Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Oh my! What a dark and twisty thrill rid this book was! I loved every page - and I was so concerned for Becky!

Thrilling story, great plot and characters that keep you guessing right til the end. Great for fans of this genre. Really enjoyable.

What the HECK did I just read?! The Family by P.R. Black totally blew me away and I wasn't even expecting it.

What it's about: Becky Morgan has had a rough, to say the least, life; the lone survivor of the brutal murder of her family, it is twenty years later, and the killer still hasn't been caught. Sick of living in fear, Becky decides to start her own hunt for the killer using some less than legal measures to do so. As she digs into murders of families that appear to be connected to her own family's murder, she's about to uncover a whole lot more than she bargained for. Will she be able to catch the killer before he catches her?

I want to say right off the bat that this book is GRUESOME. There are some violent scenes that are sure to give you nightmares if you are that type of person. At the very least it is going to have you looking over your shoulder at night when you're alone. This isn't Karin Slaughter type of gore either, this is like a slasher movie. I would say it would make a supremely scary movie! It is very dark, and very disturbing so consider yourself warned.

I couldn't really connect to Becky but being able to visualize her struggle with life after seeing her family murdered in front of her is something else entirely. I couldn't understand all of the choices she was making, but I could definitely understand some of them. She is a bit of a badass with a sassy mouth and I really liked that about her.

The Family is definitely a book I would consider action-packed, and it gave me chills quite often, but especially when I got towards the end. The end is especially nasty, and I had a hard time reading through it all. It completely surprised me as well, and I would say this is one of those books that will have plenty of twists readers won't see coming. I was at a 4 rating in my head for the majority of the book, but the big twists and the end pushed it all the way up to a 5 for me.

Song it brought to mind: Take Me to Church by Hozier (don't ask me why!)

Final Thought: Even though there is a ton going on, I ended up reading this novel pretty slowly and it took me almost 6 hours to read around 350 pages. I will chalk this up to the content I was reading, and how disturbing the story is. If you are a fan of gory mysteries with disturbing themes, you are going to have to put The Family at the top of your list. I don't even know what kind of imagination you need to have to write this shit, and I cannot FREAKING WAIT to read more from P. R. Black.

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
A very good read and one I can highly recommend to others.
I could not put this down.
Thoroughly enjoyable with an amazing cast of characters that you cannot help but engage with.

When I was invited to close out the Blog tour for The Family I had to admit that it had been so long since I had read the synopsis for the book that I had forgotten what had attracted me to it in the first place! As I delved into its pages I was half expecting a vaguely tense psychological drama centred around family relationships. What you actually get is a full on Tom Cruise style international thriller with the most sensational twist at the end.

Becky Morgan was the lone survivor of a ritual killing that wiped out the rest of her family. For the last twenty years the horror of that night is never far from her thoughts. When a situation at work sees her taking a secondment she decides that the time is right to try and track down the killer herself.

Using her skills as a journalist Becky starts piecing together some other murders in European countries that bear a number of similarities to the slaughter of her own family. As she travels to these locations and starts digging into the details it becomes clear that she has once again become a target for the mysterious killer.



The Family won’t appeal to everyone. Its style and pacing lend itself to a book that is read in one go or over quite a short period. Due to the nature of the subject matter it is quite graphic at times. The descriptions of the murders are sometimes ghoulish and quite intense. The best comparison I can think of is Dexter in some picturesque European locations! I came into this story with no preconceptions and I think that allowed me to enjoy it a lot more.

Supplied by Net Galley and Aria in exchange for an honest review. #TheFamily #NetGalley

I initially struggled with the book, it didn't "grab" me. Luckily I persisted and I was NOT disappointed. The book was well written, fast-paced and with an ending and unraveling I did not expect. Really worth it

This book is so good, if you enjoyed Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you will enjoy this one too. Our main character Becky loses her entire family by a crazy killer. She suspects he is killing other families through out Europe. Including a few associates along the way she tries to find the killer even though it has been years since she lost her family.
There is constant action and twists and turns that keep you reading late into night. I only hope that the author writes more cases for Becky to work on.

I didn’t know quite what to expect when I began this story – a thriller debut novel by a male writer with a female protagonist – but the surprises started early. Becky is a tough, driven and bent on revenge but she also has a vulnerable side - and who wouldn’t after her youthful traumas - which is excellently portrayed in this debut novel with both pathos and humour without being overly sentimental.

Becky Morgan has worked through most of her issues and has a plan, which begins with employing an anonymous hacker to delve into the dark web for sealed official records of those she believes are responsible for covering up the slaughter of her family twenty years before. It doesn’t take long for the secrets to emerge – but who’s secrets are they and were Becky’s family the only victims of the same lone psychopath all those years ago in France?

I became worried for Becky as she dug into the lives of high-ranking policeman, and politicians in an effort to draw out the killer - places most people would think twice about messing with. However, she doesn’t need sympathy, she’s on a mission and ready for anything; well, pretty much anything. She is also prepared for the traps some amateur sleuths fall into with a canny sense of how to keep ahead of her enemy. The plot is extremely clever in the way it draws the reader into a world the killer himself has created through subterfuge and misdirection.

Becky’s observations are sharp and at times amusing, which makes her flawed, and damaged, but at the same time an engaging character. In fact all the characters are true to themselves and act within the parameters given them. Becky faces all her demons with a fatalistic pragmatism and when her assailant appears to be one step ahead and casualties occur, she doesn't crumble. Or was that part of her plan all along?

I found it hard to believe this was a debut novel, and I look forward to more from Mr Black, although I didn’t need quite so much grisly imagery to keep me glued to the story, his writing style is sharp, intuitive and compelling.
If you like your heroines intelligent, driven and resourceful, with no punches pulled – literally – you’ll enjoy this book.

I received a digital copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Book blurb...
The best way to catch a killer? Offer yourself as bait.
Becky Morgan's family were the victims of the 'crimes of the decade'. The lone survivor of a ritualistic killing, Becky's been forever haunted by the memories of that night.
Twenty years later, with the killer never found, Becky is ready to hunt them down and exact revenge. But the path to find the murderer is a slippery slope and she finds herself opening up some old wounds that should have been left sealed.
Will Becky avenge her family or join them?

My thoughts…
I cannot believe I survived this book! By far the darkest psychological thriller I have ever, ever read.
The main killer wears a mask at the beginning and I did not know who was behind it until the end. Read this book. I guarantee you will never pick it either.
So well-crafted. My congratulations to the author (who I suspect never sleeps).
A book for your To Be Read pile, but only if you like twisted psychological thrillers and are able to sleep with the light on.

Absolute gem. 5/5 on goodreads. It’s pacy and compelling and best of all believable.
A family albeit one is murdered and years later the survivor wants answers.
Recommend 100%

What a book. I was hooked just from the cover and description. Thankfully I was not disappointed. This is a fast paced read. Easy to read. Your on the edge of your seat wondering which way it’s heading. Fantastic read

Dark, twisted and disturbing, P.R. Black’s The Family is a terrifying thriller that grips from the off and plunges the reader into a sinister and menacing world which will leave them breathless.

Becky Morgan has endured more tragedy, loss, pain and anguish in her short life than most people suffer in an entire lifetime. Twenty years ago, her family were the victims of a heinous and shocking crime that had shocked the nation and left her the only survivor of a ritualistic killing that has scarred her and left her tormented by gruesome memories of the night when she had lost her family. Two decades might have passed since that fateful moment when her entire life had been torn apart, but naturally Becky has never quite managed to put the events of that particular night behind her. Still haunted by the past, Becky continues to be driven by the ruthless need to exact revenge upon the people who had ruined her life. However, as the killer has never been found, how will Becky track down the appalling perpetrator of this vicious crime?

Becky might seem to be going down one dead end after another, but she will not be deterred. Becky will find her family’s killer, even if it kills her. Confronting the past means opening up old wounds which have been buried for well over two decades, but nothing will stop Becky in her search for the truth. With danger snapping at her heels and the threat of murder edging ever closer and closer, will Becky be successful in her quest to find the killer who murdered her family? Or is she going to end up joining her family at the cemetery?

The Family is not a book for the faint-hearted as it’s a book that is packed with jaw-dropping shocks, dramatic twists and turns and blood, guts and gore aplenty. P R Black deftly and effortlessly taps into our fears and vulnerabilities and has penned a spine-tingling chiller that is best read from behind the sofa with every light in the house on.

Becky Morgan is a heroine to be admired. Despite the horrible ordeal she has undergone, she is strong, resilient, intelligent and not easily scared. Becky is not a damsel in distress, but a thoroughly modern heroine readers will cheer for and root for.

Stephen King meets Val McDermid in The Family, a gripping, tense and chilling read for readers who like their thrillers well-written, brilliantly plotted and absolutely terrifying.

As the lone survivor of a ritualistic killing that killed her family, Becky Morgan has been haunted for years by the memories of what became known as the ‘crimes of the decade’. Now twenty years later, Becky is determined to hunt down the killers and exact her revenge. With old wounds being opened, however, is she right to go down this route and will she end up becoming the next victim?

In February, I was one of the blogs lucky enough to take part in the cover reveal for The Family by P R Black, and I saw enough there to make me want to read the book. After reading it, I can see how the book cover perfectly reflects the tone of the book – dark and disturbing. The Family is definitely not a book for the faint-hearted.

Despite the horrors that she witnessed and the obvious trauma she is still experiencing, Becky is an incredibly strong character with more guts than most people. By actively searching out the man responsible for the massacre of her family, Becky puts herself in immense danger and on more than one occasion, I questioned her actions. I had to admire her courage, however, as she found the strength to continue with her mission, especially after the encounters with her nemesis.

I have already said that The Family is not for the faint-hearted and this is mainly due to the descriptions of the numerous deaths that take place throughout the book. There are some genuinely chilling moments which, given the ritualistic aspects of the murders, are essential to the plot. I found one death particularly horrible as it highlighted the danger Becky was putting herself and her accomplices in and also showed us what a heinous character her quarry was – he is truly one of the most loathsome killers I have read about in recent years!

The Family contains twists galore, most of which I did not see coming at all. Towards the end of the book, it became one of those reads which I could not put down as it took off at break-neck speed, culminating in an unexpected yet incredibly satisfying conclusion.

This was a fantastic read. It is a combination of a horror and thriller genre. There was a lot going on. It was very intense and dark.

*5 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really good read. There were interesting and mentally sick characters. I found Becky to be a very determined character and in the end she got what she wanted. What a shock it would have been re her sister though.

Recommend this one.

This is a deep and dark novel, with noir themes, and graphically described violence. The written imagery is vivid, and the suspense, and level of menace, this story engenders is intense.

Becky is the sole survivor of a horrific, ritualistic murder that robbed her of her close family, and left her, unsurprisingly, traumatised and emotionally damaged. Twenty years on, she is still suffering, despite therapy, and the comfort, sought from the bottom of a bottle. She needs closure and revenge. Spurred on by a cold case investigation, she is determined to find the person who destroyed her family and her chance of a happy life.

So many contemporary themes are covered in this detailed thriller, the dark web, hacking, institutional conspiracy, abuse and murder. Becky is a well-constructed protagonist, flawed because of her emotional damage and reliance on alcohol. She is unreliable but if you accept her faults, you have to admire her determination and strength, to find the killer and expose those who have allowed the killer to remain at large.

The first chapter sets the scene and tone of the book exquisitely. What follows is a detailed investigation to find out the players in the murderous game, and then the pursuit, which is adrenaline-fueled, fast-paced and violent. There are parts of this story that seem unrealistic, but it is fiction, and as such the author is allowed to bend reality a little.

Merging the horror and thriller genres, with a suspenseful mystery, this story will make you think, keep you turning the pages, and lock your doors.

I received a copy of this book from Aria via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

What the HECK did I just read?! The Family by P.R. Black totally blew me away and I wasn't even expecting it.

What it's about: Becky Morgan has had a rough, to say the least, life; the lone survivor of the brutal murder of her family, it is twenty years later, and the killer still hasn't been caught. Sick of living in fear, Becky decides to start her own hunt for the killer using some less than legal measures to do so. As she digs into murders of families that appear to be connected to her own family's murder, she's about to uncover a whole lot more than she bargained for. Will she be able to catch the killer before he catches her?

I want to say right off the bat that this book is GRUESOME. There are some violent scenes that are sure to give you nightmares if you are that type of person. At the very least it is going to have you looking over your shoulder at night when you're alone. This isn't Karin Slaughter type of gore either, this is like a slasher movie. I would say it would make a supremely scary movie! It is very dark, and very disturbing so consider yourself warned.

I couldn't really connect to Becky but being able to visualize her struggle with life after seeing her family murdered in front of her is something else entirely. I couldn't understand all of the choices she was making, but I could definitely understand some of them. She is a bit of a badass with a sassy mouth and I really liked that about her.

The Family is definitely a book I would consider action-packed, and it gave me chills quite often, but especially when I got towards the end. The end is especially nasty, and I had a hard time reading through it all. It completely surprised me as well, and I would say this is one of those books that will have plenty of twists readers won't see coming. I was at a 4 rating in my head for the majority of the book, but the big twists and the end pushed it all the way up to a 5 for me.

Song it brought to mind: Take Me to Church by Hozier (don't ask me why!)

Final Thought: Even though there is a ton going on, I ended up reading this novel pretty slowly and it took me almost 6 hours to read around 350 pages. I will chalk this up to the content I was reading, and how disturbing the story is. If you are a fan of gory mysteries with disturbing themes, you are going to have to put The Family at the top of your list. I don't even know what kind of imagination you need to have to write this shit, and I cannot FREAKING WAIT to read more from P. R. Black.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Perfect psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommend!

The beginning of the book is little confusing. I almost put it down but didn’t since I received it in return for a review so I pushed through. :)

After it started coming together, I really enjoyed it and finished it so I could enjoy the ride. I am glad I did not put it down.

Thank you Netgalley for this book in exchange for my honest review.