Although I had never read Jo Spain before I was looking for to reading SIX WICKED REASONS. The premise sounded interesting with many suspects on offer, however this novel did nothing but grate on my nerves. I have come across plenty of dysfunctional families in books before but this lot just were just so incredibly self-absorbed and whiny that I found them all to be utterly depressing. I had several attempts at giving this book a good go, but at around 35% I just gave up. I could spend another moment in their company.

The story centres around the dysfunctional Lattimer family. In 2008, Adam Lattimer disappeared without a trace, presumed dead. This devastated the family, particularly their mother Kathleen who passed away just a year later. Now it's 2018 and the remaining siblings - Kate, James, Clio and Ryan - are all summoned back to Spanish Cove from all corners of the world. Adam has returned home.

What ensues is a bunch of adult children behaving like spoilt children. They hurl insults at each other, they nitpick, they allude to secrets the others may have...all for what? To one-up the other?

Of the remaining siblings, only Ellen has remained at home at Spanish Cove with their father Frazer. The other four escaped and did whatever they could to remain distanced from their childhood home. Then on the night they all return, Frazer holds a dinner party to commemorate the occasion...secretly summoning the only two married siblings' partners. And watch the fireworks begin! I don't know what Frazer had envisioned would happen but he just seemed totally oblivious to everyone else's feelings. But that wasn't all. It seems the dinner party held one other surprise. Frazer had met someone, a Russian widow a decade his junior, and they were to marry. Of course this threw everything into disarray. The children had no idea what their father was playing at while Ellen was envisioning her inheritance being passed onto the new wife when she has devoted her life to this house!

Frazer requested they all extend their stays as he had organised a celebration aboard a yacht he has rented for Monday evening. There is plenty of grumbling and refusals at first but they all acquiesce in the end. Perhaps Frazer's real reason for summoning them all was to announce his engagement and subtly let his offspring know they are being cut out of their sizable inheritance. Who knows? Frazer is a cold fish, oblivious to anyone else but himself. If he hadn't gone overboard I'm sure I would have topped him myself...had I got that far.

But as it is, on the night of the celebration aboard the rented yacht, family friend Danny notices Frazer is missing and alerts the others. In their search they discover blood on the railings and it isn't long before they find their father's body floating in the sea. What then follows is a thorough police investigation into the death. Was it an accident? Or is it murder?

All six siblings can't help but look at each other wondering - which of them killed their father.

The story is narrated by all six siblings over different time periods from 2008 and 2018 - the latter being divided into before and after. It was a little confusing at first but it didn't take long to pick up. The other voice to the story is that of Detective Downes who delves into the mystery of Frazer's untimely demise to determine what really happened.

I did feel there was a slight nod to the Queen of crime herself, Agatha Christie, with that isolation of everyone gathered together until the murderer is revealed. But that is where any similarity ended because Ms Christie would have created a much tidier version, I'm sure. However, skipping to the final chapters, the conclusion revealing the guilty party was a nice touch.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this book, I couldn't. Every single character grated on my nerves and I wanted to toss the lot of them overboard that yacht. They were so incredibly dysfunctional, which I know was the whole point, but I just couldn't spend another moment with them. As I stopped at 35% and skipped to the end to find out who the guilty party was, I failed to uncover all their secrets as they all had them. And while Jo Spain leads the reader through a wicked reason each sibling had for offing their father, I didn't discover what they were having tossed it in before reaching that point.

I appear to be in the minority with my opinion of this sorry tale, but there it is. Plenty of others have enjoyed it so please, don't take my word for it. I just couldn't bear another moment of the Lattimers.

Despite not enjoying this book, I never write an author off based on one book. While I didn't like this one, I may love the next one. This has proved true on many occasions with other authors. So therefore, I look forward to discovering more from Jo Spain in the future.

I would like to thank #JoSpain, #NetGalley and #Quercus for an ARC of #SixWickedReasons in exchange for an honest review.

Ten years ago, Adam Lattimer disappeared and his family had no idea what had happened to him or where he went - or even if he was dead or alive. Now he's back, and his siblings have been gathered from all corner of the globe to celebrate his reappearance with a party hosted by their father in the family home in County Wexford, Ireland. But the family is full of secrets, and some of them might be out by the time the weekend is over. And why did Adam decide to return now of all times?

This was an intriguing and suspenseful family drama that really brought me a lot of entertainment and took me a whole load of twists and turns. I loved how this story was told, in a past and present narrative - with the present taking place in a garda station following the suspected murder of one of the family members. I loved being brought back and forth from all angles of the story through each of the family members and seeing how each sibling saw each other, thought of each other and their relationship with their father.

I liked the reveals in this book, and while I do wonder at the plausibility of all of it, it's not completely unbelievable either. I guessed at some things and not others which I also enjoyed. I think this is a great book for fans of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty as the story structure is a little bit similar!

I thoroughly enjoyed 2 previous titles by Jo Spain, "The Confession" and "Dirty Little Secrets" but I'm afraid I have given up on this one abut halfway through. I started it with excitement but it didn't grip me - I put it down and picked it up again, same again; after a third attempt to get into the story I decided that I was just not going to finish it.

I can't quite put my finger on my issues with the book but I think it may have been the fact that none of the 6 siblings seemed to me to have any redeeming features, and they all struck me as unlikely and wooden characters.

Sorry I can't be more positive but I’d like to thank Quercus and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Six Wicked Reasons’ by Jo Spain.

I’ve never read this author’s books before and I was drawn in by the description. I was not disappointed. This is an engaging book that held my attention from the outset and drew me into the story. I enjoyed reading it and will read more of Jo Spain’s books.

The six adult children of Frazer Lattimer have an entire childhood of fraught experiences to draw upon for examples of bad parenting. Their mother, Kathleen Lattimer, was an utter saint though and often served as a buffer between her overbearing husband and their three sons and three daughters. With Kathleen now gone, and Adam Lattimer returning home after a ten year absence, there is much that must be discussed. Six Wicked Reasons is a novel about the people who never let you forget the past. Your family were there, and they know you best.

Adam had quite a few very good reasons of his own to up stakes from Spanish Cove and make his own way in the world. Discovering that his mother passed during his absence is a hard blow to take, and it wasn’t delivered in the best of ways either. As the news of Adam’s imminent return reaches the Lattimer siblings, the children of Frazer and Kathleen all begin to make their way back to the family home.

It is a huge shock when Frazer announces during the homecoming weekend at that he intends to marry again, and use the proceeds of the house to fund his upcoming world travels with his new bride-to-be, Anna.

There were others in the sphere of the well-at-heel Lattimer family that did not fail to notice that the controlling and narcissistic Frazer was capable of doing great harm to his family. When Frazer falls, or is pushed overboard from the family homecoming party at sea, not everyone in the Lattimer family is in mourning.

The burden of long held secrets that can’t be contained spill forth in an intense and absorbing read that goes the extra mile at establishing credible motives and bedding down the complicated relationship dynamics that lead to murder. The reader will need to hunker down with the Lattimers, as this is one group of siblings who may not necessarily take the ‘all for one’ approach when their own futures are under threat.

The best whodunits present both a small stage and a small cast of suspects. The unsettling knowledge that the killer could only be one of a handful of people puts more weight on each of the interactions between suspect/s and victim. Six Wicked Reasons unravels its dark family secrets via past and present narratives, revealing just enough so that each chapter directs, or misdirects, our attention back to passages just read with a keener eye.

Six Wicked Reasons is a entertaining work of dramatic fiction with murder as the end result of sustained family conflict.

Everyone assumed that Adam Latimer, who disappeared ten years earlier, was dead, so his unannounced return took everyone by surprise. Why did he leave? He won't tell anyone, especially not his domineering father Frazier, or any of his five siblings, four of whom have left home mainly because of Frazier. Kathleen their mother died, heartbroken, firmly believing Adam was dead.

All the children are called back home to celebrate Adam's return and Frazier organises a lavish party on a yacht, during which he has a surprise or two. The party is cut short when Frazier is found in the sea. Did he fall or was he pushed? If it wasn't an accident who would want to kill him? Well, any or all of his six kids, for a start. Or maybe his close friend Danny. This is what Rob Downes, the local Mr Plod has to unravel.

This is light, quite readable book, but not particularly well written. At times it feels as though two people have been involved in the writing as the style isn't consistent. The time lines are a little confusing, hopping between Present, then backward, then forwards again but with no clear flow. Some of the plotting is a bit silly, some of it just too far-fetched, but as I said, it's okay for a wet weekend if you've nothing else to do.

One aspect of this book irritated the heck out of me, and that was Frazier who is really a caricature of a Scotsman - his continual use of the word "Ach" was particularly annoying, as was his use of "lass". My father was a Scot and never, ever used either. Why Frazier had to be a Scot living in Southern Ireland, instead of an Irish native is beyond me. It doesn't add anything to the story - there is absolutely no reason for it - but the author feels if she throws in a few "Scottish" words it will make him authentic. No it doesn't.

This is the second of Jo Spain's books I've read and I haven't been hugely impressed by either, which means I probably won't read any more.

My thanks to Netgalley for a free download.

Really enjoyed this book thank you. Vibrant, believable, characters and an absorbing plot. I will ensure I look out for this author in the future!

I think I am in the minority but this was confusing, disjointed and too slow for me. I liked the premise a lot but didnt think the author did enough to drop hints throughout the story to keep the reader interested.

Jo Spain went from being a brilliant, witty, fast-paced, high-stakes thriller author to someone who opens with a massive infodump of boring backstory and passive voice, telling instead of showing, and 3 instances of completely unnecessary anti-white race-baiting within the first 6% of this book that totally ruined my reading experience.

Here's just one example:

'Hey,' Cheng said. 'Are you sure you don't want me to come down with you?' Then, gentler: 'I know this must be tough for you.'
Kate froze.
'Why would you say that?'
'Eh, you haven't spent a single night in your father's home since I've known you. I've only met your father and James once, and none of the rest. And I know why.'
'Do you?' she said, her heart beating that bit faster.
'Come on,' he said, and laughed thinly. 'It's hardly rocket science.'
He wrapped his arms around her from behind and accented his voice.
'You, young white girl. Me big bad China man. East met West and stole its woman.'
She pushed him away, laughing.
'Wear your Black Lives Matter tee shirt down and see what happens,' he said. 'Test how racist they really are.'
'You're not black and you've lived here since you were two,' Kate said.
'Don't you dare rob me of my agency, I'm a shade on the scale, white girl. Anyhow, the only time I did meet your brother, he asked me if I knew any Asian actors because he needed baddies in his show. I'm not even going to repeat what Frazer said. Suffice to say, it's obvious why you're practically estranged. The rest probably wear white pointed hoods to dinner.'

I get it. White people (especially men) are inherently the scum of the earth, just because they exist, and that makes it okay for you to paint them all as extremely unrealistically bigoted in your books. The fact you use someone from China to denigrate them (you know, China, the country that's known for its diversity and its ethical treatment of humans, animals and the earth in general) makes it even more of a satire. I'm sure it helps boost sales among the "woke" population. But I like my thrillers to be somewhat based in reality, and to not be filled with unnecessary political propaganda from the outset when those valuable pages are supposed to be filled with... oh I don't know, actual plot?!

I will concede that it's faintly possible this race-baiting is being used to set up Cheng as an unlikeable character, but the fact there has already been 2 other instances of anti-white and anti-Western rhetoric before this in the book, and one of them by an entirely separate P.O.V leads me to highly doubt that. And I don't have the level of enthusiasm or masochism it would take for me to find out.

I can barely believe The Confession was written by the same person.

It's gonna be a hard pass from me on all of Jo Spain's future books, unfortunately.

A fun who dun it! With great characters, plot, and lots of twists and turns! Sure to grab the attention of those who enjoy the twisty books, which are very much possible of occurring in real life! I highly recommend to those who love the great crime thrillers, which are only solved by reading the pages and don’t require you too suspend any beliefs!
Will make sure to buzz it up on all the different platforms!

I love a good whodunit and this one kept me hooked right through, and the ending was brilliant. One of my new fav authors. Gets better and better. Go get some!

This book tells the story of an extremely dysfunctional family of six siblings. They gather to celebrate the return of Adam,who disappeared and was feared dead for ten years and returns unexpectedly to the family home in Ireland.A celebration is planned by their father,Frazer,onboard a yacht,but during the evening he is murdered, presumably by one of the family.
The story jumps from the past to the present and is told from the perspective of different members of the family,so the story unfolds very gradually to build suspense.We slowly learn the reason for Adam's disappearance and find out why each sibling might have a reason for wanting their father dead.Frazer is a horrible character with very few redeeming features and as the story progresses he becomes more and more unlikeable.He is meant to be Scottish and keeps saying'Ach lass,'or 'lad' to prove it,which I found really irritating as a Scot,because we don't talk that way!
The problem I had with the book was that I didn't like any of the characters- they all constantly bicker ,argue and physically fight and I got a bit fed up with it.I enjoyed the author's last book a lot more than this one.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinions.

This is a very twisty tale of a seriously dysfunctional family!
The Lattimers are a wealthy family from Wexford, Ireland and with six very different children, they are quite the bunch of characters!
When one of the children returns home after going missing ten years earlier, the rest of the Lattimer children are summoned back to the family pile for a celebration. But when one person doesn't make it back from the party, the local police have on hell of a job trying to see through all the family drama and try and work out who is responsible.
Alternating chapters tell the individual sides of several of the characters from before and after the party making it a well planned story, if a tiny bit confusing at times.
Highly recommended!

Six Wicked Reasons is a twisty domestic thriller that didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
I was excited to get to read this one by Jo Spain as last year I had read a previous title and thoroughly enjoyed it but unfortunately this one was not the same.
The book had far too many characters in it, even towards the end I was still questioning one or two characters as to who and why they were there. This was a very dysfunctional family and none of the characters were likeable, I’m not sure if that was intentional or not but firmest didn’t work. The time lines jumped around all the time and I had to really concentrate when reading each chapter which time frame we were in. The book had some good twists and the ending was neatly tied up and didn’t end the way I thought it would which was a bonus.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this, well crafted and clever with unexpected layers to the story. Cleverly explored this damaged family with flawed characters - well set and well written. Thank you!

Wow. This book kept me guessing right to the end. Basically this a very well off family who tears itself apart.
A son disappears for years and turns up when his mother's anniversary is in the paper.
From there the book takes twists and turns!
Jo Spain has not disappointed. I love this authors books and always look forward to them.

I enjoyed the family dynamic in this unusual book and read it really quickly. I liked the way the story jumped from narrator to character to give different perspectives in a drip feed manner.

I didn't guess the outcome either which is always a bonus for me!

A very devious, interesting and clever plot line with good characters too. This wasn’t my first my first Jo Spain book and I will certainly be keen to read more from such a refreshingly original author.
I would give four and a half stars if it was available but as it isn’t I will have to make do with a very strong four stars. I won’t give any plot details away so I’m afraid that restricts my explaining why I didn’t give it a five but I will gladly recommend this to my friends and book group partners but even without my recommendations I think this will be a big success.

There’s nothing like a fractured family on which to base a novel and Jo Spain excelled, as she brought us six siblings, all spread far and wide, all with their own secrets.

The return of Adam, the son, the brother who vanished years ago and acted as the catalyst to bring them all back together at the family home in Ireland.

A family reunion that was like no other, a murder that brought out the best and the worst in their characters. Spain’s characterisations were the highlight of the novel, each sibling so different, their circumstances varied and diverse.

Clio, the youngest, Kate rich, self obsessed, James the has been TV producer, Ryan reformed drug addict, Ellen the supposedly dutiful daughter, and Adam the prodigal son.

I loved how Spain used each of their voices to tell the story, it gave us insight into their possible motives, the little pacts that formed between individual siblings. Spain left you with a feeling that there was something untold, that some knew more than they were saying, which only made the pages turn faster as the turmoil and tension became unbearable.

The before and after structure of the novel allowed to Spain to fill in the gaps, to give us the history of each of the siblings, and most importantly form an opinion on who you thought the possible culprit or culprits were. Their reactions to the unfolding drama were brilliantly captured as you found yourself drawn deeper into their intricate web of lies and deceit.

I had an incling as to who it might have been but Spain threw it all out of the window with the most wonderful twist, that at once made sense and also surprised.

Six Wicked Reasons was fascinating, intriguing and addictive and made me like Jo Spain just that little bit more!

I would like to thank Quercus for a copy of Six Wicked Reasons to read and review and to Milly Reid for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

Wow – Jo Spain really does like writing twisty, twisted tales and Six Wicked Reasons is a complex but addictive psychological thriller which will keep even the most clued up armchair detective spinning back and forth.

This book reminded me of Succession, a brilliant American TV series about a dysfunctional family with a controlling father – and if you haven’t watched it yet – you must. Anyway, back to this book. Set in Wexford, Ireland, Kathleen and Frazer Lattimer have a large family with 3 daughters and 3 sons and ten years ago Adam disappears without a trace aged 21, leaving his family confused, angry and about to self-destruct.

Ten years later Adam returns and all siblings reluctantly return home to find out what happened. Each sibling is hiding a secret and each have their own reasons not to want to return and face their family. When Frazer, their controlling, bullying and often sadistic father decides to host a party aboard a yacht, nine people get on the yacht but only eight get off.

One member of the family is murdered, but who did it and why? Six Wicked Reasons is a claustrophobic and atmospheric murder mystery with a very dark edge. The chapters alternate between the past and present day giving each of the six children their chance to tell the reader their story and believe me when I say this is one truly dysfunctional family.

I loved it and thoroughly recommend it to fans of twisty, dark thrillers. 5 stars from me.