tell others and those we tell ourselves. How chilling it is to believe one’s own lies…
Firstly I have to say that I’ve read several of Sophie Hannah’s novels AND that I have enjoyed each and every one. Her mastery of the written word and the essence of the mystery novel is top notch. It is for this reason that I requested “A game for all the family” from Edelweiss. This novel, though as well written as her others, did not fulfill my expectations and I think that is because I found the dual storyline just too ‘over-the-top’ for my full enjoyment. Sophie Hannah has an imagination that is unsurpassed, but this time her novel was just too far-fetched. Sadly, the ending was a let-down as well.
I will read further novels from Sophie Hannah as I enjoy her narrative style and genre.
The introduction of a mysterious, threatening caller added to the plot immensely. As did the wry humour interspersed within the narrative.
When Ellen is tasked by a teacher to write a story, she and her best friend George decide to swap stories. True stories. She tells him the story of how her mother left her job in London and he tells her his family story as told to him by his mother. It is this story that comprises the second storyline throughout the novel. At first I enjoyed it, but then I became more and more unhappy as it became more complicated and convoluted.
The narrative delves so deeply into Ellen’s story that it eventually crosses over into the main plot – and there is where I began to feel disappointed…
This is a novel which examines truthfulness and falsehood. Lies. Lies we tell others and those we tell ourselves. How chilling it is to believe one’s own lies…
Firstly I have to say that I’ve read several of Sophie Hannah’s novels AND that I have enjoyed each and every one. Her mastery of the written word and the essence of the mystery novel is top notch. It is for this reason that I requested “A game for all the family” from Edelweiss. This novel, though as well written as her others, did not fulfill my expectations and I think that is because I found the dual storyline just too ‘over-the-top’ for my full enjoyment. Sophie Hannah has an imagination that is unsurpassed, but this time her novel was just too far-fetched. Sadly, the ending was a let-down as well.
I will read further novels from Sophie Hannah as I enjoy her narrative style and genre.