Reviews

There was a chance the porch railing could catch fire, that it could climb the wooden posts and ignite the second story. If the smoke alarms didn't work...
Well, the world would be a better place without people like the Adlers.

In The Perfect Family we meet Thomas, Viv, Eli, and Tarryn, a family that looks to be perfectly composed from the outside looking in. Each family member is keeping a secret, and, when they become the victims of a coordinated string of attacks on their home, the poised unit starts to unravel.

This was a completely average book. I was initially intrigued by the writing style and enjoyed having the POV of each family member, but ultimately nothing about this book made it stand out from the rest of the pack. Perhaps this is due to the number of "bad neighbor" books I read last year, but alas. The multiple POV angle also felt a little repetitive at times.

The character of Tarryn was also entirely unbearable. Yes, teenager girls are savage beasts as a general rule, but her willingness to look past the extortion of her father in favor of feeling bad for the blackmailer made me think I was insane and putting words on the page that didn't exist. Also, she is entirely lacking self-awareness and her fallible ideas regarding social justice are worrying (very minor "spoiler": Tarryn is a cam girl, and she's also a minor. She genuinely believes that she is reclaiming her sexuality despite this fact in a healthy way). I had to restrain myself from skipping her POV chapters.

I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading this one, but it feels like it was marketed as being more dark and disturbing than it truly was.

radioactivebubbles's review

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

lavins's review

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3.0

The book had a good start but it somehow failed to deliver.

The story of a family where everyone has a big secret and feels overwhelmed and guilty about it. On top of it, they are starting to be attacked and harassed and each and every one of them is feeling equally responsible and fed up with stress and anxiety. Things begin to escalate and there is a point where everything is either bringing them together or splits them for good.

The book is written from the perspective of the four main characters (father, mother, son and daughter) and how things are being perceived by each of them. However it fast starts feeling like a tea cup merry go round or the and that dizzy feeling you get when you spend too much time in the tea cups. The chapters are jumping from one to another but they add little or nothing to the story.

The ending felt disappointing to me.

jennyfer's review against another edition

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4.0

The Adlers have the veneer of the perfect upper-middle class family, but simmering not far beneath is a family full of dysfunction and lies, a family where people talk but nobody communicates. Everybody has a secret, and these secrets cause the family to become victims of a targeted hate campaign which quickly escalates from simple egging to death threats.

Told from the viewpoint of each of the family members in turn, The Perfect Family is a domestic psychological thriller that keeps the pages tuning. Who's dirty secret is to blame for the attacks?

This was an intriguing read. It was a bit of a slow burner for me, because I disliked all four of the Adlers (believable but unpleasant characters), and the hanging chapter endings, but once the pace picked up, it was hard to put down! Nobody comes out of this squeaky clean; nobody is innocent, and who is still out there...?

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.