This is a bit of a hard review to write. I loved this book but also figured out who the killer was. The Blackburn Killer that is. This family has been haunted by him for many years. So many murders. So many women. How could this happen on this island and no one know who is doing it. Did the same person kill Andy. How will Dahlia go on knowing her twin is not gone off somewhere but dead. Murdered no less. There is a lot going on in this book but it's not really hard to keep things in perspective. Each sibling is dealing with things in their own way.

I liked the characters in this book but only a little bit. They are definitely one messed up dysfunctional family. The mother I didn't like at all. She was to much for me. A bit cold and definitely a very strange person. Having her children named after serial killers and part of their learning is about murderers. How can a mother mess up her children this way. She was awful. I didn't like her. Their dad of course is dead from the start and that is why they all came back home. But he was not a good dad. Not with his daughters anyway and certainly not with his sons either. He was a bit out there too. I think him and their mother were a good match but should not have had children together. They didn't know how to be parents. Not normal parents.

You will feel like you are with this family as they unravel what happened throughout the years. As they figure out what happened to Andy and find out many secrets. You won't know who to trust or who may be involved in the twisted things that happened. The children, though adults now, are just messed up. But they do have hope. They can be fixed. If they will leave this island and never look back. And get into some therapy. The descriptions are so well done and the edge of your seat thrills are great. The mystery is unfolded and you won't be left hanging with any questions. This author did a great job of writing this book. It's a bit on the dark side in places but it fits perfectly. I enjoyed it even though I did figure it out. I saw a movie that had almost this same storyline in it. Almost!!

Thank you #NetGalley, #MeganCollins, #Atria for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

4/5 stars and a high recommendation. Enjoy!

The Family Plot by Megan Collins is a psychological thriller about a rather unique family. The Lighthouse family’s matriarch is obsessed with honoring the victims of serial killers, so much so that it was to the point the children in the family were named after famous victims.

Dahlia and her siblings grew up cut off from their neighbors on the remote island where her family lived. Each of the kids had their plans made early in life to escape the island and their serial killer obsessed parents. However, Dahlia’s twin brother seemed to have left the island early never to contact the family again only leaving a note in his absence.

When the patriarch of the Lighthouse family passes away Dahlia and her other siblings minus her twin head back home for the funeral of their father. As the family plot is opened for their father though a body is found already in the grave. It seems Dahlia’s twin never did make it off the island and now ten years later she needs to know who killed him and why.

The Family Plot began with such a creepy, gothic feel to the story that I couldn’t help but be pulled in reading about this strange and somewhat disturbing family. That intensity though that I felt in the beginning began to where off as the book went on as the middle seemed a bit repetitive and incredibly slow paced. There weren’t a lot of suspects involved either in the remote setting of the story for the outcome which may have led to the repetitive feeling during the middle. I didn’t mind how this one wrapped up but had so much of a meh feeling through most of the book that I was excited either so this one was just a so-so read for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

3.5 Stars
I would describe The Family Plot as a dysfunctional family whodunit. We have parents who are so obsessed with serial killers that each child is named after the victim of a famous serial killer.

When Dahlia returns home for her father’s burial, she is immediately faced with a reminder of her very unsettling childhood. A childhood where they were homeschooled and isolated. Where they recreated murders as their way of honoring victims of the past. All of which are memories that Dahlia has tried to escape by leaving the island.

Discovering the identity of a body that was already buried in Dahlia’s father’s grave did catch my interest. However, it takes a little bit to get there. The first of the book has Dahlia reminiscing about her early family life, which is necessary, but felt long and didn’t pull me into the story.

It did pick up as Dahlia became more and more determined to search for clues and secrets regarding the bones in her father’s burial site, and a serial killer.

My Concerns
The story was totally unique, but kept dragging down and not propelling forward in places. Also, it was pretty predictable and required the suspension of disbelief if it was to be enjoyed.

Final Thoughts
While this book didn’t really wow me, there were some things about it that I liked. I liked the setting, though I’m not sure it was taken advantage of like it could have been. Also, as the layers of personalities were uncovered it held my interest.

I’d say if 25-50 pages were taken out of the book I would have rated it much higher. Too repetitive and felt like overkill.

If you’re on the fence, I’d say pick this book up and give it a try.

My thanks to #NetGalley for the ability to read this ARC and to post my thoughts.

The Family Plot is the second Megan Collins book I have read. What an amazing story. I absolutely loved the messed up Lighthouse Family. There were so many twists...just when you think you have it figured out, you'll realize you don't. Cannot wait to recommend this novel in a few weeks. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

The Family Plot by Megan Collins is a highly recommended atmospheric murder mystery with Gothic overtones.

Dahlia Lighthouse's father, Daniel, has passed away and at age 26 she is returning home to Blackburn Island after being gone for 8 years. She grew up in what locals called the "Murder Mansion." This moniker was given to her home and family because of her true-crime obsessed parents and the way she and her three siblings were raised. Dahlia and Andy, her twin brother, were much younger than her older brother Charlie, and her sister, Tate. Their mother taught them at home but she based her curriculum off of her obsession with true crime stories. As her twin brother, Andy, often said their family was unnatural and the way they were raised wasn't right. Andy disappeared at age 16, presumed to have run away, but soon after Dahlia returns home a shocking discovery is made: Andy's body, his skull split open with an ax, is found buried in their father’s plot.

Dahlia is determined to find the killer and bring him to justice. She is sure Andy's death had something to do with the Blackburn killer, a serial killer who murdered seven women over two decades on the island but was never caught. As Dahlia tries to uncover who killed Andy, the rest of the eccentric family responds to the news by keeping busy with disconcerting activities. Her mother, who does not cook, endlessly tries to bake cookies. Charlie plans to open up the mansion for a limited time as a murder museum. Tate, who makes popular dioramas portraying crime scenes, begins to make one for Andy.

The writing is good, and, although it caught my attention at the beginning, once the novel took off I didn't personally connect with the whole true crime angle. Dahlia is the narrator for the entire novel. The story drags a bit in the middle as new information that may or may not mean anything and potential suspects are introduced. Character development is a bit lacking, perhaps in an attempt to create mystery, but it wasn't entirely successful. The novel does pick up the pace at the end and all the mysteries are resolved.

Since Andy's body is found right away it sets up the search for the killer amid an odd family who have an encyclopedic knowledge of all sorts of other true crime victims. While at first this is startling and weird, it actually doesn't add much to the actual advancement of the plot. Additionally I had to set disbelief aside as I couldn't help but wonder why no one sent some authorities to look into the home life of the children living in the "murder mansion." While I fully believe in homeschooling, all the revelations by the end of the book would have warranted some concern, especially if you have a police officer basically stalking them 24/7 who certainly would have saw or heard something - like children required to write murder reports for their schooling. 3.5 rounded up for the unique hook.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and submitted to Amazon.

What would do for family? Even if a member if your family might be a murderer?

Full of quirky and eccentric characters. All of the kids were named after serial killers victims. I liked our cast of characters except for the mother.

First 60% good, I was really into it and then there was a couple twists I just didn't like/thought was necessary. It really became kind of predictable at that point too. I just feel very unsatisfied by this one.

I felt like the author was trying to make this very sad ending, and it was but also needed just a little more emotion to get it there for me as a reader.

I'm giving it 3 stars because it really did have me hooked for a good portion of the book, but the ending that was supposed to be a shocker I saw coming. It's a dark twist but I just felt like it was something that didn't need to be drawn out like that. For Dahlia to be going through it was this person then that person and then questioning every single member in her family just seemed a little pointless for me.

I think a lot of people will really enjoy this one but for me it was just a miss by the end. It was okay for me just wasn't really where I wanted it to go.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC to read and review.

“WOW” is the best word to describe the thriller, The Family Plot! When I began reading, I was shocked by the setting and unique story line. This book was definitely not what I was expecting! It was SO much better! I was hooked from the very first chapter!

The author, Megan Collins, did a superb job introducing each characters’ unique personality and made it easy to form immediate connections with her characters. I kept thinking what a great movie this book would make. I loved the quirky character, Charlie, and for whatever reason, kept picturing James Corden as Charlie, although he does not match the author’s physical description of Charlie in the slightest.

I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by Megan Collins.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions above are my own.

#NetGalley
#AtriaBooks
#TheFamilyPlot
#MeganCollins

As a homeschool mom, I am used to the looks and comments I receive when I share our decision to homeschool our kids. I understand it isn’t the norm and for some reason that makes people uncomfortable. However, this family takes abnormal to a whole new level. The Lighthouse family used true crime cases for their curriculum…yes you read that right. They grew up writing murder reports and participating in honorings to remember the victims. The Lighthouse children knew they had a different upbringing than most, but growing up with a big family had its perk. However, when their brother Andy disappeared they all went their separate ways. ⁣
⁣
Now their father has passed away and the three remaining Lighthouse kids return to their childhood mansion on Blackburn Island. Andy hasn’t been seen or heard from in years, but Dahlia (his twin sister) is hoping the death of their father will draw him home. There is a plot on their property being prepared to bury their father, but when they start digging another body is already in the grave. Who is it? How long has it been there? What other secrets is this family hiding?⁣
⁣
This book had such a unique premise, but I figured out the mystery pretty early on which made the rest of the story drag for me. As a reader, I called out where the story was going and who was behind it all so there wasn’t much left to be revealed. I think if we learned more about their childhood it would have added to the story. Overall, this was a 3.5 star read for me-still good, but left me wanting more. Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for this finished copy. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘗𝘭𝘰𝘵 is available 8/17/21.

Murderinos, this is a must read!

I loved this one, it might be one of my favorites of the year. It could have easily been a domestic thriller, where the daughter comes back for her father’s funeral and discovers her missing brother’s body, but adding the fact that the family is obsessed with true crime and they each have their own ways of handling grief and trying to escape their upbringing, makes it so much better!

This book also has a small town feel to it, which I love. The family lives on a small island, and the cop that is helping to investigate Andy’s death knows the family, as did his father, who was also a copy. But his father didn’t like the Lighthouse family and was determined to prove they were up to something. So this creates conflict between the son who is trying to find out what happened to Andy and the Lighthouse family.

Honestly, the only thing I didn’t like were the long chapters, but that’s extremely minor and should not deter anyone from reading this book!

Overall, I highly recommend this one and look forward to reading more Megan Collins in the future!

The Family Plot is an atmospheric psychological thriller perfect for fans of true crime and gothic mysteries. The Lighthouses live in a small town where the gossip mill never stops, and their strange habits never cease to fuel it. The entire family is obsessed with true crime. They have a shrine dedicated to the victims of infamous true crime cases. The children were homeschooled, but their education didn’t follow the state-sanctioned curriculum, and they spent most of their time learning about murder and death. 

The book opens when Dahlia (named after the Black Dahlia), returns home following her father’s sudden death. It’s her first time back in ten years. When she was a teenager, her twin brother went missing. He was presumed to be a runaway, and she’s never stopped looking for him. 

This book is rife with mystery and there are many twists in the plot. It’s clear the author is a murderino (not just because of the book’s dedication), as a lot of the book has a focus on the victims, rather than the perpetrators, of true crimes. Those of us who are familiar with the big cases will recognize a lot of the names that get thrown around, both in the dialogue and in the narrative. 

This book is dreary and angsty in tone. It’s definitely not a light read, and the tone fits the cover and the subject matter quite perfectly. Dahlia’s entire family is quite intriguing and peculiar, adn there’s a melancholic tone to all of her interactions with them. 

While I adored Collins’ writing style and the tone and story were impeccable, I wasn’t particularly crazy about the protagonist. Dahlia was a little two-dimensional. It’s been ten years since she left home, but not much has happened in the interim. Seh hasn’t really found herself--which I suppose that in itself is quite telling--but it still made her feel like a teenaged character, despite being twenty-six. She’s a little selfish and short-sighted. She’s naive, despite the singular focus of her education. Since the book is told from her point of view, we don’t get to dig as deeply into her siblings, who I found much more intriguing. I loved the way both her brother, Charlie, and her sister, Tate, dealt with their grief in unique and unsettling ways. I would definitely read a book from Tate’s point of view! 

I recommend this book to lovers of atmospheric, slow-paced, yet immersive psychological thrillers that have a strong family bent.

Oh my! What a macabre family inhabited this novel! The mother was obsessed with historical murders, starting with her own parents. She homeschooled their four children using various elements of well documented murders to teach the children everything from reading to chemistry. The mother would re-enact the murders as part of their schooling. The family had ceremonies honoring the murdered on the dates of their deaths. They lived in the house where the last of 7 murders on their small island had taken place. Needless to say, they were quite the curiosity of the island-folks and subject for all sorts of gossip.

The story starts out with the death of the father and with three of the four children returning home for his funeral/burial/honoring. It is there, in the midst of the mother’s learning to bake cookies, that the reader gets the back stories on the members of the family.

As the father’s gravesite was opened to allow his burial, a very unwelcome discovery was made and that becomes the basis for the mystery of this novel. The family is very dysfunctional with each member (except one!) moving in his/her own orbit, totally disinterested in any distress they’re causing the others.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Atria Books, in exchange for an honest review.

✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
I heard Gabby (from Gabbyreads) talking about this book and it sounded so intriguing. Thanks to @netgalley and Atria books for the opportunity to read this.

💜 What I liked:
The story is one of those that you can read fast as the suspense moves you along. So many people are suspect in this book and the journey through this darkness is quite interesting.

😱 What I didn’t like:
The main character, Dahlia, wasn’t that likeable. Most of the time, her grief causes her to miss things right in front of her and I really wanted her to emerge as a strong main character. Instead she presents as confused and at times even a pushover.


🚦 My face at the end: 😬

💭 3 Reasons to Read:
1. Dark and sinister location
2. True Crime references
3. Dioramas



🕧 Mini-Summary:
Dahlia was raised around death all her life and she never got over the disappearance of her twin brother Andy. She returns to her childhood home after the death of her father, only to uncover more secrets she never knew.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.

Full review to come on Instagram closer to Pub Day. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Whew. Where to even begin? 😩

The Family Plot has the absolute coolest premise with gothic ambiance and true crime thrill, but is seriously lacking good execution (pun totally intended).

I wanted to love this book because of the cool premise, but the storytelling was so flat and void. It was told in first person contemporary timeline, but would have been much better as a multi-POV dual timeline. We get so much information in the first chapter told to us, as opposed as shown to us throughout, that many of middle chapters feel pointless. This information dump also makes it pretty impossible not to guess the entire plot almost from the beginning.

Some of the storyline was questionable and, at moments, felt unrealistic, but I did enjoy that it kept my attention and was a quick, easy read.

I really couldn’t stand any of the characters (except the gardener) and felt that the protagonist was incredibly self-absorbed and boring. I consistently wanted to tell her to STFU throughout the entire book.

I felt this book was much better than The Winter Sister, which I didn’t like at all, but only marginally.

3/5 ✨

Thank you to Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for the lovely advanced copy!

Deliciously demented premise---an eccentric family obsessed with murder victims . When they gather to bury the recently,-deceased matriarch, their long-missing brother is found in the plot.
A bit predictable, but an intriguing read that keeps reader engaged.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a bizarre and creepy concept for a family drama.

Dahlia and her siblings are all named for people who have been murdered, her family regularly honors murder victims, and they grew up writing murder reports. Their home is known as Murder Mansion and the island they live on has its very own serial killer. After not being together for several years, everyone returns to the family home when their father dies, only to discover that Dahlia's twin brother is buried in the father's plot.

After reading so many other reviews for this, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I saw such mixed things. After finishing, I certainly am on the more positive side of this book. Sure, it was a bit predictable, and a bit far-fetched, but it was a fast read that kept me turning the pages. It was interesting and will certainly appeal to anyone out there into true crime.

I will say the title refers to a lot more than the family grave. Not saying anymore!

Overall, a solid 3.5 star read.

What a fun but twisty mystery of a book by Megan Collins. A young woman returns to her family home after her father's death, the weight of her missing twin still on her mind. She's spent all these years searching for him, and coming home adds even more of a load to her psyche. Plus dealing with her odd family, which was raised on an education of true crime. When her twin's body is found, she realizes there are far more secrets than she realized within her family!

A really fun read with memorable characters. True crimes junkies need this book in their lives!

3.5 stars

I admired this book for its unique plot and eccentric characters. Dahlia Lighthouse and her siblings were raised in a strange and reclusive environment. Their parents were huge true crime enthusiasts who homeschooled their children, teaching them about murder scenes, serial killers, and how to honor the dead, something they did religiously. They were so obsessed that they named their four children after famous murder victims.

The entire family is known as weirdos and freaks, and even though it pained Dahlia greatly when her twin brother ran away as a teenager, she understood why he did it. For the past decade she's been searching for any trace of him to no avail. After her father's death, the siblings return home, and it's then discovered that her brother has been long deceased and buried in their father's burial plot.

This begins a descent into family secrets, questions begetting more questions, and family members seemingly disconnected from reality. I think it was the last 20% of the book that lost me. It's the author's world and the author's characters, but I just didn't feel like the ending fit with the rest of the book. Others may disagree and love it.

The Family Plot was a creepy, eerie psychological thriller about a true-crime obsessed family who is brought back together when their father dies. The death of their father unravels some dark, hidden secrets about the past when they discover another body hidden in his grave.

This book had such a unique and intriguing premise. I was hooked right away with the oddities of this family and wanted to dive deeper into their bizarre, dysfunctional world. Unfortunately, the execution of the plot just didn’t really do it for me. This book could have gone in many different directions and I was excited to explore those other avenues, but it just never really got there. That being said, it was still a very easy-to-read and engaging thriller. I really enjoyed that this novel had multiple mysteries combined into one eerie story.

Huge thank you to Atria for gifting me a copy of this one in exchange for an honest review.

When you're named after serial killer victims, can you ever really escape that life? The Family Plot addresses that question in an engrossing way. While some of the twists in this one were a bit predictable, many of them were not. There's a fair amount of character building as well as a fair amount of misdirects. This would be a great read to curl up with on a crisp fall evening. If you love true crimes and serial killers and quick reads, this would probably be right up your alley!